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'Of major importance in the development and perfection of calligraphy in the Netherlands'

BOISSENS, Cornelis Dirksz.
Grammato-graphices. In quo varia scriptorae embalamta Belgicis, Germanicis, Italicis, Hispanicis, Gallicis, et Latinis characteribus exarata. Cum singulorum anatomicis fundamentis ad exacté pingendum perquam utilia, oculis spectanda imitandaque proponuntur. Scripta, aeri incisa, et impressa. Per Cornelium Boissenium Enchusanum.

Engraved title in an elaborate pen-work decorated frame, 41 (out of 45: lacking pl. 19, and 44-5) full-page engraved plates, including the magnificent self-portrait of the author (pl. 1), with calligraphic examples, all designed and engraved (and many signed) by Cornelis Boissens.

Engraved title in an elaborate pen-work decorated frame, 41 (out of 45: lacking pl. 19, and 44-5) full-page engraved plates, including the magnificent self-portrait of the author (pl. 1), with calligraphic examples, all designed and engraved (and many signed) by Cornelis Boissens.

Engraved title in an elaborate pen-work decorated frame, 41 (out of 45: lacking pl. 19, and 44-5) full-page engraved plates, including the magnificent self-portrait of the author (pl. 1), with calligraphic examples, all designed and engraved (and many signed) by Cornelis Boissens.



Amsterdam, (Cornelis Claesz. for) Cornelis Boissens, 1605. Oblong folio. (270 x 356 mm). Contemporary paperboard wrappers; the leaves and plates are sewn at left margin and are folded once. Engraved title in an elaborate pen-work decorated frame, 41 (out of 45: lacking pl. 19, and 44-5) full-page engraved plates, including the magnificent self-portrait of the author (pl. 1), with calligraphic examples, all designed and engraved (and many signed) by Cornelis Boissens. (4) text lvs.

First edition of a very rare writing-master's book, the Grammato Graphices ('linguistic examples of calligraphy') - one of the arliest engraved writing-books published in the Netherlands - with beautiful calligraphic samples, engraved and designed by Cornelius Boissens (1569-1635), draughtsman and engraver, and contemporary of the most famous writing master of the seventeenth century Jan vanden Velde. Issue without the dedication leaf to Prince Maurits of Nassau.
After the beautifully engraved title the text pages contain: preface ('Voor-reden tot den lezer'), including an account on making black ink (p. 1-2); laudatory poems in Latin by the Leiden professor Dominicus Baudius (p. 3-4), the famous painter and art theoretician Karel van Mander (in Dutch; p. 5), the Leiden professor Daniel Heinsius (p. 6), Joh. Isacius (p. 7), and David Mostart, dated IV Non. of January 1605 (p. 8).
Engraved plates: the writing book begins with the magnificent oval self-portrait of Cornelis Boissens (pl. 1), with 'Aetate. XXXVI' and 'Anno M.DC.V.' engraved in the border, which is surrounded by calligraphical pen-work, and 'Vive la plume' engraved above, and 'Vainc toy mesme' (= the French translation of Boissens' motto 'U selfs verwint', conquer yourself) underneath the portrait.
- plates 2-14 contain examples in Dutch, written in Dutch scripts, concluded by an 'alphabet' of Dutch characters: 'Nederlantsche voor lettres mitsgaders t fondament van d'andere' (plate 15);
- plates 16-18, 20-28: French examples, concluded by an 'alphabet' of French characters: 'Capitales et formation de la lettre francoise' (plate 29);
- plates 30-33, 35: French, Latin, and Italian examples written in Humanistic scripts, including a humanistic cursive, concluded by an 'alphabet' of 'Italian' characters: 'Instruttione per formare le lettere Italiane' (plate 36);
- plates 37-40: Spanish examples written in Spanish scripts, concluded by an 'alphabet' of 'Spanish characters: 'Instrucion para formar las letteras Espanoles' (plate 41).
- plates 42-43: German examples written in German scripts.

Cornelis Boissens was an avid collector of drawings, paintings and engravings and was responsible for a number of important calligraphic writingmaster's books. The first is his Eenen nieuwen ABC, printed before 1592, followed by his 'Promptuarium variarum scripturarum,' also in oblong folio, published in ca. 1594 in Amsterdam by Cornelis Claesz, containing a selection of scripts and a series of alphabets. His Groote ende kleine capitalen tot dienst der penn'constlievende is undated. The present third writing-book was published in the same year as Vanden Velde's first. Shortly after 1605 Boissens moved to Leiden where he gave writing lessons to the students for an hour every day. At Leiden he published his last writing book in ca. 1617: Exemplaren van veelerhande Nederlantsche gheschriften.

Marzoli (Calligraphy 1535-1885) wrote on Boissens: "Boissens' writing books were of major importance in the development and perfection of calligraphy in the Netherlands during the latter part of the 16th and early 17th centuries. His works are extremely rare ...".
Fair copy.- (Lacking one leaf with printed text and two plates; without front cover; title rather soiled with little hole (repaired, without loss of text); faint marginal water stain in first lvs.; plates 41-43 with stains and marginal tear in 43; 'probationes pennae' on the verso of plate 43.
Bonacini 232 (Ritter, B. 4154: in total 48 plates (?)); Muller, Cat. Calligraphie 18, (43 plates); Jammes, Cat. Belles écritures, 11 (45 plates); Hagelin, Ekström coll., p. 43  (pl. 1-43, in total 45 plates); Berlin Kat. 5009 (36 plates); Marzoli, 68 (copy of the Exemplaren, note); NNBW II, cols. 194-5; Waller, p. 35-6; A. Namowitz Worthen, 'Calligraphic inscriptions on Dutch mannerist prints', in: Ned. Kunsthist. Jaarb., 42/3 (1991-2), p. 269-70; Croiset van Uchelen, Nederlandse schrijfmeesters (1978), pp. 16-17; idem, Vive la plume (2005), p. 16-19, and plates 10-11); La Fontaine Verwey, 'The Golden Age of Dutch Calligraphy', in: Litterae textualis, 4 (1976), p. 73.

Related Subjects: 17th Century  Calligraphy  Dutch  Netherlands 

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