The paper deals with the manuscript f. 115 No. 169 from the collection of Saint Petersburg Institute of History dated 1604. It has been known to specialists as The Stroganov ABC Book or Calligraphy Sample Book. We have analyzed the structure of this book which includes several parts connected by the idea of presenting a letter in texts of different functionality. We’ve come to a conclusion that the manuscript represents a sort of a treatise on calligraphy and that it may be considered the oldest one in Russian history (at least the oldest surviving). It marks the beginning of Russian literature on calligraphy. We assumed that Western European (more likely, German) books on calligraphy could have influenced the appearance of Old Russian works of the same kind. The aim of this paper is to see this manuscript as a source reflecting a set type used by Russian professional scribes by the late 16^th – early 17^th century. Analysis of the ways in which different types of writing are represented in this Calligraphy Sample Book allowed us to show the significant role of the cursive writing in the realm of Russian early Modern culture. The cursive writing attained a particular aesthetical and artistic significance for Russian calligraphers of that period.