Sigismondo Fanti Issues the First Illustrated Manual on the Art of Writing

In 1514 Italian architect, astrologer, mathematician, and writing-master Sigismondo Fanti published from Venice Theorica et practica ... de modo scribendi fabricandique omnes literarum species. This was the first illustrated manual on the art of writing, and the first book illustrated with calligraphic models of the alphabet. It provided practical advice on selecting implements, making ink, on the correct way of holding the pen, and on spacing letters.

Osley, Luminario. An Introduction to the Intalian Writing-Books of the 16th & 17th Centuries (1972) 5-13.