Writing and the Preservation of Cultural Identity: The Penmanship Manuals of Zaharija Orfelin

In the present work the activity of polymath Zaharija Orfelin (1726-1785) in preserving the cultural identity of Serbs is examined through the analysis of his writing manuals and in particular through the identification of the models that he used for his manuals. When in 1776 the Vienna Court asked for a book on penmanship to be used specifically in the Serbian and Vlach schools it was Orfelin who answered this need. He based his manual, Slavenskaja i valahijskaja kaligrafija (1778) on Joseph Felbiger’s first book on penmanship, a masterpiece in the field of Silesian pedagogy, Eigenschaften, Wissenschaften und Bezeigenrechtschaffener Schulleute (1768). Other calligraphies are also considered here as the possible models for an earlier guide to penmanship by Orfelin aimed at teaching Serbian script, Novaja i osnovatelnaja slavenoserbska kaligrafija (1759).