b'64 (CALLIGRAPHY). Giuseppe Vigevano. Nisayon Ktav Lashon HaKodesh - Saggio di Caratteri Ebraici. [Students Guide to Hebrew Calligraphy.] Two parts: Theory, followed by twelve full-page elaborate copper engravings (by F. Pirani) displaying examples of Hebrew fonts. Rabbinic approbations. Text in Italian and Hebrew. ff. (2). cols. 24, (f. 1), ff. 12. Trace stained. Modern gilt-tooled maroon calf. Oblong folio. Solander-case. Mantua, (Anania Coen), 1824. $5000 - $7000 FIRST STUDY ON HEBREW CALLIGRAPHY. BEAUTIFULLY PRODUCED. The plates here begin with the radicals and progress through rabbinic, scriptural and cursive texts; with an alphabet and sample for each on separate plates,nishing with plates devoted to punctuation, numbers, the names of the months, and anal tour-de-force. The plates throughout are executed with great variation of tone provided by shading. Each is surrounded byourishes and many includes symbolic animals.This work emerged at the dawn of the modernization of Hebrew into a living language. With the rise of secular nationalism, increased attention was given towards the viability of the Hebrew language to serve all strata of the Jewish people, as opposed to the more familiar lingua franca of Yiddish. For the past few centuries, Hebrew had been used in a rabbinic form, and was not readily accessible to those with lesser education. The efforts to formally educate children in its structure and grammar marks a turning point in the revivi cation of the language. (See EJ vol. V, 64).THE EARLIEST PRINTED HEBREW CALLIGRAPHIC MANUAL. A RARE COMPLETE COPY.33'