All about calligraphy manuals

A Manual in Western Brush Calligraphy

Marilyn Reeves is an educator, artist, and calligrapher of many talents. He has taught classes throughout the United States and Canada on lettering and design, drawing, watercolor, and more. Reaves earned an MFA in visual design from the University of Oregon, where she teaches classes and works among rare books and manuscripts in the university library’s special collections. Eliza Schulte Holliday is a freelance calligrapher and lettering artist specializing in logos, Brush illustrations, lettering, alphabets, and other custom calligraphy projects. Schulte began her career in wedding calligraphy, as many do, and went back to art school to train as an illustrator and designer. She has been using the brush as a creative tool ever since. Schulte also teaches at workshops and conferences, and her lettering has been featured in Letter Arts Review, Print magazine, The Creative Stroke by Richard Emery, and The Art and Craft of Hand Lettering by Annie Sickle.

When one searches for books on brush lettering, there are endless options available. Featured in Brush Lettering: An Instructional Manual in Western Brush Calligraphy. This book covers a wide array of brush lettering techniques, offers invaluable guidance and expert advice, and is perfect for beginners and young students as well as professionals and graphic designers. Brush lettering gives readers the ability to create beautiful handwritten works, from greeting cards and invitations to artful posters and logotypes. Keep reading for an exclusive preview behind its cover.

Contemporary brush writing shows the influence of many sources and traditions. . . In this, we have a marriage of composition and invention with room for many voices and expressions.

Calligraphy tip: Practicing letter connections

Once you’ve mastered calligraphy, you’ll definitely want to start writing words. Some letter connections may be easy to detect while others may feel more difficult. Then there is the matter of combining double letters. In today’s blog post I want to talk about some ways to practice letter conjunctions and give you some examples. First, I want to define two terms that I will use often:

Entrance stroke: The stroke at the beginning of a letter

The entrance and exit strokes are the foundation of how we connect letters.  Keeping these strokes consistent allow you to make sure your words have even spacing. Sometimes it may be necessary to condense an exit or entrance stroke to make sure the rest of the word has even spacing. Take a look at the word him above.

Let’s first talk about practicing letter connections by writing simple 3-5 words. Usually as part of my practice, after my warm-up, I go through the entire alphabet and write random words. I focus on writing one word with each uppercase letter and make sure to include each lowercase letter once. Take a look at one of my practice sheets on the left. This helps me make sure I’m always practicing all the letters of the alphabet.

Now let’s talk about letter connection. Some letters like a, e, i, t, m, n, and h are very easy to connect with other letters. They end with an exit stroke which is the entry stroke in the second letter. Take a look at the word “am” on the left and the word team below.

If the next letter has an ellipsis stroke (like c, e, g) you need to shorten the exit stroke to connect to the ellipsis. Notice the word ha below and how the exit stroke of h does not go above the height of x.

Combining double letters can sometimes seem difficult. I’ve included some populate double letter combinations on the left to give you some examples of how I combine double letters.

In conventional copper, the exit stroke of letters such as o, w, v, can be difficult to combine with other letters. If it’s too short, the syllables get too close together, and if it’s too long, the word doesn’t seem symmetrical. Take a look at some o letter connections on the left and the word why below. Notice how important it is to make sure the exit stroke is wide enough to fit the next character but not too wide.

Another fun way to practice letter connections is to make something called an alphabet necklace. With alphabet necklaces, you pick a letter and then you write each letter of the alphabet connected to that letter. For example, if you choose the letter n, you would start by writing n and then connect to the letter a, then write another n and connect to the letter b, and so on. This allows you to practice letter connections and think about how to connect different letters together. This is a great way to practice and experiment with letter connections. It’s also a great warm-up exercise.

I want to end with the thought that you should have fun combining the letters and seeing the different variations you can come up with. I hope you found this post informative and I can’t wait to see what you think. Leave a comment below with some letter connections you find challenging and I’ll post a blog post again about more letter connections!

Calligraphy resources

In today’s blog post I want to share a comprehensive list of calligraphy resources. I’ll cover everything from the best places to buy supplies to different books and calligraphy learning resources. My goal with this post is to give you a one-stop resource for your calligraphy journey. Just a note that the resources mentioned below are not an exhaustive list – they are just the ones I have personally used. Let’s begin!

Supplies

• Paper and ink arts
• John Neil Bookseller
• Paper & Ink Arts and John Neal Bookseller both have a large variety of calligraphy supplies. These stores are my go-to and I usually find stuff here before looking on Amazon.

• Amazon
• Amazon is a good place to find calligraphy books and some basic supplies like brushes, paper, and ink. Generally I prefer Paper & Ink Arts and John Neal Bookseller for dip pen calligraphy supplies, inks and other specialty calligraphy supplies.

• Artist Craftsman Supply
• Michaels
• Provision of bulk art
• A list of beginner-friendly brush pens

Learning calligraphy resources

• My faux calligraphy tutorial is here.
• The Happy Ever Crafter

Becca has created an amazing beginner calligraphy curriculum that starts with the “Show Me Your Exercises” challenge that is free and continues with several workbooks that you can purchase for a very affordable price. I highly recommend Becca’s courses because she teaches you calligraphy in a structured way that keeps you from getting overwhelmed. When you buy a workbook from Becca you get access to videos of her using the workbook so it’s a very comprehensive way to learn. Workbooks come in different sizes. The small pen workbook can also be used with small brush pens such as Tombow Fudenosuke and dip pens. Large pen workbooks are used for large to medium brush pens such as the Tombo Dual Brush Pen or the Sakura Pigma MB. There is also an iPad person.

• The Ultimate Brush Lettering Guide: A complete step-by-step creative workbook to jumpstart your advanced calligraphy skills by Peggy Dean:
• This is a wonderful book to get started with brush lettering. This book covers everything from learning about different tools to basic strokes, letter formation and more. It’s a great book to keep on hand and one you refer to often. I use tracing paper with the book so I can reuse the worksheets.
• Postman Knock
• Lindsay at Postman’s Knock is where I first started learning calligraphy. She has several affordable worksheets for modern calligraphy and lots of amazing tutorials on her website and blog. His website is the best resource when it comes to pen calligraphy. If you have a problem, there’s a good chance he has a blog post that addresses it. He also has tons of great worksheets for dip pan drills that really helped me master the dip pan. The only thing I don’t like about her worksheets is that she doesn’t emphasize basic strokes as much as the Happy Evercrafter does. However, I would still recommend her website and worksheets. She is very sweet and responsive too!
• Modern Calligraphy: Saber Thorpe, Everything You Need to Know to Get Started in Molly’s Script Calligraphy
• This book is an excellent resource for learning different lettering styles, projects, and dip pen calligraphy.

Intermediate/Advanced Resources

• Speedball Textbook
• It is a good resource for different styles of calligraphy. I rate it as intermediate/advanced because it doesn’t break down how to achieve each style so a basic knowledge of calligraphy is essential.
• Calligraphy in 24 hours
• I’m not a fan of the title but this book is a wonderful resource for samples and basic instructions for different calligraphy styles. This book covers everything from Roman capitals, Spencerian, copperplate, Spencerian, flourished calligraphy, and italic hand.
• Laura Hopper Beyond Beginner
• This is a great workbook and online resource for working on letter consistency, different letter shapes, and some flourishes.
• Laura Hooper Calligraphy Practice Plan
• This practice plan guides you through a variety of dip pen drills (a small brush pen will also work) to help you improve your calligraphy. The exercises have helped improve my calligraphy significantly so I highly recommend this project. The second version of the project came out recently and I plan to get through this fall!

Copper calligraphy.

• In private classes

• Copperplate calligraphy is a traditional form of calligraphy that is the inspiration for modern styles of calligraphy today. To learn copper calligraphy, I personally recommend the class. I took a 4-week class with the Society of Scribes in NYC and it was one of the best investments I made in my calligraphy education. The in-person class allowed me to focus on my calligraphy skills and the personal feedback was key to my success. If you’re not in NYC, I recommend finding a calligraphy organization in your area and taking a class in person. The class should have several sessions as a 2-hour class is not enough.
• Logo calligraphy classes
• If you can’t go to an in-person class for copperplate, I would highly recommend learning to copperplate Logo Calligraphy. The class is very well taught and provides a very good understanding of copperplate calligraphy. The Copper class covers everything from basic strokes to letterforms to letter variations and numbers.
• Logo Calligraphy Worksheets and Copperplate Practice Pads
• These are amazing if you love tracing letterforms and numbers. It is important to focus on forming the letter correctly using the basic strokes rather than mindlessly tracing the letters.
• Mastering Copperplate Calligraphy: A Step-by-Step Manual by Eleanor Winters

Flourishing

• Logo calligraphy flourishes fearlessly.
• I am in the middle of going through this course and it is amazing for intermediate and advanced calligraphers.
• Ornate Pictorial Calligraphy: Instructions and Over 150 Examples (Lettering, Calligraphy, Typography) by E. A. Lupfer
• The Universal Penman by George Bickham

Faux Calligraphy 

False calligraphy is a really interesting technique that allows you to achieve the look of calligraphy using almost any writing instrument (different pens, pencils, etc.) with different mediums (mirror, tables, different types of paper, etc.). Gives When I say calligraphic form I’m referring to stroke variations in calligraphy where you have thick downstrokes and thin upstrokes. Take a look at the excerpt below that I wrote using a traditional dip pen and nib:

Now, what if you want to achieve this look on a chalkboard or mirror? Or you just want to write something easily and don’t want to wait hours for the ink to dry. That’s where bad calligraphy comes in! To write in false calligraphy, you start by drawing the outline of the letter. Then wherever you have a down stroke (your pen moved towards you as you write), you add an extra parallel line to thicken the stroke. Take a look at a letter below. I used pink to highlight the upstroke (the pen moves away from you) and green to highlight the downstroke. Once you’ve drawn parallel lines on the downstroke you can choose to fill it in completely for a more traditional look or leave it plain for a fun modern look!

Now, I want to talk about some dos and don’ts to help you achieve consistent and beautiful faux calligraphy. These are some basic rules that I follow most of the time. I noticed most of the time because sometimes you want to “break” these rules due to style preference! Don’t let them limit your creativity, but use them as a guideline as you learn the technique.

First, it is important not to cross the two thick lines. There are some letters, like x, where depending on how you write it, you can have two downstrokes. If you run into it, just pick one stroke to be thick and leave the other as thin.

Second, keep the downstroke thickness consistent throughout each word. If you look at the word on the right side of the image above, it looks pretty dirty. The one on the left is easy to read and has a clear look.

Third, if the stroke of the letter has a curve (like c, o, e, a, etc.) follow the curve. Take a look at the letter G on the left and see how I follow the curve of the round stroke of the G and the stem as it comes down? Now look at G on the right. See how weird it looks when I make a more square/hard edge instead of a soft edge?

I wanted to end this post by showing you some of my finished work that I used the wrong calligraphy technique on. I’d love to see your work too, please tag me on Instagram at Calligraphy Insights.

Art Journaling

Art journaling is an incredibly relaxing and fun activity that I’ve recently started doing. You can use it as a place to try out different techniques (line drawing, painting, sketching, putting together collages, stamping, etc.). You can use it to experiment with different mediums like oil paint, acrylic, watercolor, pencil, colored pencil, pen, etc. You can also use it as a visual journal of your day, your week, your vacation, etc. This is a place for you to create art without judgment and you can allow yourself to create whatever you want as you go. “Make some mess.” Making mistakes is a common beginner’s fear and often stops people from trying different techniques and mediums.

I started my art journal last month after watching some Skillshare videos. If you don’t have Skillshare, check out my affiliate link here to get 2 months free! Below is a list of a few Skillshare videos I recommend you check out if you want to keep an art journal:

1. Sketchbook Illustration for Everyone: Draw Your Day with Watercolor and Pen by Samantha Devon Baker
2. Draw Your Life: An Introduction to Illustrated Journaling by Mimi Chow

• Mark your memories: Create a photo map of milestones A creative exercise for any level by Mimi Chow

• Doodle Magic | Basic and advanced techniques of Yasmina Crates

• Urban Sketching for Beginners by Julia Heinz.

• Urban Sketching for Beginners: A One-Point Approach by Julia Haynes

• Urban Sketching for Beginners: Two-Point Perspective by Julia Haynes

• Urban Sketching: Let’s draw some doors! By Julia Heinz

• Learn to Draw: Daily Exercises to Improve Your Drawing Skills by Gabrielle Brickey

After watching most of the videos above, I was definitely motivated to keep a journal so I could try different techniques. I decided to keep a weekly journal. A weekly journal gives me an automatic idea of ​​prompts for journaling and gives me time each week to create art. I keep a journal every week from Sunday to Saturday. Throughout the week I mentally remember any moment I want to remember. Usually on Saturday night I make a pencil sketch of the main things I want to put in my journal. I don’t write or draw everything that happens in a week. I just focus on the important things that happened that week that make me happy.

Before I take you through my art journal for the past week, let’s talk about supplies. I mainly plan to use watercolors, pencils, colored pencils, and pens (fine liners, gel pens, etc.) for my art journal so I chose a mixed media spiral pad from Bulk Art Supplies. was on sale. You can use anything you like like a small notebook, watercolor sketch pad, drawing pad etc. Just make sure it’s appropriate for the medium you plan to use. Mixed media is a good choice because it can handle a variety of sources. Second, you need a pencil and an eraser to draw. These are the minimum supplies to get started. I suggest you start with this and add stuff as you build your habit. Or you can challenge yourself to use whatever art supplies you already have and not buy anything new. Since art journaling is so personal, anything goes!

Let’s take the week of July 21-27 as an example. First, I won a contest from Emma Witt of Watercolor Factory to win half pans of all the watercolors in her collection and it came with a “golden ticket.” I loved the look of the ticket so I decided to stick it to my journal and then I drew the watercolor palette I won. Then I decided to draw the logo of a Thai food place I went to with friends on Friday because I think it’s really cute. Finally, I challenged myself this week to pull off the snow crab legs and corn on the cob that I had for dinner with friends on Saturday. Below is my first pencil sketch, it’s a little hard to see everything because I sketch very lightly since I plan to use watercolor.

After sketching I decide how I want to proceed. Since I won a watercolor set this week and I really wanted to try it out, I decided to watercolor this week’s journal using only my winning colors. Below is a picture of the completed journal. As you can see, after I colored it, I added text around the various illustrations about the moments I wanted to remember.

Below is an example from last week with much heavier text and less color. I also used a ticket from a play that I see as a piece of interest in the journal. Art journaling is a great way to keep trinkets like tickets that you want to keep.

The example I gave you is just one of the many ways you can do journal art. The important thing is to just try it. Experiment with different themes, different mediums, different illustration techniques, and collaging to create an open and inviting space to grow and explore yourself as an artist. I can’t wait to see what you make!

Calligraphy Tips: Warm Up for Calligraphy

Before starting any calligraphy session, I always take 15-20 minutes to warm up properly. The concept of warming up for calligraphy is similar to warming up for playing a sport. If your body is not properly warmed up, you will likely not perform well or even injure yourself. Calligraphy is no different. A proper warm-up with exercises and strokes gives your hands and arms a chance to get used to the motions of writing in calligraphy. It also gives you a few moments of zen and prepares you mentally for your calligraphy practice. During the warm-up you have the opportunity to test the consistency of your ink as well as your nib and paper. In this post, I’ll outline some of the different exercises I use for warm-ups and show you my warm-up page. You will notice that my strokes are rough and not perfect. This is the point of the warm-up – to get the jitters under control so that your strokes are more confident when you start working on a project!

I always start with dip pen exercises. The main purpose of these exercises is to increase my confidence in using the dip pan. I find these exercises quite enjoyable and meditative. Take a look at the first part of my warm-up page at the end of the post. I start with exercises where I work on my thin-to-thick transition in different ways. The beauty of nib calligraphy comes from the variation in stroke. Working on thin-to-thick transitions with these exercises has greatly improved my letter changes. After working on them for a while, I also like to do different S-shaped, elliptical, and circle-shaped exercises. This is another way for me to practice getting comfortable with the dip pan.

Next, I focus on the basic strokes. Each script, such as Spencerian, Copperplate, etc., has its own set of basic strokes that make up the letters. I continue my warm-up by reviewing the basic lower-case strokes and upper-case letters of the script style I plan to write. You’ll also notice that I have a few check marks and X’s on my warm-up page. I like to stop after each stroke to review my writing and look for improvements. Sometimes I notice something I’m struggling with like being on a diagonal line and I think about ways to improve.

You can also use the warm-up as an opportunity to work on something you’re struggling with. For example, if you find that your writing is slanted, you can work on exercises where you draw different shapes and lines on the slant line. Another idea might be to work on specific lines. For example, I have a hard time writing the letter capital M. I use my warm-up time to practice the basic strokes that make the letter M several times so that when I start working on the envelope I don’t feel confident about the letter. .

I hope this post has inspired you to try a warm-up before working on a calligraphy project. I’d love to hear how you like to warm up for calligraphy. Let me know in the comments.

My favorite calligraphy practice tool: the pencil!

A pencil is one of my favorite calligraphy practice tools. The main reason for this is that it is very accessible and you can use the pencil anytime and anywhere! Below I’m going to share some ways that using a pencil for calligraphy can help you improve your calligraphy skills.

Great warm-up tool

Many times before a calligraphy or drawing session I’ll use tracing paper and a pencil to do some warm-up strokes on my guidelines. Some of the strokes I like to do are ellipses (clockwise and counterclockwise), the infinity symbol and tornado drills.

Improve your grip

Many people, yours truly included, have a problem with a “death” grip on a pen holder. A tight grip can cause wrist and hand pain. So it’s helpful to perform calligraphy strokes with a pencil and practice holding the pencil really lightly so that you get used to holding the writing tool lightly while calligraphy.

Improve your letters

I often use a pencil to practice my basic strokes. When you are learning calligraphy, you are learning both a new way of writing and a new writing tool – the dip pen. This can be challenging so it’s useful to use a pencil or pen to practice basic strokes and letter shapes. This will allow you to build muscle memory for basic strokes and letter shapes so it’s less difficult when you’re using a dip pen.

Practice tilting.

While modern calligraphy has different italics, most traditional calligraphy is written on specific italics. For example, copper plate and Magan script are written at an angle of 52-55 degrees. Italics are usually written at a 5 degree slant. To make sure your calligraphy looks consistent, it’s important to make sure all your letters follow the italics. This can be difficult for beginners or even experienced calligraphers. Guidelines help a lot which is why I always use guidelines with my work. I also like to use the pencil to draw simple connecting lines and write permanently on the slant line to build muscle memory for connecting the ovals.

Plan your composition

f I’m writing a quote that needs to be absolutely centered and/or flourished, I always write it on tracing paper and pencil. This allows me to figure out the best layout and determine which flourishes work best. Using the all powerful eraser I can erase parts of my writing, refine it and then use dip pen on the final piece when I like the composition.

I hope you enjoyed this post and it inspires you to use a simple pencil to practice your calligraphy. Below is a picture of one of my warm-up sheets showing you the different tips I’ve outlined above. I wrote on my original guidelines so you can see the work clearly but usually I use tracing paper so I can reuse my guidelines. Here is a PDF of my guidelines for small pens and large pens.

Writing manuals and copybooks (16th to 18th centuries)

From the 16th to the 18th centuries, two types of writing books dominated Europe: the writing manual, which told the reader how to form, space, and join letters, as well as, in some books, how to choose paper. Goes, quilts to be cut, and ink to be made; and the copybook, which contained pages of writing samples to be copied as practice. I also try to pick a few things that I’m going to figure out how to draw because improving my drawing skills is one of the main reasons I journal. Sometimes its simple drawing of flowers or trains or airplanes signifies the journey I took.

In Rome in 1540, Giovanni Battista Palatino published his Libro nuovo d’imparare a scrivere (“New Book for Learning to Write”), which, along with the manuals of Arrighi and Tagliente, proved to be among the most influential books on cancelleresca writing. is one of the. Issued in the first half of the 16th century. All three authors were frequently mentioned and quoted in later manuals, and their own manuals were often reprinted during and after their lifetimes. The first non-Italian book on Chancery was by the Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator. His Literarium Latini (“Latin Letters”), published in Louvain, Belgium, in 1540, was written in Latin, the universal language at the time. This fact may have increased the work’s appeal to northern European scholars who linked Chancery with humanist learning. Mercator demonstrated the Italian teaching method, by stroke, how each letter of the alphabet is formed. Like his Italian contemporaries, he grouped letters according to their common parts rather than alphabetically. Thus c, a, and d are represented together because they all begin with a common stroke c and end with an undotted i or l. His manual goes further than any previous one in offering sequence and number of strokes in creating chancery capitals. (The Italians provided examples of such letters simply to be copied.) Mercator also introduced a 45-degree pen angle for writing Cancellara, which was never recommended or practiced by Italian scribes.

Juan de Yciar was the first in Spain to publish a copybook, the Recopilacion subtilisin (1548; “the most delicate compilation”). Two years later he published his Arte subtilisin (1550; “the most delicate art”), in which he acknowledged his debt to the printed works of Arrighi, Tagliante, and Palatino. Like them, he showed a variety of formal and informal hand and decorative letters. His manual differed from theirs in the inclusion of counseling for teachers as well as students. Italics had little influence on the publications of 16th-century Germany and Switzerland, where black-letter characters predominated. Johann Neudörffer the Elder was the first German to print copybooks. His foundation …seinen Schulen Zu einer Unterweysung gemach (1519; “Foundation of…His Pupils”) shows examples of the German current (cursive), Kansai (chancery), and fracture (black letter).

It bears no resemblance to the Kinsley Italian Chancery. The name of the script is derived from the place where the script was used (Chancery is an administrative office) and does not specify a particular style of writing. Neudörffer is considered to be the author of the definitive version of the Fraktur script, a combination of the stricter textileus quadrata and the more relaxed bâtarde. This long-lived style was used by some German speakers in the United States and Canada until the late 19th century. In 1538 Neudörffer published the first copybook that used the intaglio technique (ie, printed from cut sections rather than raised sections of the plate). Its Ein gute Ordnung…(“A good arrangement…”) includes examples of engravings produced as counter-proofs – the engraved plate produced the writing with a mirror image, which was then transferred to plain paper when the ink was wet to give the letters their correct orientation; Because the technique was cumbersome, involved two separate steps, and did not produce a sharp image, it would be nearly 30 years before intaglio engraving was used again in a written book. 16th century German writing books, As produced elsewhere in Europe, woodblock printing continued. Relief methods of printing, such as woodcut and movable type, required less pressure from the press and produced a correctly oriented page in one pass because the plate was created with an inverted image.

Wolfgang Foger, a student of Neudörffer, published his Ein nutzlich und wolgegrundt Formular (“A Useful and Well-Made Form”) in Nürnberg in 1553. This work demonstrates many of the techniques used in the teaching of formal handwriting and calligraphy in the 16th century. Detailed drawings show how to cut a quilt and the right and wrong way to hold a pen. Most of the alphabets included are diagrammed stroke by stroke. Some rather remarkable pages show how to turn black-letter capitals into decorative initials with the addition of a few formulaic flourishes. Fugger’s manuscript presents, in addition to the standard German and Italic hands, a geometrically constructed Roman capital alphabet and Greek and Hebrew alphabets, which acknowledge the debt of Italian written books. But Fugger’s roman and italic minus scripts are rather poorly done and show how little these hands were understood or practiced in German-speaking countries during the 16th century.

The first written books by French, Dutch, and English authors appeared in the second half of the 16th century. Like the German authors, they followed the Italian method of teaching the alphabet. His books usually included a sharp cursive secretarial hand as well as some version of the Italian chancery script. By the time most of them were published (between 1561 and 1575), italics had undergone radical changes under the influence of Vatican scribe Gianfrancesco Cresci.

Cressi published three writing books: Essemplare di piu sorti lettere (1560; “Specimen of all kinds of letters”), Il perfetto scrittore (1570; “The Perfect Writer”), and Il perfetto cancellaresco corsivo (1579; The Perfect Cursive). Cherance). In relation to earlier works, these books display a narrower chancery script, and as a result, there was less contrast between thick and thin letter strokes. Cressey’s hand was characterized by a steeper letter slope to the right (10 to 15 degrees instead of the previous 5 to 8 degrees); more linking between characters; and alternate forms for o, h, p, r, and d. However, the most prominent features of Cressi’s italics, evident on climbers, are the bulbous serifs, known as testeggiata. Cressy’s new ornate minuscules and florid capitals were the impetus for the coming fashions in pen-making.

The  Essemplare is finely printed from woodcut blocks, but seven years after its publication a new and improved method of reproducing the elaborate calligraphy emerged. In 1567 Pierre Hamon, secretary to Charles IX of France and master of royal writing, published the first copybook printed from engraved metal plates. Alphabet de plissiers sortes de letters (“Alphabet of several kinds of letters”). Although the title echoes that of Cressy’s 1560 book, the works are different. Hamon devotes the first part of his book to the variations of the French secretary hand, a style in which he writes by incorporating such wild embellishments that they seem to take on an independent existence, in contrast to In contrast to the relatively orderly development found in contemporary Italian writing books. Hamon also takes advantage of the metal engraving process by presenting free-form letters produced in thin outlines, beyond the capabilities of woodcuts. The second part of his copybook is devoted to formal and informal Chanceries, which follow Palatino’s models rather than those of Cressy.

Hamon’s early use of metal engraving is generally overlooked in discussions of the history of letterpress printing because of the extreme scarcity of his small book. Hamon was executed in 1569 either because of his Protestant religious beliefs, for forging the royal signature, or because he had written some treasonous verses about the king. In any case, not only was Hammon executed that year but all of his works were ordered to be destroyed.

In the same year, Hamon’s book was published, the Flemish publisher-printer Christoph Plantin published Dialogs françois pour les Jeunes enfans (“Dialogues in French for Young Children”), supposedly written between Hamon and a French doctor. Includes discussion on education. and the poet, Jacques Gravin. When Graven asks Hamon what alphabet a child should learn first, Hamon suggests cursive French secretary, followed by a dozen hands, including a few italic styles.

The first copybook published in England, A Book Containing Divers Sortes of Hands (1570; this title also translates Cressy), was the work of a French Huguenot émigré writing master, Jean de Sell, and John Beldon (or Basildon). is, about which there is nothing. known more. Various Sorts of Hands features both writing manuals and copybooks: it includes instructions on making ink, cutting a quill for writing, holding a pen (pictured), and sitting at a writing desk. Yet it does not explain how to write any of the 15 handwriting styles it contains. Again, scribe and other forms of Gothic cursive hands predominate, with a few examples of “Italique” (as the book says cancelleresca). (However, Bachson himself owned this hand.)

Similarly, the anonymous A Newe Booke of Copies (1574) follows the pattern of Divers Sortes of Hands, with similar instructions and illustrations and an emphasis on the various secretarial hands commonly used to write legal and judicial documents. are used for The focus of these books on commercial rather than calligraphic script probably reflects their most likely audience – a merchant class requiring practical writing skills rather than an academic or courtly audience.

Around the middle of the 16th century, Cancelleresca, or Italian Chancery italic, became the favorite hand of English intellectuals and the royal court, who learned it directly from Italian or French writing masters (such as Beauchesne) or from printed books. Roger Ascham, a tutor to the English nobility (including Queen Elizabeth I), wrote and taught an exemplary cancellasca shown in Arrighi’s La Opera, and the 16th-century scholar Bartholomew Doddington, professor of Greek at Cambridge University, a fluid italic. Written that would be the envy of any professional writing master.

The first calligrapher by a woman to appear in a printed work was that Jacqueline ​​(or Jacomina) Hondius, sister of the Dutch publisher, cartographer, and calligrapher Judox Hondius. Two of his illustrations were included in the first international calligraphic anthology Theatrum Artes Scribandi (1594; “Display of the Art of Writing”), published by his brother in Amsterdam. Other important calligraphers of the period, such as Jean de Sellers, Ludovico Curio, Jan van den Velde, and Peter Bales, were also represented in the book.

Another literary mistress of distinction is Marie Presot. Like Beauchesne, she and her husband were French Huguenots, and they settled in Edinburgh around 1574. They established a school there where her husband, Nicolas Langlois, taught French language and composition and taught Presot to write. A surviving copy of it in the Newberry Library in Chicago shows the exquisite skill of the hands of the French secretary and Chancellorska. Like many teachers of writing, Presot trained his children in the art of writing. And one of them, as Esther Inglis, became one of the most famous calligraphers of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Inglis (a transliteration of the Scottish usage of her father’s name, Langlois, meaning English) specialized in writing small books in a literally tiny script with some letters 1 mm (.039 in) high. Many books, in addition to showing a variety of 16th-century calligraphic hands, were decorated with paintings or pen drawings of flora and fauna.