[James Pickering]

I model my primary Italic writing hand on the Cancellaresca corsiva (Chancery cursive) of Bernardino Cataneo a teaching master of Siena, Italy, circa 1545. I admire this Chancery hand for its exquisite beauty which in my opinion surpasses all others. It features numerous pen lifts within and between letters, making it eminently legible (readable) -- the cornerstone of good handwriting.

As Stephen Harvard points out in his introduction to the published facsimile Cataneo Manuscript: "Another sign of the formality of Cataneo's corsiva is that virtually each letter stands alone; there are none of the diagonal joins that inevitably develop in a true running script."

I employ my adaptation of Cataneo's Cancellaresca corsiva for correspondence, writing out books, greeting & condolence cards, etc. (frequently employing Roman Capital & humanistic small roman lettering for headers), although I use my own flourished Majuscule letter forms.

Although currently out of print ..........

AN ITALIC COPYBOOK, THE CATANEO MANUSCRIPT, Stephen Harvard, Cambridge : Published for Houghton Library by Taplinger Publishing Co. (1981)

.......... is available from numerous online used book purveyors.


Following are two examples of my adaptation of Cataneo cursive italic writing.

This post has been edited by James Pickering: 06 December 2004 - 02:22 PM

[James Pickering]

More Cataneo based handwriting: