BOOKHAND WRITING

[Bookhand writing header]

In general, bookhands are used to write out or copy the text of bound books. The minuscule letterforms are mostly characterized by roundness (some "Gothic" and compressed styles being the exception), clarity and lack of embellishments. The resultant text derives much of its beauty from its evenness and spacing uniformity. I think that most bookhands are eminently suitable for practical everyday use: beautiful and elegant writing of small size (2mm - 2.5mm minuscule letter body height) that can be rendered with comfort and ease at an acceptable writing speed for journal and diary entries, correspondence, greeting ~ condolence ~ congratulatory ~ cards and envelopes, etc.

I modeled my first Practical Bookhands on the humanistic minuscule letterforms originally formulated by Poggio Bracciolini in the early fifteenth century and subsequently refined by scribes throughout that century. I particularly admire the Humanistic writing of Mark of Vicenza, late Fifteenth century, PlateXX (pages 402 & 417) - Writing & Illuminating & Lettering (Edward Johnston), for its roundness and evenness.

References:

[Roman writing exemplar] [Roman writing exemplar] [Roman writing exemplar]

I think there is a basic loveliness to round letterform writing (which naturally produces writing of great evenness). I was leafing through my collection of !8th century British legal documents -- rendered by specialist Scriveners using square cut quills mostly on calfskin vellum -- and was struck by the fact they consistently employed round letterforms although there was often much individuality in their construction. Here is the header from a document dated 1777:

[Bookhand writing exemplar]

.......... and here is an enlarged snippet from the document body that illustrates this example of "Old English" roundhand letterforms:

[Bookhand writing exemplar]

Inow mostly use a bookhand model somewhat based on seventh century half-uncial letterforms as modernized by Edward Johnston. The letterforms are similar in construction to those of the small roman humanistic writing hands, the main difference being the forms of f, a & g and the extended lower serifs which act as couplers thereby enhancing letter spacing and free flowing writing. My favorite calligrapher - Irene Wellington - also used these adaptations and frequently employed them in her renditions:

[Bookhand writing exemplar]

In developing my Practical Bookhand writing I have strived at all times to embody the essential attributes of roundness, evenness and elegance -- that are inherent in this style -- in order to produce writing that can be rendered freely, comfortably and at acceptable everday writing speed for prolonged periods of time. I find this half uncial based bookhand particularly suited for everyday use - the roundness of the letterforms and the the coupled letters being well suited for rapid and free flowing execution.

[Bookhand writing exemplar]

Another exemplar of this hand:

[Bookhand writing exemplar]

Commonplace writing instruments and materials are used for this Practical Bookhand writing: mostly edged nib and regular pointed nib fountain pens but also lead pencils and "ball-pointed" pens; bottled and cartridge encapsulated fountain pen inks; inexpensive commercial lined pad paper.

[Bookhand writing exemplar] [Bookhand writing exemplar]

In developing or adapting any writing hand it is important to first concentrate on producing well formed letters, both majuscules (Capitals or upper case) and minuscules (small or lower case), with precision and consistency -- the essential forms of the letters as Edward Johnston expressed it. You cannot deviate too much from the basic letter forms that the general population is familiar with without degrading legibility. Individual style is incorporated after the basic letter forms have been well learned. The goal is to produce finely crafted letters and a unique, individual writing style at everyday writing speed. The letter forms may not be as pretty as when written slowly and deliberately, but they will still possess a basic loveliness and be eminently readable.

[Bookhand writing exemplar]

Beginners should not be put off by comparisons of their own freely rendered letter forms to exemplars depicted in books by experienced calligraphers -- those are usually rendered with great deliberation and care under the most favorable conditions (and often after several less perfect renditions have been consigned to the wastebasket) using reservoired steel nibbed pens or even hand cut quills on best quality paper or sometimes calfskin vellum or split sheepskin parchment.

[Bookhand writing exemplar]

[Bookhand writing exemplar]

[Bookhand writing exemplar]

I use classic Capitalis Monumentalis Majuscules with my Practical Bookhands as modeled here:

[Roman lettering exemplar] This is an exemplar of the CAPITALIS MONUMENTALIS letterforms employed by stone cutters for edifices, monuments, tombstones, etc. A particularly fine extant example is found on Trajan's column in Rome and the essential constructs of these letterforms are the models for all Majuscule (Capital) alphabets used in the western world. Stonecutters in particular still employ their distinctive proportions and terminating serifs. It should be noted that only twenty letters were used in the ancient Roman alphabet : A B C D E F G H I L M N O P Q R S T V X. Our modern J and U were not used, their equivalents being I and V respectively. Thus, our modern JULIUS was written IVLIVS. The letter K was seldom used and then only before A. The letters Y and Z were only used when reproducing Greek words. W was not part of the ancient Roman alphabet at all. It was Medieval scribes who eventually formalized the construction models for the letters J K U W Y Z. Capitalis Monumentalis lettering is at the apex of the "Hierarchy of Scripts" for Calligraphers and is often used by them for headers or versals in pen and ink renditions.

There are numerous excellent photographs of actual CAPITALIS MONUMENTALIS lettering (including that on Trajan's column) mostly accompanied by location information, translations and analyses, at Bill Thayer's Latin Inscriptions section of his LacusCurtius web site

[Roman lettering exemplar]In general I follow the classic CAPITALIS MONUMENTALIS letterforms except as follows: I modify them to produce closer spacing and this, together with a compaction of the wide letters C O Q and M results in more uniform and "square" lettering. Serifs are small and unobstrusive -- they can be slight terminal flicks or added horizontal stabs. I frequently do not apply serifs in order to enhance speed in rendering. Letterform features: Capitalis Monumentalis letterforms are stately and elegant: E and F have equal length horizontal bars; A has a sharp apex; V has a sharp junction; the bowls of B P R S are always nicely formed.

I think it is a delightful and satisfying experience to write on paper using pen and ink. The delight is increased a thousand fold if your writing possesses the qualities of beauty, elegance and clarity.


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