Foot-High Letters. First Series, the Roman Capitals.
Price, Matlack

Folio. (28)ff. loose plates, measuring 23 by 17 inches. First edition. Together with a 12pp. pamphlet titled A Guide to Lettering: a Practical Syllabus for Teachers, explaining how these poster-sized leaves can be used in the classroom. Twenty-six of the leaves feature twelve-inch-tall Roman capitals of each letter A-Z, with commentary on each letter's form and history and smaller versions of each letter in nine different types for comparison: Trajan, Forum, Caslon, Futura, Beton Light Beton Extrabold, Weiss Initials, Neuland, and Corvinus. The two introductory leaves explain how to use the set and provide samples of each of the nine types. The author, Price, was typographer, art director, and instructor at the Pratt Institute, and the letters were drawn by Otto Munzinger. No other parts in this series are known. In the original printed envelope, which shows some soiling, tears and edge wear; envelope flap is becoming detached. Still, a fine set of these bold, creative educational tools.

Het ABC van het Naziregiem.
Vos, Herman A.

16mo. (14)pp. An illustrated anti-Nazi alphabet book in Dutch, filled with color caricatures of German soldiers and their leaders: Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler, and others. The book opens with a foreword by the author/illustrator, Dutch artist Herman A. Vos, decorated with the Allies' flags. In illustrated wrappers, with a depiction of Nazi leaders in stocks on the front cover. Tiny hole to top of front cover, else fine.

Escuela Paleographica, ķ de Leer Letras Cursivas Antiguas y Modernas, desde la Entrada de los Godos en Espaņa, Hasta Nuestros Tiempos.
Merino de Jesuchristo, P. Andres

Folio. (xxxiv), 442pp. With an engraved title-page, 59 plates showing examples of calligraphy, and one vignette. The plates display a wide variety of alphabets, and the 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 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 early, likely original, full Spanish tree calf. Endpapers marbled. Some chipping and rubbing to extremities, light stains to boards, superficial tear in leather to rear board. Internally fine, although lacking final leaf of glossary (p. 443), which appears to have been omitted when the book was bound. Owner's calligraphic inscription to front endpaper.

A Decorative Alphabet based on Uncial forms.
Mahoney, Dorothy

A single matted leaf, approximately 20 by 15 inches in the mat, containing an alphabet hand-calligraphed in blue and black by Dorothy Mahoney, author of The Craft of Calligraphy. The letters are based on Victor Hammer's famed Uncial design, and are written out on five lines. Y and Z are centered on the leaf and flanked on either side by further calligraphy indicating the Uncial basis for the letters, the calligrapher, and date. Very fine.

Alphabet Gothique par Midolle.

Octavo. (26)ff. A manuscript alphabet book of calligraphic paintings, signed by the artist. Includes title page, twenty-four letters, and "Fin." A renowned nineteenth-century Swiss calligrapher and miniature-painter, Midolle executed his alphabets in the gothic style of lettering to resemble the text of a medieval manuscript, and often decorated his work elaborately. Although a leading figure in the field of chromolithography, Midolle also handcolored his work in the fashion of the miniature paintings found in fifteenth-century French illuminated books. Entirely hand drawn, Alphabet Gothique is executed in such a style, with each elaborately detailed letter rendered in bright colors that have retained their vibrancy to a remarkable degree. Multi-colored flowers, birds, and serpents are prevalent as compositional motifs, intertwined with the letters themselves. Bound in brown morocco with a cover design by noted American collector Cornelius Hauck. The design depicts an oak tree in brown and green morocco onlays. The tree is situated behind three arched and spired portals in gilt that suggest a cathedral. The spine also incorporates portions of the design. Gilt dentelles and silk endpapers complete this handsome binding, which is a fitting complement to the exquisite artwork inside. A.e.g. Very fine.

6-Line Wood Letter Alphabets.

Six volumes, each (28)pp. One of 100 numbered copies. Titles include: Old Style Italic Type Designers, Playbill Type Faces, Round Serif Typefounders, Sans Condensed Typographic Words, Winchester Type Casting, and Sans Bold Italic Parts of the Press. Each little book highlights a different type face, featuring associated words with the appropriate letters of the alphabet. For example, "C" is for caslon, or in the case of volume one, "G" is for Eric Gill and "J" for Edward Johnston. Each volume's alphabet is printed in a different color, with the printed wrappers corresponding in color scheme. Very fine in a marbled slipcase. (2 by 2 3/4; 51x70mm).

The Alphabet of Francesco Torniello da Novara [1517] Followed by a comparison with the Alphabet of Fra Luca Pacioli.

Quarto. xxvii, 106pp. One of 160 copies printed on handmade Amalfi paper. This reprint of Torniello's alphabet includes a reproduction of the title page portrait of Torniello, newly engraved after Guillaume Le Signerre by Leonardo Farina; a facsimile of the geometrically-constructed alphabet; and a comparison of Torneillo's roman capitals with those constructed by Luca Pacioli in 1509. First published in 1517, Torneillo's treatise is of interest for his calligraphic improvements of the capital letters, but especially significant because it was the first construction based on a logical system of measurement which he called "punto," or point. With an Introduction by Giovanni Mardersteig; English translation by Betty Radice. A broadside leaf explaining the text, not called for in the bibliography, is laid-in. Very slight darkening along inner hinges from binding glue, else a very fine copy in quarter blue morocco, lettered in gilt, and vellum-colored boards, printed in black on both covers. With fine slipcase. T.e.g.

HANDBOK FOR FORALDRAR. NE ABC OCH LASEBO. KINHALLANDE LASOFNINGAR.

Square 12mo. (vi), 104pp. + 5ff. engravings. An ABC book in Swedish, with four printed and four engraved alphabets and notes on the phonetics and history of them. Illustrated with a hand-colored engraved map of Europe and engraved plates of trees, parts of the body, classical nudes, and calligraphy. Contains many short readings in poetry, history, natural history, geography, and the arts, some printed in Roman and some in Gothic type. Some pen and pencil marginalia and a few passages crossed out with diagonal pen lines, possibly by a teacher. Some rubbing and wear, still a nice copy in original quarter-leather and boards.