Buchinger, Matthias | "Written by Matthew Buchinger"

Buchinger, Matthias

Fine autograph calligraphy exemplar signed ("Matthew Buchinger")

One page (152 x 184 mm) on a half-leaf of paper, Edinburgh, 30 April 1723, variously demonstrating frontward, backward, upside-down, and mirror writing; light surface soiling, fold creases and closed separations. Mounted on a slip of paper cut from a manuscript (presumably a fair copy) headed "The Cook's Oracle by Dr. [William] Kitchiner."

In addition to his various performing arts, Buchinger earned his living by selling specimens of his calligraphy, some fantastically elaborate, but others of a more-or-less set formula. In the present example, beneath a dated "ABC" headline, the "Little Man of Nuremberg" has written, "This was Written by Matthew Buchinger born Without Hands or Feet 1674 in Germany."