Micrography, Medleys, and marks: the visual discernment of text in the calligraphy collection of Samuel Pepys

Abstract

Samuel Pepys’s calligraphy collection comprises numerous textual fragments pasted and bound into three volumes, which together document a history of handwriting and textual forms. The calligraphy volumes evidence a deep and multifaceted interest in visual criticism trained on the written word within Pepys’s social and intellectual milieu. In particular, micrographic texts and trompe l’œil ‘Medley’ images offered educated gentleman a body of delightfully curious material on which they could practise and hone communal, comparative, and repeatable modes of critical observation. The article also provides new evidence to show that early Medley images emerged in tandem with the rise of calligraphic collections and were developed by penmasters in collaboration with the interests of seventeenth-century collectors who were fascinated by the impact that optical devices, drawing instruments, and developments in printing techniques could have on the aesthetic rendering of text. From the mid-1690s to the early eighteenth century, the appearance of the written word played a vital role in discussions about visual discernment within English intellectual circles.