Typography Tuesday
Veronese calligrapher and Roman antiquary Felice Feliciano composed the first known treatise on the construction of classic Roman inscription letters, ca. 1460. Called the Alphabetum Romanum and found in the manuscript Codex Vaticanus Latinus 6852, it also represents the first attempt to construct Roman letters within a circle and a square, which would be found in later printed works, such as De divina proportione by Luca Pacioli in 1479 and the Champfleury by Geoffroy Tory in 1529.
Published for the 500th anniversary of the manuscript, this edition of Alphabetum Romanum was edited by the great German-Italian printer and typographer Giovanni Mardersteig (1892-1977) and printed on a hand press at his Officina Bodoni in Verona in an edition of 400 copies in 1960. The 25 letters are hand-colored in two colors (after the original manuscript) with corresponding construction grid on facing verso. Of the manuscript, Mardersteig writes:
As the oldest treatise on the construction of Roman capital letters, Felice’s “Alphabet” has considerable importance, for the ancient doctrine of the geometrical construction of letters subsequently became the basis of the work of many type-designers.
Our copy is from the collection of book collector and Grolier Club member Robert Elwell, with his bookplate designed and engraved in wood by Reynolds Stone.
View other works from Officina Bodoni.
View our other Typography Tuesday posts.
