General Categories > Copperplate, Engrosser's Script, Roundhand Calligraphy

A German business card, AD 1895

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Vintage_BE:
Greetings from Kiel, Germany, hometown of my wife. When visiting the maritime museum I noticed the below business card. It belonged to Carl-Wilhelm Loewe (https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Löwe_(Verwaltungsjurist), the first president of the Kiel canal (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiel_Canal), completed in 1895. What struck me was that his card is printed in pure Copperplate style. That seems to suggest that at the close of the 19th century, Copperplate was a “dominant” or “customary” choice for “stylish” documents such as business cards. Indeed German handwriting (as taught in schools and used in official documents such as the ship logs displayed at the museum) at that time differed significantly from Copperplate - for a start, it was not written with a strong right-hand slant).
Interesting as well to my neophyte eyes is the “w” as used in this business card. It looks

AnasaziWrites:

--- Quote from: Vintage_BE on December 29, 2023, 02:52:00 PM ---Greetings from Kiel, Germany, hometown of my wife. When visiting the maritime museum I noticed the below business card. It belonged to Carl-Wilhelm Loewe (https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Löwe_(Verwaltungsjurist), the first president of the Kiel canal (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiel_Canal), completed in 1895. What struck me was that his card is printed in pure Copperplate style. That seems to suggest that at the close of the 19th century, Copperplate was a “dominant” or “customary” choice for “stylish” documents such as business cards. Indeed German handwriting (as taught in schools and used in official documents such as the ship logs displayed at the museum) at that time differed significantly from Copperplate - for a start, it was not written with a strong right-hand slant).
Interesting as well to my neophyte eyes is the “w” as used in this business card. It looks

--- End quote ---
@Vintage_BE

Very interesting card.
The slant of the letters on this card match the slant of the letters (Kurrentschrift) in the 1873 book "Ahn's First German Book" by P. Henn, used to teach "first graders" how to write Kurrentschrift (the common script at the time).

(Also, the slant Madarasz used (approximately) at the time of the card.

Erica McPhee:
Fascinating! I bet @Estefa would find this of interest.  :-*

Vintage_BE:
@AnasaziWrites I stand corrected as regards the slant. The (German language) Wikipedia article on “Kurrentschrift” states that the 45 degree right-hand slant is a 19th century development that was spurred by the use of pointed pens. That statement refers to page 123 of a book by Sonja Steiner-Welz “Von der Schrift und den Schriftarten”. Reinhard Welz Vermittler Verlag e.K., 2003, ISBN 978-3-937636-47-4. I do not have access to the book.
My late mother in law (schooled during the 1930s, i.e. before the nazi regime ditched Kurrent) wrote at a much more upright angle, I would guess (from memory) approx 80% or higher. And she wrote with a Pelikan 400 pen with a double or triple broad italic nib.

Vintage_BE:
By way of follow up to the above reply, this blog https://deutsche-schrift.beepworld.de/schriftgeschichte.htm claims that the rise of the pointed pen during the 19th century prompted a change in Kurrentschrift: “Between 1854 and 1870, several scribes attempted to adapt the script to the more difficult handling of the now commonly used pointed steel nib by prescribing letters to be written with a rightward slant of up to 45 degrees and disproportionately large ascenders and descenders, which, however, greatly impaired the legibility of the script.” It also claims that from the early 20th century, the right-hand slant was progressively abandoned.

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