Italic Handwriting with regular fountain pens

[James Pickering]

The letter forms may not be as crisp or well formed as those produced using edged nibs, but with a light pen hold and delicate execution the writing can be quite elegant.

 

http://www.jp29.org/cal59.jpg

[James Pickering]

Again, the following exemplar illustrates that regular (unmodified) iridium tipped nibs are not ideally suited for Italic handwriting -- but they can be used with reasonably good results.

 

Using my mother's pen is always a nostalgic experience, bringing back many fond memories. I first wrote with her pen in 1939 when I was ten years old.

 

This exemplar was written using Waterman black ink on Clairefontaine lined pad paper.

 

http://www.jp29.org/cal42.jpg

[James Pickering]

The appended exemplar illustrates the use of vintage fountain pens to render Renaissance Chancery -- Italic -- writing. Again, iridium tipped nibs are not best suited for this purpose.

 

The Mabie Todd "Swan" pens I used have very flexible nibs, whereas the Waterman pen has a more rigid one -- and that shows in the heavier and clubbier letter forms.

 

http://www.jp29.org/cal44.jpg

[chad234]

Superb as always, I greatly admire your exemplars.

[James Pickering]

http://www.jp29.org/cal62.jpg

[James Pickering]

Of course, in order for handwriting to bear the mantle of practicality -- be useable in everyday applications -- it must be rendered freely.

 

http://www.jp29.org/cal63.jpg

[James Pickering]

Superb as always, I greatly admire your exemplars.

That is very nice of you to say that, thank you.

 

James

[Kate Gladstone]

Note that even some Renaissance Italic handwriting used un-edged nibs (quills cut in a way we can compare with the nibs of ordinary [non-Italic] fountain-pens). A photo of one good example appears in Plate IV of Alfred Fairbank's A HANDWRITING MANUAL, and if I knew how to put pictures into posts I would put one here. (Even if I figure out how to do so, I probably have little time to do it before my next Handwriting Repair job out of town.)

[James Pickering]

Note that even some Renaissance Italic handwriting used un-edged nibs (quills cut in a way we can compare with the nibs of ordinary [non-Italic] fountain-pens)

Yes, many Masters of the Italic hand such as Arrighi, Tagliente and Palatino, did use "bluntly cut" quills, especially for rendering informal writing where they facilitated writing at speed. Others, such as Cataneo, cut their quills sharper and in consequence their hands were rendered more slowly and deliberately.

 

I cut most of my quills quite bluntly for informal Italic wrting -- I will post photos of some shortly.

 

James

[James Pickering]

This exemplar outlines the role blunt nibs play in rendering Italic handwriting at speed (everyday Practical Italic Handwriting).

 

http://www.jp29.org/File0202.jpg

[James Pickering]

http://www.jp29.org/File0206.jpg

[Free Citizen]

James, what pens do you carry with you when you are travelling?

[James Pickering]

James, what pens do you carry with you when you are travelling?

Lim:

 

For "around town" daily use: Manuscript FP with an EF nib or vintage Waterman "Ideal" or Mabie Todd "Swan" pens and Waterman black ink (although sometimes I just carry a ballpoint pen).

 

For overnight or weekend trips: same pens as above plus two Rotring Art pens (nibs reground for my standard Italic writing) with black & red Waterman ink -- I carry the two ink bottles in case I need to fill up.

 

James

Edited December 2, 2004 by James Pickering

[Keith with a capital K]

My writing is nothing near as elegant as yours but I do find that many regular fountain pens with even your basic firm fine and med nibs can deliver beautiful results.

 

Almost all of my writing (and I generally do a lot) is done in my own freestyle cursive at moderately high speed and I most often use my Estie J with semi flex fine nib for most things although I aways have a variety of pens to play with that have a wide variety of nibs.

 

A few people have commented that they are a little amazed I can make such pretty letter forms at speed but that just comes from practice too.

[James Pickering]

.......... I do find that many regular fountain pens with even your basic firm fine and med nibs can deliver beautiful results.

Absolutely. How about posting some scanned exemplars? We need more of a variety here.

[georgem]

James,

 

Each time I look at your exemplars, I gaze in wonderment and awe. My own handwriting, while better than my employer's (which is often illegible) can only, and with great charity, be described as quite poor. Several years ago, my friend Don, who could be described as an unreconstructed sesquipedaliac, suggested the term cacagraphy to describe it. Quite accurate.

 

However, James, your example has inspired me to put my pens and ink to better use: to wit, producing writing which is enjoyable to gaze upon as well as easy to read.

 

If you've some suggestions for beginning practice, I would be delighted to hear them.

[James Pickering]

.......... If you've some suggestions for beginning practice, I would be delighted to hear them.

I will be only too happy to do that, George. However, there is much to discuss and illustrate. I think this is best done through a series -- a progression if you will -- of postings. In this way, we -- whoever wants to participate -- can postulate questions and discuss techniques and methodologies.

 

Thank you for your interest, George, I will exert maximum effort on this as it is a subject dear to my heart.

 

James

Edited December 2, 2004 by James Pickering

[Titivillus]

.......... I do find that many regular fountain pens with even your basic firm fine and med nibs can deliver beautiful results.

Absolutely. How about posting some scanned exemplars? We need more of a variety here.

A quick sample of my handwriting

 

http://webpages.charter.net/tytyvyllus/lastscan.jpg

[James Pickering]

A quick sample of my handwriting

Thank you for the contribution. We all benefit and learn from observing each other's handwriting. Anyone else with a contribution?

 

James

[KendallJ]

Anyone else with a contribution?

I've used this elsewhere, but thought it was a good example of what I've developed my handwriting into.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v366/justiniano/Atlantica.jpg

 

In general the concepts that others have given I believe are correct: legibility and comfort. However, handwriting is also unique and personal. To me a personal hand done exactly according to a particular form looks immature. Only when you are able to modify it to make it yours does it build up character.

 

James, I wonder what you think of the Sasoon book "Teach yourself better handwriting". My philosophy on handwriting I learned from that book. I had several "a ha's" that hit me when I used that book to start improving my writing.

 

For example, it struck me as they started analyzing different hands that legibility does not necessarily mean just neatness or uniformity. In fact, I was able to make my handwriting significantly more legible by focusing on only a few specific problems and not trying to make every letter conform to its "book" letterform.