The First Alphabetical Treatises in the Renaissance

Abstract

Treatises on the design of the alphabet were an innovation of the early Renaissance and reflect that period’s conception of a world ordered by numerical proportion and geometric shape. The interrelationship of the various men and their theories is discussed and illustrated. Although Felice Feliciano inaugurated these alphabetical treatises, Andrea Mantegna is shown to have had an important place (if not key role) in the revival of the roman letter.