History of Graphic Design through Publications: WRITING MANUALS

Although typographic printing produced an inevitable decline in manuscript writing, it also created new opportunities for master calligraphers. The rapid growth of literacy created a huge demand for writing masters, and the attendant expansion of government and commerce created a need for expert calligraphers who could draft important state and business documents.

The first of many sixteenth-century writing manuals was created by Italian master calligrapher, printer, and type design Lodovico degli Arrighi (d.c. 1527). His small volume from 1522 entitled La operina da imparare di scrivere littera cancellaresca (The First Writing Manual of the Chancery Hand) was a brief course using excellent examples to teach the cancelleresca script.

Arrighi's masterful writing was meticulously cut into woodblocks by engraver Ugo da Carpi (c. 1479-1533). Arrighi's directions were so clear and simple that the reader could learn his hand in a few days.

La operina  sounded the death knell for the scriptorium as an exclusive domain for the few who could write; it rang in the era of the writing master and public writing skill.

From: Phillp Meggs, History or Graphic Design