c1733, George Bickham produced a small book entitled "Penmanship made easy" in which he gave clear instructions on lettering technique with a narrow, square-edged nib. He said "never turn your pen, nor alter the position of your hand. Make all your body strokes with the Full, & all Hair Strokes with the corner of your Nib" Unfortunately, it's his
engraved version of his writing which we see, and most of these engraved examples are impossible to replicate with an edged nib. This must have let to considerable frustration by students.
The writing, produced by Bickham and the other writing masters of the time, must have been very different from the engraved version with which we are familiar through "The Universal Penman" as they are impossible to produce with an edged nib. The flexible nib came into being as the only way to replicate the copper engravings. This script we now know as English Roundhand / Copperplate (for obvious reasons)/ Engravers Script / Engrossers Script.
I applaud your very valiant attempt at replicating Copperplate writing with an edged nib, but IMHO you're probably attempting the impossible.
To write as Bickham and the other writing masters did, would be wonderful and a really worthwhile enterprise, but......no one knows how their
original writing looked, as, to the best of my knowledge, no example still exists!
I made an attempt at something similar a couple of years ago
here. In retrospect, it was just a bit of fun, and not very successful. Admittedly, it was with a metal nib and not a quill, but the principal remains the same, as do the difficulties.
This post has been edited by caliken: 04 November 2009 - 09:22 AM