Regarding Tom Gourdie's Handwriting For Today

[dragos.mocanu]

Greetings,

 

I've started assembling a small bibliography for handwriting/calligraphy learning/teaching, and so far I've gathered 13 titles (5 are still on their way). Most of the works are focused on Italic, but I've yet to find a reasonably priced copy of Tom Gourdie's Handwriting for Today....and this got me wondering, what is the deal with this book? I can see copies of this book, on virtual bookstores, going up to $150, and I bought Mr. Gourdie's Italic Handwriting for about $5 (shipped). The latter has very nice indications for learning a good Italic handwriting and half of it actually consists of handwritten correspondence (which is great!). So I'm curious, does Handwriting for Today have better/more detailed instructions? Better/more exercises? Thank you!

 

Cheers,

Dragoș

[_R_]

Hello,

I have both the Tom Gourdie books you mention, and a couple more. To answer your questions: yes, and yes.

I only have "Italic Handwriting" here with me at the moment, so can't check "Handwriting for Today" for specifics, but it is a more comprehensive book. It's also much larger and opens flat, which is a distinct advantage if you are trying to copy something as you write.

It is more thorough than "Italic Handwriting", in that it provides a step-by-step approach, with more drills, more practical examples (the entire book is handwritten), and goes from unjoined letters, to more typical italic, and swash capitals.

The problem, as you say, is the price: I would say that this is due to the silly pricing algorithms used on Amazon rather than a real reflection of its worth, but then again, some would take the view that whatever it sells for *is* its value. However, I note that there are currently copies on Amazon.com for $40, and for 12 pounds on Amazon.co.uk, the latter of which seems reasonable enough.

For my own part, after noting the rather serious deterioration of my handwriting some years ago - to the point where I could not even decipher my own notes - I decided to undertake a course of self-study in order to remedy this issue, and in passing, learn a little calligraphy if possible.

The recommendations for Gourdie's work here on FPN convinced me to give his books a go, and after looking at some others too - Eager, Fairbank and co., I decided to stick with Gourdie. (I do still use Lloyd Reynold's book for variants sometimes.)

In addition to being an accomplished calligrapher and italicist, Gourdie was something of a pedagogue and this shows through his books. His books for children are well worth getting if you plan to teach children (or anyone, for that matter), or if you feel your handwriting is beyond repair - his Simple Modern Hand worked wonders for me. He has 2 that I can think of - "Handwriting", a Ladybird book (small hardbacks most folks in the UK and Ireland will fondly recall), and "The Puffin Book of Handwriting", a little more comprehensive than the first, but very useful - that's what I started off with, doing all the drills using a pencil, for a couple of hours a day, weeks on end, before progressing on to the 2 books you mention.

I see he has a few more books on the subject, but I haven't read them: "Handwriting Made Easy"; " Guide to Better Handwriting"; and so on.

Gourdie wrote two other more general books, "Calligraphy for the Beginner" and "Mastering Calligraphy" which are both excellent. All these other books are cheaply available.

Generally, if you are looking for second-hand books, it's always best to shop around or sign up for alerts, especially if there's something odd about the price (as in this case): Abebooks, Amazon (both UK and US), EBay, and so on. Bookfinder.com is very useful in this regard.

I know this reply is late - but I hope it helps!