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Import 2022-12-08 07:06

A collection of 29 issues

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Writing manuals of the 16th century were created as illustrated training books as one of the earliest forms of distance learning. They were made to instruct literate students the specific hands and practices required to be a commercial scribe or secretary. They were often designed to be advertisements for the

Princeton's Rare Books and Special Collections

I called up twenty three items and spent two happy days in the reading room of Princeton's Firestone Library. There are ten separate collections in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. While the reading room serves these collections, a researcher is dealing with 10 catalogs. Princeton makes

Riding to Research

Leaving Winterthur before 5:00, I went to eat a late lunch heading North. I didn't know where I was staying that night. I had anticipated staying at a friend's place, but misunderstood the location of his home. My plan was to get to Princeton in

A Brief Stop at Winterthur

My time in Washington, D.C. had come to a close. After breakfast with my nephew Josh, I got on the road north. Well, almost North. I had a little fun with the toll roads in Maryland, getting onto one that required a toll reader that I didn't

The varieties of a Palatino edition

I made a few discoveries about Palatino editions at the Folger Shakespeare Library. I had taken a look at 3 copies of Libro di M. Giouanbattista Palatino at the Newberry printed by Blado. My interest was piqued enough to take a look at the Folger's copies of Compendio

Breaching the walls of the Folger Shakespeare Library

After a 2 month hiatus, I am back to recording progress on my trip. Coming back and re-establishing myself was more challenging than I imagined - in fact the trip itself was more challenging than I thought it would be. My apologies for leaving you hanging! Getting into a special

Home is where the Hurricane is parked

I'm breaking the mostly-chronological nature of the story to report that I've made it back to Oakland, CA. I returned last Thursday and am getting re-acclimated to being off the road and returning to a daily routine. As I rode through the mountains and into Death

Discovery at the Library of Congress

The Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection at the Library of Congress is one of the finest collections of illustrated books in the US. Calligraphy, both in the form of manuscript as well as printed writing manuals, is well represented in the collection. The Rare Book & Special Collections department has other

Palatino's: Libro nuovo d’imparare a scrivere... 1545

I found my way to the Library of Congress from Chicago after a few adventures on the road, but I'm going to leave those stories for another post. The Rare Books & Manuscripts division is in the Jefferson Bldg. They have a few nice books there & I

Mercator's projection and tutelage

Italian 16th century writing manuals are numerous, however the rest of the Continent took about half a century to catch up with the innovators. Neudorffer in Germany, Iciar in Spain published prior to the middle of the century, but there was one guy over in Flanders that stood out. When