Minneapolis Institute of Art

Liber artificiosus alphabeti maioris, oder: neu inventirtes Kunst- Schreib- und Zeichenbuch

Johann Merken; Engraver: Heinrich Hugo Cöntgen

Date: 1782–85
Medium: Engravings, letterpress
Department: European Art
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Art

This sumptuously illustrated artist’s manual and typography guide would have brought a rich assortment of subjects to life for the aspiring draftsman and calligrapher—ornament, emblems, drawing devices, the visual expression of emotions, ink recipes, astronomy, sundials, perpetual calendars, alchemy, and the architectural orders, as well as typographic models of the Roman, Greek, and Hebrew alphabets. It comprises over 80 pages of text and 56 engraved plates printed on blue paper. This elaborate plate shows a drawing device that allowed the draftsman to mechanically create two identical drawings of different sizes simultaneously, or to copy a drawing in a smaller scale. The illustration includes a pattern of the pieces required to construct the device. Germany, Europe

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