Giovanni Antonio Tagliente Explained

Giovanni Antonio Tagliente (sometimes written Giovannantonio) (c. 1460s – c. 1528) was a calligrapher, author, printer and publisher based in Venice during the Renaissance period.^{[1] [2]}

Tagliente began his life as a calligrapher and taught around Italy before returning to Venice in 1491. He worked for the Venetian Chancery and was given a sinecure by the senate, becoming a publisher late in life.

Tagliente's publications were textbooks and self-help volumes.^[3] These included guides on learning to read,^[4] arithmetic,^[5] accounting,^[6] embroidery patterns,^{[7] [8]} textile production and a book of model love letters.^{[9] [10] [11] [12]} Some of his books were very popular and were issued in dozens of editions.^{[13] [14]} They have come to attention of feminist and social historians for their promotion of reading for women and the uneducated; his textbook on reading aimed to teach reading "in a period of two months, more or less depending on the intelligence of the reader." He also wrote for a target market of potential civil servants. Tagliente published a writing manual, The True Art of Excellent Writing or Lo presente libro, in Venice in 1524, with engravings and some text set in an italic typeface presumably based on his calligraphy.^{[15] [16] [17]}

Tagliente's typeface was an inspiration for historically inclined typeface designers in modern times, becoming the inspiration for the italic of the popular 1928 book typeface Bembo. Historian Alfred F. Johnson reprinted his work, along with his contemporary Ludovico Vicentino degli Arrighi.^[18]

External links

• Lo Presente Libro (Google Books digitisation)
• Page on Tagliente by Luc Devroye

Notes and References

1. Book: Morison. Stanley. Johnson. Alfred. McKitterick. David John. Selected essays on the history of letter-forms in manuscript and print. 2009. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. 978-0-521-18316-1. 30–45. Paperback reissue, digitally printed version.. https://books.google.com/books?id=-G2tQVnPiCAC&pg=PA30. 28 December 2015. 3: The Chancery Types of Italy and France.
2. Book: Morison. Stanley. Stanley Morison. A Tally of Types. registration. 1973. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. 41–60. 978-0-521-09786-4. New with additions by several hands.
3. Book: Rudolph M. Bell. How to Do It: Guides to Good Living for Renaissance Italians. 1 September 2000. University of Chicago Press. 978-0-226-04183-4. 16.
4. Book: Margaret W. Ferguson. Dido's Daughters: Literacy, Gender, and Empire in Early Modern England and France. 1 November 2007. University of Chicago Press. 978-0-226-24318-4. 51.
5. Book: David E. Rowe. Wann-Sheng Horng. A Delicate Balance: Global Perspectives on Innovation and Tradition in the History of Mathematics: A Festschrift in Honor of Joseph W. Dauben. 12 May 2015. Birkhäuser. 978-3-319-12030-0. 182–200.
6. Book: Richard Brown. A History of Accounting and Accountants. 1 October 2006. Cosimo, Inc.. 978-1-59605-961-0. 120.
7. Book: Janet S. Byrne. Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.). Renaissance Ornament Prints and Drawings. 1981. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 978-0-87099-288-9. 32.
8. Book: Morison . Stanley . Splendour of Ornament . 1968 . Lion and Unicorn Press . London.
9. Book: Moulton. Ian Frederick. Love in Print in the Sixteenth Century. Macmillan. 978-1-137-40504-3. 119–125. 28 December 2015. 2014-04-16.
10. Book: Moulton. Ian Frederick. Dimmock. Matthew. Hadfield. Andrew. Literature and popular culture in early modern England. 2009. Ashgate. Farnham, England. 978-0-7546-6580-9. 99–100. https://books.google.com/books?id=_LW6-1L0qFgC&pg=PA99. Chapter 6: Sex, Love and Sixteenth-Century Print Culture.
11. Book: Calabresi. Bianca. Hackel. Heidi. Kelly. Catherine. Reading women literacy, authorship, and culture in the Atlantic world, 1500–1800. 2008. University of Pennsylvania Press. Philadelphia. 978-0-8122-0598-5. 97–99. 28 December 2015.
12. Book: Femke Speelberg. "Fashion & Virtue: Textile Patterns and the Print Revolution, 1520–1620" The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 73, no. 2 (Fall, 2015). 24 November 2015. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 978-1-58839-580-1. 23–27, 47.
13. Book: Roy Porter. Roy Porter. Mikulas Teich. Mikulas Teich. The Renaissance in National Context. 1992. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-36970-1. 62, 67.
14. Book: Ruth B. Bottigheimer. Fairy Tales Framed: Early Forewords, Afterwords, and Critical Words. 23 February 2012. SUNY Press. 978-1-4384-4222-8. 11.
15. Book: Arrighi. Ludovico Vicentino degli. La operina di Ludouico Vicentino, da imparare di scriuere littera cancellarescha. 1524. Rome/Venice?. 28 December 2015.
16. Book: Clayton. Ewan. The Golden Thread: the story of writing. 2013. Counterpoint. 978-1-61902-350-5. 128–151.
17. Book: Tagliente. Giovanni Antonio. Lo presente libro insegna la vera arte de lo excellente scriuere de diuerse varie sorti de litere le quali se fano per geometrica ragione & con la presente opera ognuno le potra stampare e impochi giorni per lo amaistramento, ragione, & essempli, come qui sequente vederai.. 1524. Venice. 28 December 2015.
18. Book: Johnson. Alfred. Three Classics of Italian Calligraphy. 1952. Dover Publications.