Trattato di calligrafia: analiticamente esposto, e dedicato ai suoi cari allievi

Napoli: Dalla Stamperia e Cartiera del Fibreno, 1840, 1840. Large folio.  530 x 365 mm., [21 x 14 ¼ inches].  27pp. of text followed by 25 full-page engraved plates.  Bound in recent half calf and corners, marbled paper boards; some foxing to the paper stock and binding with a moisture stain on upper board.  With faults a very good copy of a rare calligraphic manual.
First edition.  Pasquale Martuscelli was a member of the faculty at the Royal Naval Academy in Naples and member of a number of military societies associated with the Royal College of S. Caravaggio.  In his Trattato di calligrafia, Martuscelli offers a (truncated) manual to learn the traditional methods and styles of handwriting, beginning with a discussion of the tools of the calligraphic trade, followed by lessons in design forms including the minuscule, majuscule, bastarda, cursive, and rotonda.  The twenty-five plates are engraved by the notable French firm Brasseaux, established in Paris in 1827.  The firm was owned and operated by two brothers, both expert in field of engraving, part of a family that created engraved medals, stamps, and stationery for Louis Phillippe and other members of the noble families of Paris. 
Martuscelli’s manual and the one by Giuseppe Palermo cited below are excellent examples of the emphasis that the Royal Naval Academy in Naples place on clear and well designed written communication.  These large calligraphic manuals one focusing on traditional forms and the second on styles reflecting 19th century taste are both rare.  For the Martuscelli manual, OCLC cites copies at the Newberry Library, University of Texas at Austin, and the Getty Center.  Palermo’s work is listed by NUC at the Newberry Library and Oberlin College. (Inventory #: 1358)