P. ANDRES MERINO DE JESUCHRISTO Escuela Paleographica, ó de Leer Letras Antiguas, desde la Entrada de los Godos en España, hasta Nuestros Tiempos. Madrid, Juan Antonio Lozano, 1780.

Folio. (xxxiv), 443 pp. First edition. With an engraved title-page, 59 plates showing examples of calligraphy, and one color vignette. The plates display a wide variety of alphabets, and the stunning color vignette that opens the book is a depiction of two gods in a woodland clearing flanked by several cherubs busily engaged in the act of writing. The scene has been beautifully colored by a contemporary hand.

The Escuela Paleographica contstitutes a major historical study of Spanish paleography, the facsimilie plates skillfully copied from the works of Mabillon and Rodriguez as well as directly from manuscripts that were held in various Spanish libraries.

Bound in contemporary Spanish tree calf with marbled endpapers. The spine is in seven compartments, with ornate gilt decorations in each and with a red leather spine label, gilt lettered.

Some rubbing to extremities, corners bumped, couple small closed tears and one worm hole in leather. Overall a fine copy, bright and unmarked internally. (Bonacini 1168; Palau 165667). (21911) $4000.00

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