Autorentext

Simon Swynfen Jervis, FSA, is an art historian. After 23 years in the furniture department of the Victoria and Albert Museum, he became Director and Marlay Curator of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and later Historic Buildings Secretary of the National Trust. He has served as a trustee of the Royal Collection, as chairman of the Leche Trust, the Walpole Society and the trustees of Sir John Soane’s Museum, and as president of the Society of Antiquaries of London. A director of the Burlington Magazine until 2024, he is now president of the Furniture History Society.

Klappentext

The manuscript, here shown in facsimile with commentary, was made by a clergyman in a bid for the patronage of an Elizabethan magnate. The earliest known English attempt at an original writing book, it combines scripts and ornament to emulate printed Continental writing books, with quoted texts to individual letters stressing the value of learning.

Inhalt

Foreword Introduction Early Printed Writing Books English Printed Writing Books of the Sixteenth Century Amos Lewis Sir John Petre The Alphabet Book HERALDRY ORNAMENT CAPITAL LETTERS WRITING STYLES TEXTS Conclusion AMOS LEWIS’S ALPHABET BOOK IN FACSIMILE Picture Credits Bibliography Indexes