Calligraphic Manuscript (8 results)

20 pp. illuminated calligraphic manuscript including blanks with large illuminated image of the Coat of Arms of Worthing on the title page in blue, grey, black, white, re, purple, green yellow and gold, dramatic iluminated word 'Out' on the first page of text in blue, red, white, black and gilt, a fine illustrated calligraphic calendar incoroporating the months of the year with relevant flowers and seeral large gilt and red initials, alongside small decorations including gilt stars and a small pen and ink drawing of the Downs. 38.5 x 28.3 cm. Tall folio, in a well done but probably amateur unsigned binding, perhaps by the calligrapher, of blue/green morocco with dark green morocco spine, both sides with a looping pattern, reminiscent of calligraphy, in blind superimposed with a zig zag design in gilt, spine cleverly lettered in gilt and blind with the whole title 'Andante' in each of the seven panels each highlighting a different letter in gilt to spell the title across the whole spine, turn-ins with triple gilt fillets. In very good, bright condition with only a little rubbing and slight chipping to the top of the spine. The text, apparently by the scribe, is in effect a guide to walks on the South Downs in Sussex around Worthing. The routes are very immediately described - for instance in one the walker begins in Worthing and following 'Honeysuckle Lane', reaches Chanctonbury Ring, then pushes through the brambles past St Bodolph's Church, sweats up the Round Hill and finally arrives in beautiful Arundel "one of the most attractive, yet dignified of the smaller Sussex towns". The manuscript was a gift, 'To M' which supports the theory that it was bound by the scribe. The calligraphic colophon in gilt and blue signed by the scribe 'DG' declares: 'The author trusts that the majority of his readers will enjoy this book of downland walks. He suggests that the minority turn it upside down, and in so doing derive some pleasure from the pattern thus produced'. Unfortunately we don't know the identity of D G, but the work is superb and full of life, as are descriptions of the walks.…

8 pp of original calligraphic manuscript in green, red, blue, black and grey ink in a fine English translation by Lionel Giles and with Chinese characters. Tall thin 4to, in a fine and elegant black/brown polished calf designer binding with 'Lao Tzu' tooled in blind on the upper cover, red China paper endpapers and blanks, housed in the original black morocco backed grey cloth solander box. In excellent condition. The calligrapher notes that help has been given with the Chinese characters from Clive Clunas at the V & A Museum. Lao Tzu was the first philosopher of the Taoist School (5th to 3rd century BC) whose doctrines were based on non-action and the cultivation of an inner state of calm. He wrote the Tao-te Ching "in which was expounded the Way, (Tao), or supreme principle and its virtue". A refined calligraphic manuscript in a sophisticated and elegant designer binding. The text was taken from the translation of Lao Tzu into English by the important British sinologist Lionel Giles who also translated The Art of War by Sun Tzu and the Analects of Confucius.…

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good+. Contemporary sheep-backed marbled boards, gilt-stamped lettering in red leather label on upper board; oblong 4to (296x304 mm); with title-p., 3 leaves of explanatory text, and 9 specimens of Italic, Roman, and Fraktur alphabets (13 leaves in all), written in black ink on laid paper. Spine heavily chipped, with gatherings exposed (but holding just fine); corners bumped; minor spotting throughout. Calligraphic manuscript in Danish, signed "P. E. Glahn, Stykjunker." A nicely accomplished guide to alphabet styles and sizes for use in cartographic text, apparently written by the Danish career military officer Glahn (1811-96) as an artillery cadet. Dansk Biografisk Lexikon VI, 97-98.…

Paperback. Condition: Near Fine. Manuscript on paper, in French; tall folio (385 x 273 mm); pp. 19. Written in black ink with red, green, brown and yellow ink between whimsically decorated borders of several doves, a lion, confronting rabbits and snails and other fantastical creatures, floreate decoration and flourishing pen marks. Original marbled paper wrappers (edges slightly curled, worm hole). Fine calligraphic writing manual, studying letters and copying popular adages. Title-page notes that this manuscript was created by "Cony" for the Christian Schools of Montpellier, France. Some sayings offer a glimpse of tradition township motto: "Ceux qui ont trouve quelque chose sont tenus de le rendre a celui qui la perdu et s'ils ne le connoissent pas faire tout ce qu'ils peuveunt pour le connaitre a Montpellier.".…

in English, French and Latin, inscribed 'F. Brown' on the upper cover, with a calligraphic drawing of a flying bird on side 1 and an elegant swan on side 10, on thick paper bound in brown wrappers, 10 separate sides 7¾" x 13", no place, no date, watermarked W Brookman, After the drawing of the bird and the first pages reading 'Ammunition' and 'Communication' the texts are: 1. Blame not before you have examined the truth. 2. Prosperity gains friends and adversity tries them. 3. Almost all difficulties are to be overcome by industry and perseverance. 4. La Science est a l'âme ceque la Santé est au corps. (Science is to the mind as health is to the body). 5. Three things bear mighty sway with men, / The Sword, the Sceptre, and the Pen. / He who can the last of these command, / In the first rank of fame shall stand. 6. Virtus non advenit à naturâ, neque a doctrinâ, sed à numine divino. Natura non dat virtutem. Nascimur quidem ad hoc sed sine hoc. (Virtue doesn't come from nature, nor from doctrine, but from the divine Will. Nature doesn't give virtue. We are born for this end but without it). (Seneca, quoting Plato). Brookman's paper, from the Test Mill, Romsey, was popular with artists, including J.W.M. Turner. The final illustration is the Swan.…

Ornamental initial letter I and first line in an elaborate display script, the text in German in a regrular Kurrentschrift, 19 or 20 lines per page, with occasional flourishes, subscribed at end by ten signatories. 14 leaves plus 8 blanks. 1 vols. Small 4to. This Stiftungsbrief, or foundation document for a lay fraternty, likely based in or near Strasbourg, was signed by the founding members, all pillars of their community, who backed the financial promises made by the fraternity. The deed describes the financial contributions expected of each member, and outlines a system of penalties to be levied against members who violate the rules of the order. It further describes systems of support for members and their families in times of need, and rules for the management and distribution of essential goods such as wine, fruit and wood. The and the ten signatories include: Daniel Riymger[?], Josephus Langius, Marcus Florius, Casparus Heppius, Isaacus Malleolus, Johannes Beichtter, Bernardus Schmidt, Johannes Lippius, and Johannes Fridericus Schmid, and Anthoni Linnalier[?]. Several of the signatories were prominent members of Strasbourg society at the turn of the 17th century, including: Father and son Bernardus Schmid (an organist) and Johannes Fridericus Schmid (a law student), and M. Isaacus Malleolus (a professor of mathematics and astronomer with ties to the Université de Strasbourg). A choice mansucript on vellum, in a contemporary binding in superior condition. Provenance: Cornelius J. Hauck (bookplate; Christie's, 27 June 2006, lot 299); David R. Godine (bookplates) Contemporary black morocco over thin wooden boards, gilt panels and central medallion, upper cover stamped with date '603, brass clasps, gilt edges; 3 pairs of stab-holes at foot of upper and lower boards. Fresh, attractive binding, in custom morocco backed folding box Ornamental initial letter I and first line in an elaborate display script, the text in German in a regrular Kurrentschrift, 19 or 20 lines per page, with occasional flourishes, subscribed at end by ten signatories. 14 leaves plus 8 blanks. 1 vols. Small 4to. Signed.…

A beautiful arts and crafts style calligraphic Christmas gift, inscribed in orange ink to the final leaf "Written for Miss Ellen D. Sharpe by her friend S. B. Russell at Snowshill, on the Cotswolds, in November 1928". The work was created by Sydney Bolton Russell (1866-1938), the father of the arts and crafts furniture designer Gordon Russell (1892-1980). Sydney moved to the Cotswolds in 1904 when he bought the Lygon Arms in Broadway. He renovated the property in 1910 with the help of the arts and crafts architect Charles Bateman, and it was at this time that Gordon developed an increasing interest in furniture design and the wider arts and crafts movement as he repaired the inn's antique furniture. Sydney moved out of the inn in 1915, which was by then a hotel of national repute, and to the neighbouring town of Snowshill and a home he again renovated with Batemen, in order to spend more time on his own artistic endeavours. In 1922 he and Gordon established Russell and Sons, a brand which shaped 20th-century furniture design. The recipient of this Christmas gift was Ellen Dexter Sharpe (1861-1953) a patron of the arts in Providence who gave numerous donations to the Rhode Island School of Design. Russell travelled to Boston in October 1926 and likely met Sharpe on this visit. Quarto (280 x 186 mm), pp. [18]. Text written in black with red initials, colour nativity illustrations pasted to title page and final page of text. Finely bound at time of presentation in blue morocco, spine in compartments, raised bands ruled in gilt, titles in gilt to front board, blue marbled endpapers, turn-ins elaborately rolled in gilt. Spine very lightly toned, minor scuff to edges, faint offsetting to free endpaper margins, a near-fine copy.…

FRENCH CALLIGRAPHIC MANUSCRIPT. Recueil de Chansons et Romances. [4], 108 pp. Square 8vo., 178 x 137 mm, bound in contemporary French red morocco, spine richly decorated with gilt-tooled lyres and floral ornaments in alternating spine compartments, French filet borders on covers, blue silk endpapers and flyleaves, a.e.g. Paris: 1788. A Superb Calligraphic Manuscript; a masterpiece of eighteenth-century creative text and image. The manuscript is completely written and drawn in black ink on thick papier vergé by a French calligrapher of the Ancien Régime. The pages of this manuscript contain one image per page, each being an incorporation of words and ornament to create a morphological composition. For example, there appears on page 4 a verse "A Eleonore" where each couplet forms the solid part of a cloverleaf, as a symbol of luck to Eleonore; page 22 is a short verse on the body and soul, set inside a shaped heart composed of a triple floral border; on page 51 one finds a pair of eye-glasses (Les Lunettes) with four couplets of verse in each lens on the subject of seeing matters of life clearly; several pages contain songs with the border ornamentation comprised of musical staves and notes, while the lyrics can be found in the center ornaments. A number of the morphological compositions are shaped into pieces of jewelry, flowers, trees, snowflakes, or furniture (page 50 shows a couplet of verse inside of a table mirror composed of flowers). The remainder of the pages offer compositions which are purely ornamental in nature, with text and image creating geometric lozenges, circles or a coalescence of circles, partitioned quadrangles, floral rectangles, etc., all of them ornamented with flowers and garlands of a most delicate and exquisite design. The manuscript is absolutely complete, executed by an exceptional, artistic calligraphic hand. The volume is preserved in a contemporary French red morocco binding in very fine condition.…