Giovanni Battista Palatino

Italian calligrapher

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July 1, 2026

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cancellaresca Variety of *cancellaresca* script by Giovanni Battista Palatino, from *Libro nuovo d'imparare a scrivere*, 1540.

Giovanni Battista Palatino was an influential Italian calligrapher and writing master of the 16th century. He is best known for his influential writing manual, Libro nuovo d'imparare a scrivere ("New Book for Learning to Write"), published in Rome in 1540. This book, along with those by Ludovico degli Arrighi and Giovanantonio Tagliente, significantly shaped the teaching and practice of cancelleresca (chancery script) in the first half of the 16th century. Palatino's work was frequently reprinted and imitated, contributing to the spread of humanist scripts across Europe.1

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calligraphy
Writing manuals and copybooks (16th to 18th century)
In Rome in 1540 Giovanni Battista Palatino published his Libro nuovo d’imparare a scrivere (“New Book for Learning to Write”), which proved to be, along with the manuals of Arrighi and Tagliente, one of the most influential books on writing cancelleresca issued in the first half of the 16th…
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In Rome in 1540 Giovanni Battista Palatino published his Libro nuovo d’imparare a scrivere (“New Book for Learning to Write”), which proved to be, along with the manuals of Arrighi and Tagliente, one of the most influential books on writing cancelleresca issued in the first half of the 16th…
Read More