Does anyone have access to or know where I could find a copy of the page from Hermann Zapf's artbook that the Zapfino font is based off? I would like to start learning and using this hand in my everyday writing. Has anyone had any experience with such? This is my goal to go with my new cursive italic nib from Richard. Going to be using Noodler's Golden Brown in an amber Pelikan m250. Thanks in advance for any info.

Talk to your friendly local librarian. Maybe it's available through inter-library loan.

Zapf used an edged pen (italic nib, in other words) for the calligraphy. He must have manipulated it (subtle twists -- not always keeping the same pen angle), especially for the ends of the strokes -- tops of ascenders on "b", "d", and "f" to name the obvious ones. Furthermore, it would have been a true italic nib, not a cursive italic, the corners of which are not sharp and will not make the same kind of stroke shapes -- can't drag the ink out with the corner of the nib because there's not a corner. (see added note below) I'm also thinking that some of those letterforms were designed with a flexible nib (look at the "a" and the lowercase "l"). Actually, he could have done most of the elements of those letters with a flexible nib, or a flexible italic nib. Finally, look at Zapfino again. It's not a classic italic style. It owes a lot to roundhand for some of the letter forms (the "p" and the "q" especially).

I don't think you're going to find this terribly practical for "everyday" writing -- it's not a "running hand." You might check out some of the books on italic handwriting to get some ideas for styles actually intended for cursive use. I've always liked Mercator-style italics (vs. "chancery" styles) as a basis for my "everyday" hand. See Arthur Baker's Copybook of Renaissance Calligraphy: Mercator's Italic Hand (Dover pictorial archive series) (available at Amazon).

ADDED: OK, I was wrong. The writing on which Zapfino was done, was made with a Sommerville pen. These were pointed, flexible dip pen nibs, not edged italic. However, you'd be hard pressed to replicate every feature of Zapfino with one. Fonts are drawn, so the designer isn't limited to what a single pen type can do. In my defense, I did say that most of the elements could be made with a flexible nib/flexible italic nib, and noted the similarity to roundhand (done with pointed pens). Oh, well -- for guesswork, it wasn't too bad.

My library has one book on Canteco's hand, which is interesting in it's own merits, but strangely nothing on Hermann Zapf. I did find several maps by Mercator and his writing is very beautiful, but not quite what I'm looking for.

I have been working the last few days on taking parts of Zapfino and incorporating them into a more traditional italic hand. I managed to find a .pdf that had an alphabet of the 4 different Zapfino fonts, and I am picking/choosing different versions of different letter forms to suit my needs. What I am particularly interested in are his uses of the lowercase "b" forms, the extended descender on the lowercase "s" in Zapfino 3, and the generally extended ascenders.

Some aspects of the type are clearly beyond my goal of having this as my normal hand, namely the top swashes of the b, d, f, h, and k, but I am more than happy with allowing my pen to finish those as it chooses based on my hold and speed of movement.

The availability for ligature customizations certainly allow a greater freedom being that there are four alphabets to pick and choose from, while still holding faithful to the base style. It's certainly interesting to play around with instead of the typical italic script seen online.

I believe it was Hermann Zapf himself who said that one should take inspiration from the writing of old, instead of trying to copy exactly, since the time for those hands has past and the time for your hand is present. This is paraphrased of course, but regardless, it does make you think. Least, it makes me think.

Finally, the point of all this is to have fun. When my confidence in my writing is a little higher, I'll post some examples of the variations that I've been testing.

Here is the scan from the sketchbook Hermann Zapf used as a basis for Zapfino:

http://image.linotype.com/images/thumbnail...no_extra_gr.gif

Note that Zapf is still alive, so presumably he still has his original sketchbook (the calligraphic page was done in 1944). I'm not sure if his sketchbook has been published, but you can ask a librarian for the definitive answer.

The original calligraphic sample was written "with Sommerville pen and watercolors." (From http://www.linotype.com/2326-17875/working...inoextra.html.)

Note that the Zapfino font is a digitally created font that was meant to break the limitations set by traditional lead type and possibly traditional writing instruments. Look at this PDF sample here. You may find it a bit of a challenge to reproduce the 'f' or 'b' even with a quill (very flexible) or a true-italic nib (not flexible, but with sharp corners that can skate to produce hairlines [as BillTheEditor previously noted]). SEE UPDATE BELOW.

However, there's nothing wrong with using the font as an inspiration point, if you want to go the meta-meta-meta route--that is, creating your own writing style based on a font that was based on a unique calligraphic style that was probably inspired by a more traditional/less free-flowing cursive Italic. Zapf's writing is so beautiful that other calligraphers have openly admired it and adopted it for their own hands.

Anyway, best of luck! I look forward to seeing your samples.

Update: Darteres, you're welcome!
Updated updated: Scratch what I said above--I had no idea what a Sommerville pen was, so thanks to BillTheEditor for the additional information.

Scrollpoint, thank you very much for the link to the scan! I had been previously unable to find it. Such beautiful work!

You guessed better than I could have, BillTheEditor