Which Penmanship And Calligraphy Books Are Your Favorites?

[punchy71]

If you could have only one book on penmanship and one book on calligraphy, which two would you choose and why?

 

Thank you

[nxn96]

The penmanship book I would choose would be "The Palmer Method of Business Writing".

 

Calligraphy? Can't say. I've tried following the instructions that came with the Parker and Sheaffer sets I've tried over the years, but probably just didn't have the patience for it. I think what's worked best for me, to the extent anything's worked, is paying extra attention to how the italic nib is "faced" and simply writing as would normally write.

[Randal6393]

Penmanship would be The Italic Way to Beautiful Handwriting by Fred Eager, as this is the book I started out with. It has a lot of good advice, discusses penmanship vs calligraphy, and has a lot of exercises that help develop one's hand.

 

As for calligraphy, I find Edward Johnston's Writing and Illuminating and Lettering to be an excellent guide with a lot of practical tips, work guides, and examples of many historic scripts. The theory of writing expressed in the book is a great framework to build on.

 

Of course, thankfully, we have many more sources available than two.

 

Enjoy,

Edited December 30, 2011 by Randal6393

[JefferyS]

Penmanship would be The Italic Way to Beautiful Handwriting by Fred Eager, as this is the book I started out with. It has a lot of good advice, discusses penmanship vs calligraphy, and has a lot of exercises that help develop one's hand.

 

As for calligraphy, I find Edward Johnston's Writing and Illuminating and Lettering to be an excellent guide with a lot of practical tips, work guides, and examples of many historic scripts. The theory of writing expressed in the book is a great framework to build on.

 

Of course, thankfully, we have many more sources available than two.

 

Enjoy,

+1

 

Fred Eager is the mother lode for me. If I could just do everything in this concise book, I'd be a happy man. If I were wealthy, I'd buy a print shop and put it back into print. If I could do it legally, I'd scan every page on a scanner, make it into a pdf, and offer it on-line free, just to keep the contents in circulation.