A closeup photo from the first page of "Le premier essay de la plume de Marie Pavie" focuses on Marie Pavie’s name printed in 17th-century Italian hand style calligraphy — Detail photo of the first page of "Le premier essay de la plume de Marie Pavie", focusing on Marie Pavie’s name printed in 17th-century Italian hand style calligraphy

Hello friends

Welcome to the second issue of Books with Hook, my study blog looking at primary resources from Western calligraphy masters throughout the centuries. If you’re new here, every month I choose a manuscript, book, or piece of calligraphy to study. At the end of the month, I put together a little write-up chatting about what I’ve learned and found interesting. You can find last month’s post here: https://www.lindsey-hook.com/books-with-hook/2025/1/29/lucas-materot-les-oeuvres

If you’d like to follow along with me for future posts, please join my mailing list.

All about Marie

I expect that the majority of these study blogs will feature manuscripts and books readably accessible to anyone online. This month, however, is an exception; I went on a field trip to the Newberry Library here in Chicago and checked out the work of Marie Pavie, a 17th-century French calligrapher with an almost non-existent digital footprint.

The first time I encountered Pavie was at the Newberry Library’s exhibition A Show of Hands: Handwriting in the Age of Print at the end of 2022 (shout-out to my friend Alicia Márquez, who had a piece in this show, and whose work you should absolutely check out: https://art-lettering.com).

The Newberry has the only known complete copy of Pavie’s writing manual, Le premier essay de la plume de Marie Pavie1. From the little bit of research I’ve done, it seems there is debate on whether the book was published in 1608—after Maria Strick’s first copybook, published in 1607—or 1600, which would make it the first known writing manual published by a woman scribe. At the Show of Hands exhibition, the book was open to a page showing French civilité script—a lovely broad-edge cursive hand I know very little about but would love to learn. I was intrigued enough at the time to want to poke through the full book, and was delighted during my visit to discover many pages also feature examples of Italian-style script from the period.

4/4/25 - Editor’s Note: The Newberry now has high-res photos of Pavie’s book available online in their digital collection: https://collections.newberry.org/asset-management/2KXJ8ZSWEBL56

The book is fairly small—around 5.5” by 7.5” horizontal—and comprises 15 printed plates. It doesn’t have a proper cover, but there is a title page of sorts (fig. 1) where someone (I’m guessing a previous owner) has written in English “Specimens of Marie Pavie a French Female Writer”. Below that is a tipped-in piece of paper with the number 125 written on it. I want to note that this is the only actual writing in the book. Each page of Pavie’s work is printed from a metal plate engraved to replicate her original calligraphy. The paper is in good condition with a nice laid texture, and the printing is solid and dark.

Pavie jumps right in on the first page (fig. 2) with an exemplar of Italian capitals titled “Capitalles tant de commencement q. de mitan de lignes”, or “Capitals both at the beginning and in the middle of lines”. There are at least four examples of most letters, showing large flourished versions that would be placed at the beginning of a page or a text block, as well as medium/smaller-sized and simpler variants to be used inline. J, K, U, and W are omitted, which is common for the period.

The positioning of the thicks and thins indicate that the letters were most likely written with a delicate, but edged quill, and were probably achieved through a combination of that broad edge, rotation of the quill through certain strokes, and pressure to increase the line weight in certain areas. I love the way the flourishes on some letters are carried counterclockwise around, down and to the right in the descender space. It keeps my attention moving forward through the lines.

Page two (fig. 3) is a mix of lowercase letterforms, ligatures, and words showing letters in context. The spacing is airy with allowance for a full character left open between each letter. Interlinear spacing is just as open; I’d estimate it between four to five times the x-height. Ascenders and descenders mostly range from two to three times the x-height. The slant varies a little but is generally around 80°. Overall, the character of the script is delicate and wispy, but grounded by the regimented march of the lowercase letters between the baseline and the x-height.

The “a” form is interesting. It starts around 1 o’clock and has a bit of weight at the entry, indicating again that Pavie was using quills with at least a little bit of an edge. The stroke is carried down and around to make an oval form which is slightly flat on the top, with a bit of a kink in the curve at the top right. This form is perhaps easier to see in the example of the bowl for the “d” shown without the stem. The “c” is made the same way. The stem for the “a” is added without lifting the pen by pulling a straight line down from the point where the bowl has been closed. The exit from the bowl and transition into the stem stroke is often carried above the join with the bowl entry, allowing the stem to rise slightly above the bowl. All of these characteristics show the connected, cursive approach to the writing, where the letter is completed with a single stroke when practical.

Also of interest on the minuscule exemplar page are Pavie’s broken down diagrams for the blobbed ascenders on “b”, “d”, “h”, and “l”. For “b” (fig. 4), she starts with a little outline of the teardrop blob shape located in the proper position at the top of the ascender space. This is followed by the full letter with the blob still empty, and then several variants with it filled. For the “d” (fig. 5), she starts with the bowl and then the bowl with the outlined blob above and in the correct position without the stem connecting them.

I think she’s indicating several things with this diagramming. The blobbed ascender strokes are started at the top with the little outline of the shape and then filled later. They are not “thrown” away from the body with the stroke begun at the base of the letter and then pressure applied at the completion of the stroke to form the blob. Even for the “d” where it might feel natural to carry the stem up from the bowl, she’s showing that the bowl is formed first, then the stem is added as a separate down-stroke (at least this is the case for the d’s with straight stems in line with the slant of the script).

Swashed ascenders look like they are added after a stem stroke is completed (sans blob), with the quill rotated almost to 90°. I suspect the quill was held at around 70-80° for the majority of the script with slight rotations here and there to either minimize or emphasize line weight. This angle accounts for many of the weighted areas in Italian hand that may seem counterintuitive to people familiar with pointed pen through the lens of later copperplate and roundhand styles, metal nibs, and oblique holders. I’ve already mentioned the heaviness at the top right of the bowls for letters like “a” and “d”, but it’s also there in the entry to the c’s, the shoulders of the h’s, m’s, and n’s, and it’s particularly evident in the curved form that makes up the bowl for the “p”, and the “r” variant using the same shape. I’ve had good luck reproducing these forms and line weights with a quill, but have never tried with a metal nib. I’m adding it to my to-practice list to give Italian hand a shot with a tiny broad-edge nib.

The remainder of the book is dedicated to French civilité and gothic cursive script examples, but each plate has a lovely Italian hand title line. I’ve picked out a few of my favorite moments to share in the following photos.

I love the layout of this page (fig. 6) with the mirrored flourishes off the “s” of “magis”, and the first “t” of “praestatj”. The mirroring of “Marie” and “Pavie” at the base of the page is also fun. The a’s in “alta” and “magis” are clear examples of what I mentioned above about Pavie lifting the tops of the stems just above the x-height and the bowl of the letter.

It’s interesting to note the connecting strokes and the letterform variants she’s chosen between the “p”, the “o”, and the “r” in “corpore”. The baseline exit from the “p” allows for a half-height entry into the “o” which in turn leaves room for a heavy, filled accent at the top where she loops out of the “o”. This up-swinging loop transition from the “o” puts the pen in the perfect position for the “r” variant with a straight stem stroke.

Compare these choices from “corpore” to what she’s done in “Fortuna” (fig. 7). The crossbar of the “F” makes for a high entry into the “o”, which makes the large filled-loop variant of the “o” a poor option. Instead, Pavie chooses a closed “o” and a simple transition into the curved “r” variant. This is a perfect example of why I find it so helpful to study calligraphy scripts in use. Exemplars are great starting points for picking up basic forms and proportions but seeing the letters and choices made in context provides so much more insight into how to actually write a script.

Two nice swashed ascenders on this page (fig. 8). The “t” ascender is also a perfect example of why I believe this style of swashed loop was added after the fact. There’s a slight bump in the stem of the “t” at the height of all the other t’s. There’s also a bit of an angle in the curvature connecting the top of the stem to the swash. My guess is the “t” was initially written in the same manner as all the other t’s on the page. The decision was made to add a swashed ascender to it, so a taller downstroke was written on top of the existing shorter stem. A third stroke was then made, originating at the entry into the tall stem, and carrying over to the right to make the loop of the swash. This is obviously speculative; the letter here is engraved, and my analysis rests on the assumption that the engraving is true to the written letter it was based upon. It makes sense to me though that this kind of a join would be how these swashes are accomplished. Throughout the book, many of them have a slight angle in the transition of the curve right where a join would be placed. The shades of the swashes also tend to be thicker than any other parts of the text, indicating they’re written with downward force expanding the quill. This tells me they’re written left to right. To make a pressurized stroke in this manner from right to left would be incredibly impractical.

While we’re talking t’s, Pavie frequently adds a little downward squiggle at the termination of the crossbars on hers that I don’t recall having come across anywhere else. It’s an interesting idiosyncrasy, and I wonder if it really is specific to her (perhaps something she carries over from other scripts), or if I just haven’t noticed it in the work of other scribes before.

More swashes (fig. 9), I love the bottom-heavy “f” and the space filler exit swash off the last “t” 😍. The ascender of the “b” and the descender of the “f” are good examples of the two primary axes at play in the script. Also worth noting: the transitions from the “l” to the “e” and the “u” to the “s” appear to be fully connected cursive strokes.

There are lots of fun little details in this “Grandia…” line (figs. 10-12). The “s” is interesting for its simplicity without any weight at the top, and the fine exit line added to connect it to the “u”. I’m also a fan of the looped ascenders on the “d” in “suntblando” and the “l” in “velata”. “velata” overall has a lovely flow; I like the lack of weight at the top of the “e” (just like in the aforementioned “s”) keeping things light and balanced following the heavier fills in the preceding “v” and “o”.

The spiral off the end of the “r” and the stepped tail off the end of the “g” descender loop are both fun (fig. 13). I also like the flattened side of the filled ascender blob of the “l”.

I really love the fluid construction of the connecting strokes in “artes” (fig. 14), where the stem and part of the arch of the “r” are written, then the stem of the “t” as a stand-alone stroke, followed by the addition of the exit stroke off the “r” transitioning into the crossbar of the “t”, and then transitioning again into the base of the “e”, and then the single stroke forming the top of the “e” and curling around into the full form of the “s”. It’s like the whole word is a little ligature party. The closeup of the “p” here also clearly shows the weight shifts in the line with the edge of the quill mentioned above.

I love this “f” with the open looped ascender extending so far out to the right, and the descender looping back on itself to form the crossbar (fig. 15). I think lowercase f’s are often the showstopper accents in Italian hand.

“Virtus” pops up in Pavie’s book a lot, so this seemed a fitting detail to end on (fig. 16). I love this style of looped swash entry to the “v”. I also really appreciate how clearly the letters here reveal how they were written. The edge of the quill is sharp and clear at the top of the “i”, and through the curve of the “r”. It’s also clear that the exit stroke from the “r” is looped up to begin the “t” in a fluid movement, adding a bit of extra weight at the top of the “t” where the point of the quill loops back down into the stem. The use of the crossbar as the connecting stroke to the “u” is a nice way to break up the baseline and keeps the eye moving through the word.

Studying Pavie’s work this month has me itching to cut a quill and get in some practice time with traditional materials in addition to the pointed metal nibs I use most of the time. I wonder if there would be interest in a whole workshop on writing this style of early 17th-century Italian script with quills. It might be a lot of ground to cover if people haven’t written with quills before 🤔

I wish I could leave a link here for an online copy of Pavie’s book in case anyone wants to dig into it beyond the photos I’ve shared (there is a permalink to the citation page for it in the footnotes section below). Hopefully, it will be digitized at some point. For now, I definitely recommend anyone in the Chicago area check it out in person at the Newberry.

Next Up…

I haven’t made a final decision on who to focus on for March, but I’m leaning toward a manuscript with actual writing since the last two posts have featured printed work. Engraved materials are wonderful resources, but it’s so hard to know how closely they replicate a scribe’s writing. I have a couple of options in mind, but please send me a note, or leave a comment below if you have a suggestion for someone you’re interested in learning more about.

Thanks for studying along with me!

Footnotes

1 Pavie, Marie et al. [Specimens of Calligraphy]. 1600. France? Newberry Library Special Collections - John M. Wing Collection - 4th floor ; VAULT Wing ZW 639 .P283
Permalink - https://i-share-nby.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CARLI_NBY/i5mcb2/alma995955938805867
Full images in Newberry Digital Collections - https://collections.newberry.org/asset-management/2KXJ8ZSWEBL56

Marie Pavie and Her Lovely Calligraphy Specimens

Hello friends

All about Marie

Next Up…

Footnotes