Author Topic: Books on the history of calligraphy  (Read 1186 times)

Offline philosopher

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 1
  • Karma: 0
    • View Profile
Books on the history of calligraphy
« on: January 22, 2016, 03:32:35 AM »
I am looking for books to contextualize my study of the copperplate script. This means that I am looking for a comprehensive study of the history of calligraphy. So, something that ranges from the first pieces of writing, all the way up to modern calligraphy. Two books have come up so far, that seem to fit the bill:

- The Golden Thread by Ewan Clayton
- The Story of Writing by Donald Jackson

Do you have any other suggestions that I should consider?

Offline nabeelah

  • Freshman Member
  • *
  • Posts: 30
  • Karma: 1
    • View Profile
Re: Books on the history of calligraphy
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2016, 03:11:55 PM »
I've heard really great things about Medieval Calligraphy: Its History and Technique by Marc Drogin from other calligraphers; and it's on my wishlist so might be something to look into.

Offline AndyT

  • Super Hero Member
  • ******
  • Posts: 2093
  • Karma: 150
    • View Profile
Re: Books on the history of calligraphy
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2016, 04:39:21 PM »
The books by Jackson and Clayton are both excellent, and they complement each other.

The Drogin book is superb from a practical calligrapher's point of view, not just for the exemplars (which are highly informative, but frankly of middling quality), but also for many reproductions of manuscripts which are hard to find elsewhere - certainly in a single volume.

Drogin's paleographic content though is a little eccentric, and if that's important I'd recommend A Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600 by Professor Michelle P Brown which is definitive, reasonably accessible, and equipped with an exemplary bibliography.

What you could really do with to round out the reading matter would be a book which covers the development of Humanistic and Italic scripts and their transition to roundhand in some detail.  That's not my area, and nothing leaps to mind.  Alfred Fairbank's "A Book of Scripts" is a slim volume and out of print as far as I know, but good on the history nonetheless.  As for 20th century and contemporary calligraphy, I hope you'll report back if you find an exceptional book, because thus far I haven't.  Plenty of interesting ones, but nothing stands out.