1756 ❧ SCHWANDNER, JOHANN GEORG VON. 1716-1791. Calligraphia Latina: Dissertatio Epistolaris de Calligraphiae Nomenclatione, Cultu, Praestantia, Utilitate. Vienna: Ex Typographeo Kaliwodiano, 1756. Folio (445 x 292 mm). 157 full-page copper-engraved plates executed by Johann Caspar Schwab. Some light staining. Contemporary vellum-backed pebbled cloth covered boards, title hand-lettered on spine. Provenance: William Stirling-Maxwell (large bookplate to front pastedown and 'Keir' label to rear pastedown). FIRST EDITION. Johann Georg von Schwandner's Calligraphia Latina stands as one of the most visually stunning monuments of 18th-century graphic art and typographic education. Published by imperial academic printer Johann Leopold Kaliwoda in Vienna, the work was designed to elevate the status of formal script writing into a recognized branch of high artistic cultivation. The title-page employs an architectural struction printed within typographic rules. The plates contain intricate baroque initial letters, highly ornate borders interwoven with animals, angels, and foliage, and classical historical alphabets. While the volume opens with a scholarly epistolary dissertation defending the cultural utility of calligraphy, its primary treasure is the vast suite of engravings that follows. Schwab's brilliant engravings capture absolute masterpieces of cursive fluid design, transforming standard alphabets, human figures, and zoomorphic shapes into breathtaking loops and flourishes. Berlin Kat. 5246; Bonacini 1663; Brunet V: 230. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing