Download Handwriting - Creation

an essay by
Jerri-Jo Idarius
Handwriting
is a craft in which everyone participates,
yet few people know much about its tradition
or evolution. From the view of a calligrapher*
who has studied and mastered traditional forms of handwriting, this lack of
education is a sign of cultural loss. Most
elementary school teachers feel inadequate
to teach penmanship, and cannot explain
the relationship between the cursive
handwriting they have to teach and the
printed letters they see in books. Since
handwriting is so intimately connected to
self-image, and since most people are
unhappy with the results of their learning,
it is common to hear, “I hate my writing!”
or “I never learned to write.” They don’t
know what to do about it. Not having the
“idea” of well-designed letters, many
people try to dress up poor forms with
flourishes. This is especially true of
adolescents looking for ways to express
their growing sense of individuality.
The remedy begins through a process
of education and being given proper
models and instruction.
The Western European alphabet was
invented by the Greeks and beautified by
the Romans. The Romans applied their
understanding of ideal proportions and
the psychology of how we “see” to create
an “architectural” alphabet that set the
standard to which we have returned for
the past 2,000 years. Inscriptional caps
give us the finest example of Roman letters,
exemplified by the Trajan column inscribed
in the second century AD. The letters were
painted on stone with the pointed brush
(the serifs, or finishing strokes, were brushdesigned), then chiseled in stone and
repainted. In the early 1930s, a Roman
Catholic priest named Father Catich
conducted a detailed study of these
original letters from a scaffold. His rubbings,
photos, measurements and analysis were
self-published in1951. This provided
artisans, scholars and educators a
greater understanding of the letter
shapes we inherited from the Romans,
as well as the stroke directions and
sequences they used.
GREEK ALPHABET
& TRAJAN Caps
*
Greek kali means ”beautiful” and graphia
means ”writing.”
There is much to say about the history of writing. To encapsulate the highlights in
this short essay, it is important to note that the dialectic between formal and informal
styles of writing led to periods of degeneration and periods of reform and also to the
differentiation between what we refer to as caps and small letters, known technically
as majuscules and minuscules. The Roman formal majuscule scripts follow:
Although the ascenders and descenders of the half-uncial represent the movement
toward a minuscule alphabet, it is written upright and is considered a majuscule form.
After the fall of Rome, various regional styles developed in Europe but in the 8th
century King Charlemagne instituted one script throughout the monasteries of Europe
to help unite his empire. This style, known as Carolingian, related to the Roman
half uncial and Roman cursive, is the first truly minuscule alphabet. Its beautiful letters can be written straight or at an angle. A simply drawn form of caps called
versals appeared in manuscripts of this era.
Roman Square Caps (Capitalis Quadrata)
Rustic
Uncial (used for Bibles and sacred texts)
Carolingian minuscule & versals
Medieval scripts are popularly described as blackletter, due to the predominantly black appearance of the page. The demand for written books was increasing
due to the appearance of secular learning centers known as universities. Blackletter,
also known as textura quadrata (squared-off text) was an outgrowth of the desire to
conserve skins and paper and get more words on the page. Thus the ascending and
descending parts of the letters became shorter and lines of text were squeezed
together. Scribes attempted to justify the right margin by using abbreviations, letter
endings and fillers. The German blackletter was called Fraktur, the English version was
Textus Prescissus, and the rounder form that appeared to the south in Italy and Spain
was called Gothica Rotunda. The medieval illuminated manuscripts contained elaborate
versals (drawn and often decorated letters) based on the uncial. They were filled in
with paint or gold leaf. These and other miniature illustrations were generally
added by artists other than the scribe.
The cursive black letter script called Bâtarde (bastard) compromised formal and
informal elements. It was also known as Court Hand and English Secretary (the style
of Shakespeare). The first mass-produced books created on a printing press used
blackletter (the Gutenberg Bible in 1455).
Examples of Blac
kletter Type Styles
Blackletter
Commonly Used on Diplomas,
Certificates & Christmas Cards
Lombardic versals
During the Renaissance, a renewed interest in the ideals and classical design of the
Romans led to a revival of Roman letter forms. Since the bibles and sacred literature in
the monasteries had been rewritten during Charlemagne’s reign, the 16th-century
scholars mistook Carolingian for the writing of the Romans. Therefore, the new
Humanist bookhand and the chancery cursive (cancelleresca) of Rome were based
on 8th-century Carolingian. Both styles were used with the Roman capitals. A
later evolution of the chancery script is known as italic (from Italy). This elegant
and simple form can be used with the Roman caps or a sloped adaptation known
as italic caps.
The Arrighi cursive font (shown on the next page) is based on the 16 c. italic
handwriting copy book by Ludovico Vicentino (the first manual of chancery).
The Humanist bookhand which is the formal Renaissance hand, has become the
basis for virtually all modern Roman serif type faces, as
this font called Centaur
exemplified by
and the informal corsiva for our italic fonts.
So how did we get where we are today?
This is a story of mass production and
competition. In order to sell handwriting
manuals, the 17th- and 18th-century
“Writing Masters” tried to outdo each other
by adding loops and flourishes to their
letters and pages. Writing manuals were
reproduced from engraved copperplate.
Since the engraved letters were cut with
a sharp burin, pointed pens were needed
to copy them - quills and flexible steel
pens that rendered broad strokes and
hairlines by the degree of pressure applied
to the tip. Eventually, the new “roundhand” or “commercial cursive” styles were
written with few pen lifts. To expedite
joins and gain speed, eventually the hand
took over and the old letter forms were
lost. The degree of slope had increased.
Cursive italic is a rhythmic style that
follows rules for stroke order and joins.
These ensure integrity of form as speed
increases. Using a broad-edged pen,
thick and thin parts of italic letters were
a function of pen angle, not pressure.
Arrighi Italic
Italian Chancery Cursive
& the Italic style in formal
& Cursive forms
Flourished & Stylized Italic
Roundhand Script
The 19th- and 20th-century handwriting styles taught in America can be
traced back to copperplate and
roundhand ancestry. The Spencerian
and Palmer methods of penmanship
were less elegant than their predecessors; they were painstaking to learn and
did not adapt well to the ballpoint pen.
Italic and Roman book fonts (lower case)
are based on two Italian Renaissance styles
of handwriting, and the Roman caps are
still based on the classic Roman style
exemplified by the Trajan column. Studies
indicate that as a handwriting style, italic
is easier to read and write than styles based
on roundhand. It is also less stressful on
the hand (due to the rhythm and pen lifts).
Its elegance and beauty provide the writer
a more positive experience and better
self-image (especially through the transition period in the 4th grade, when
cursive is introduced). Although the
argument for the revival of italic handwriting is obvious, it has not become
widespread due to lack of those competent to teach it. Proper teaching and welldesigned instructional materials are gradually becoming available for educators
nationwide.
FORMAL & INFORMAL HANDWRITING
FORMAL
Letters straight
Rounded forms
Letters not joined
Slowly and carefully written
Book hand
Eye dominates
INFORMAL (cursive)
Letters are sloped
Oval forms
Some letters joined
Rapid writing
Letters, notes and business hand
Hand dominates
CLEARING UP MISCONCEPTIONS
· All cursive writing and hand lettering is referred to as “handwriting.”
· The term “printing” refers only to letters produced with the printing press
or other mechanical means.
· Upper and lower case are printers’ terms. For convenience, printers kept majuscules (large letters) in an upper box or case and the minuscules (small letters) in
a case below.
AMPERSAND
The ampersand (&) is the joined symbol or ligature for the Latin “et” meaning “and.” This
symbol was used so often that it took on the status of a letter in the alphabet and was
placed after “Z” Today we call “&” ampersand, which is a corruption of “and-per-se-and”
which means: the symbol ‘&’ by itself stands for ‘and’. In context, when repeated outloud,
the alphabet would end with: “. . w, x, y, z, and per se (by itself) ‘and’.”
Personal Note
I have practiced and taught calligraphy for over twenty-five years. My mentor,
professor Lloyd Reynolds, whom I met at Reed College in the 1960s, not only taught
his students many historical styles of handwriting, but focused on the integration of
spirit and matter in the Eastern & Western artistic traditions. He talked about the
ideal of conveying spirit breath (chi) through the art of handwriting, which occurs
after disciplined practice and mastery of form, culminating in letting go and
becoming a participant in the creative activity of non-doing. I have kept my
love of letters alive through a small business and the teaching of italic handwriting
to school-children and adults.
A poem may be typed and duplicated. . . Good.
But it would have more life if we heard it read aloud
by the poet, hearing it as vibrant speech.
But can a poem when seen, be alive as it was when heard?
The scribe is no beautician of the alphabet.
He is no taxidermist making dead letters look almost alive.
The letters should be alive.
Through the vital touch and movement of his pen,
he would have all of the words jump up alive and kicking.
Lloyd Reynolds
&