These are my favourite calligraphy books. As many of you, I have bought calligraphy books now and then, until reaching a point where you really want to consider buying more, since lot of them seem to have not only similar text contents, but design similarities. These books are different, and a very nice kind of different.
Mr. Pott writes about the usual stuff: a brief history of writing, practice tips, nice calligraphic samples. But there's a whole lot more text than images in this book, and I'm not saying the books lack images. It's just that most calligraphy books I've stumbled upon rely a lot on big images. In these two books, the photos and illustrations aid the reading, but the text itself is deeper, more personal, more introspective, than if it were just a mere "how-to" book. There's a constant invitation to reflect upon one's feelings and conceptions about calligraphy itself. You simply feel the author is a cultivated man talking to you. The first book is directed principally to beginners, the second to more versed users and talks a tad more about experimentation than in the former.
I don't know if there are English versions of these books (these are in German), but you should definitely look for them.
ISBN: 978-3-87439-675-2 and 3-87439-700-9
Published by Hermann Schmidt / Mainz