Reading Room
Le premier essay de la plume de Marie Pavie
Seventeeth-century French calligrapher Marie Pavie authored one of the first calligraphy copybooks published by a woman under her own name: Le premier essay de la plume de Marie Pavie (The first attempt at the pen by Marie Pavie). The book demonstrates a connected French Gothic script written with a small, edged quill, juxtaposed with a lavish page titles in Italian hand. Only one complete copy of this stunning manuscript has survived, and it’s held by the Newberry Library (Chicago, USA).
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Take Note
- 01 The smaller Gothic hand has a modest slant, tight counters, and narrow forms—at once delicate and assertive. In some places, the strokes connect so lightly they verge on disconnection, hovering between calligraphic script and manuscript (print). On many pages, hairline daggers descend from the vertical letter stems, plunging through the baselines to create a text block that is cathedral-like in its sharp, Gothic structure.
- 02 Crowning the lesson pages, Pavie wrote titles in a stunning Italian hand. Feathery hairlines spin into towering swashes, dramatically-shaded ornaments swell and taper in defiance of gravity.
- 03 Marginalia and sketches adorn some of the verso pages—likely added by a user of the book, not Pavie herself. This was common during an era when paper was rare and pens needed frequent testing.
Digital Facsimile
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Archive Record
Digitized By
Newberry Library (Chicago) digitized and cataloged this rare manuscript. View the original digitized pages in the
Newberry Library Digital Collection.
Presented By
Digital facsimile prepared by Molly Suber Thorpe from Newberry's archive files. The pages have been cropped, straightened, sharpened, brightened, and assembled into reading order. Cover thumbnail by Molly Suber Thorpe, as the original volume lacks a title page.
Rights Status
Public domain. This work may be used freely for personal or commercial purposes; no license or permission is required. Credit to Newberry Library and Molly Suber Thorpe is appreciated when the work is shared.
Digital Note
Cleaned, straightened, sharpened, and ordered for easier reading.
