Topics

16

The Library / Lessons in the art of illuminating : W J Loftie (1885)

« on: April 09, 2015, 06:21:58 PM »

This is a treatise on illumination as it was understood in Britain in the 1880s.  It's therefore far from being a complete study, and contains some ideas which have fallen out of favour.  However, it's a pleasant enough read and the plates are attractive.  Please humour me if I note in passing that Mr Loftie seems to have been grinding his own edged pens when Edward Johnston, the alleged rediscoverer of the broad pen, was still in short trousers.

I think this book fairly widely known in the UK at least, and surprisingly enough it's possible to buy a first edition copy without taking out a second mortgage - just about.  There are various electronic editions available at Project Gutenberg, as well as the Archive.org pdf:

Lessons in the art of illuminating

17

The Library / Inks: their composition and manufacture : C A Mitchell and T C Hepworth (1904)

« on: April 09, 2015, 03:21:35 PM »

Something different: a book about ink.  This goes into a good deal of technical detail and clearly won't be of interest to most people, but if anyone has a more than passing fancy to make their own, this will be a useful one to have.  The section on iron gall types goes well beyond the familiar recipes, and contains a sort of field guide to different types of galls.  Good stuff, but not an easy read.

Inks: their composition and manufacture

18

The Library / Penmanship of the XVI, XVII & XVIIIth centuries ed. Lewis F Day

« on: April 08, 2015, 05:55:08 PM »

This is a book of examples from old handwriting books, and covers some perhaps less familiar scripts from the Renaissance to the Age of Reason.

Honestly folks, this one is an absolute belter, and will keep anyone with a modicum of curiosity up until way past their bedtime.  Here you will find cadels, fantastical flourishing, early Italic, strange precursors of copperplate and any amount of degenerate penmanship.  Also some improbably long descenders.  I'd say more, but wouldn't want to ruin the surprise. 

Hard copies are available via Amazon; there are a number of scans available online of which this is one of the better ones.  A pdf reader which will rotate the page will come in handy.

Penmanship of the XVI, XVII & XVIIIth centuries

19

Coffee & Nib-bles / Brian Walker's Party Game

« on: December 18, 2014, 04:04:40 PM »

A couple of months ago Brian Walker sent an email to everyone in the Spencerian Study Group which included a little conundrum.  I've shared it with a few people and been encouraged to post it here, which seems like a nice idea since it's the season for party games.  Brian's point related to studying exemplars in the minutest detail and criticising your work accordingly ... which seems to me like sterling advice but this is just a bit of fun for you all.  Some of you will know this picture and others will see what's going on straight away, but please don't blurt out the answer until everybody has had a chance to figure it out for themselves. 

Brian said: "I promoted the idea of Looking and Seeing and using an eagle eye to make comparisons between what you write and the exemplar. Take a look at this photograph. A great example of Looking and Seeing".

20

Favorite Resources / Series of articles from the 1830s

« on: May 25, 2014, 05:30:37 AM »

A journal called The Saturday Magazine ran a series of articles on writing materials during the late 1830s, quite an interesting period when the steel pen was starting to usurp the quill and the Industrial Revolution was in full swing.

Some of these magazines are freely available on the web, but they're large files and if there's a way to link directly to the relevant bits, I haven't found it.  Also, the scanning is quite mediocre, so with the help of some rather unpredictable character recognition software I've started to turn a few of the articles into small downloadable pdfs.  Please let me know if you spot any obvious typos!  I'll start with the two which are most likely to be of general interest:

Quill Pens
Steel Pens

The remaining ones will have much more limited appeal, but I'll still link to them as and when they're done. 

21

Favorite Resources / 1883 Article on the Steel Pen Trade in Britain

« on: May 01, 2014, 12:33:55 PM »

Disclaimer: this is not going to appeal to everyone!  If you have a low tolerance for Victorian prolixity, or no interest in the history and technology of nib manufacture, best give this one a miss.   

Having said that, I found this a fascinating read.  I stumbled upon it whilst researching something completely different, and thought it was worth sharing.  My apologies for the photography: the book was in a delicate state and the light was awful, but at least it's legible.  It seemed best to present the whole article as a downloadable pdf rather than a series of attachments, so here's the link:

1883 Article on Steel Pens.pdf

22

Favorite Resources / archive.org : Arrighi's Operina

« on: April 02, 2014, 06:04:17 AM »

Prompted by sisterofdream's recent post, here's a definitive work for anyone with an interest in Italic and cancellarescha:

La operina di Ludouico Vicentino, da imparare di scriuere littera cancellarescha (1524)

Read online or download.  It's not my style, but the book is a delight.

23

Introductions / Hello from Yorkshire, UK

« on: March 22, 2014, 11:10:38 AM »

Hello everyone, this seems like an unusually friendly place.   

I'm Andy, a cabinetmaker and one time draughtsman from the North of England.  My interests are probably more in the realm of handwriting than calligraphy strictly speaking, specifically Spencerian and the kind of everyday style used by British clerks in the 19th and early 20th centuries.  As things stand I've studied a great deal more than I've practiced, and still need to overcome 40 years or so of writing with finger action.  One or two of you might recognise me from a certain fountain pen forum (hello, Ken).  I'm an inveterate letter writer and getting increasingly interested in mail art, and was fascinated by the decorative possibilities which came to light by following the links in the Zentangle board.  Mostly, I'm looking forward to spending some time in congenial, like-minded company.