Marie Pavie (fl. 1600) was a calligrapher active in France at the beginning of the seventeenth century and possibly the first woman to have published a copybook, Le premier essay de la plume de Marie Pavie, under her own name.

Marie Pavie
A page from Le premier essay de la plume de Marie Pavie. S.l., 1608. (Chicago NL).
Occupationcalligrapher
Years activec. 1608
Notable workLe premier essay de la plume de Marie Pavie(1608)

Life & work

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Pavie, along with Dutch calligrapher Maria Strick, the other contender for the position of first woman to publish a copybook under her own name, were part of a vanishingly small group of professional early-modern women calligraphers. Little is known about Pavie's life and there are only two copies of her book extant, and one of those partial: the Newberry Library in Chicago holds the only known complete copy,[1] and the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris has some leaves.[2] Copybooks tended to receive heavy usage and many have not survived.

References

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  1. ^ A fully digitized version is available online.
  2. ^ Marolles collection: Paris BNF (Est.): Kb31 fol.

Bibliography

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  • Mediavilla, Claude. History of French calligraphy. Paris: 2006, p.192.
  • Le premier essay de la plume de Marie Pavie. S.l., 1608. 4° obl., 25 pl. (Newberry Library, Chicago: Wing ZW 639.P283, 15 pl. Available online).

See also

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