Victor Adverille - Notices sur les calligraphes Bernard, dit de Paris et Bernard, dit de Melun - 1892

1 volume in-8 full cloth, light exterior wear, interior fresh - A fine copy.

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Notes on the calligraphers Bernard, known as “of Paris,” and Bernard, known as “of Melun,” and on the Chevalier de Berny, a calligrapher and economist of the 18th century, is an erudite study published in 1897 by Victor Advielle.

The work appeared in Paris with G. Rapilly and constitutes an offprint from the Réunion des sociétés des beaux-arts des départements (21st session, 1897). It comprises about 41 pages.

In it, Advielle studies three figures linked to the art of writing in the 18th century:

Bernard dit de Paris,
Bernard dit de Melun (identified as Jean-François Mamel),
the Chevalier de Berny.

The book is important for the history of French calligraphy and the master scribes. It draws on collections of examples of writing, notably from the famous collection of the calligrapher Auguste-Guillaume Taupier.

Regarding Bernard de Melun, Advielle gathers several biographical details:

he would have been born in Nancy in 1750 under the name Jean-François Mamel,
he taught at the Brothers of the Christian Schools,
he worked as a master writer in Melun,
he signed simply “Bernard.”

The study also describes:

des modèles d’écriture sur vélin,
the techniques of master scribes,
the handwriting academies,
the links between calligraphy, administration, and education under the Ancien Régime.