MEDIEVAL CALLIGRAPHY, ITS HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE

by Marc Drogin

"Vastly rewarding and illuminating." — American Artist
This comprehensive history and instruction manual contains, in one volume, thirteen significant medieval scripts, with a history of the evolution of the alphabets, and fascinating background material on the scribes, their world, and how writing styles changed over a thousand years. Moreover, it is the only modern book that provides clearly described, brilliantly photographed, and accurately reproduced examples of both major and minor hands along with explicit directions for writing them.
The author — a professional calligrapher of medieval styles, as well as illuminator, writer, and teacher — presents a spirited historical account of thirteen important writing styles developed from about the fourth century to the end of the fifteenth. These include Roman Rustic, Uncial, Carolingian Minuscule, Early Gothic, Luxeuil Minuscule, Gothic Littera Bastarda , and seven other distinctive hands. The text explains how and why different styles evolved, why certain devices, codes, and abbreviations were used, and how form and function interacted.
In addition to fascinating facts about the origin and development of medieval scripts, Medieval Calligraphy also shows you how to duplicate medieval techniques with modern writing tools. Thorough instructions and sharply detailed, full-page photographs of the original alphabets explain pen angles and stroke sequences for each letter and capital. By carefully studying and practicing the techniques described, calligraphers will be able to master some of history's most interesting and influential scripts. Mr. Drogin has rounded out the book with helpful lists of suppliers of tools and materials, American and European sources for facsimiles and books, calligraphic societies, a bibliography, index, and more.

Genres: Art, History, Reference, Nonfiction, Medieval, Crafts, Medieval History

Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

American writer, illustrator, and medieval calligraphy expert.

Reviews

[Anna Petruk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is hands-down the best book I've read on the topic. Marc Drogin did a great job.

This book covers everything from Roman Rustic, to Uncial and it's modifications, to insular scripts, to Carolingian Minuscule and various Gothic scripts.

THE "HISTORY" PART

The "history" part tells about the development of various scripts and the instruments the scribes used, historical context and reasons for these developments. It also tells about the ways Medieval scribes approached their work, how they lived, learned, etc.

I really appreciated the books illustrations. They were to the point and obviously meticulously selected. Each script had multiple illustrations showcasing real Medieval manuscripts written in this script.

All illustrations are black-and-white. Each had info on where the manuscript can be found.



It was very interesting and I personally found it very informative. And you know stuff is serious when there's a list of references at the and of the book.

There was also advice on how to get permission to study the physical scripts, etc.

THE "TECHNIQUE" PART

The "technique" part included a description of characteristics, capitalization, punctuation, ligatures, decoration, and recommendations for further reading for each script. The variations of the scripts are also described and illustrated by examples.

There was also a full alphabet with ductus (the direction, number, and sequence of the strokes that work together to create a letter) for each script. This also included notes on pen angles, line height, serifs, etc.



I practiced all 13 scripts described in the book. Exercises took me about 60 practice pages, then I attempted to do more fun "creative" stuff based on that:



This is the reason why it took me months to complete this book - I dedicated at least a weekend to practicing each script.



Most interesting and useful book. Absolutely recommend!

[David Gustafson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must have resource for any scribat dedicatum or paleographer. It offers a concise history along with historical plates followed by a chapter of ductus for each of the scripts.

[CR Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of a few who know what they are talkin' about.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some great exemplars. I liked the history attached to the scripts. It also gave me soe inspiration for future projects.

[Bryan Whitehead · Rating 5 out of 5]

As promised by the title, this is an excellent source for both the history and the technique of Medieval calligraphy. Marc Drogin starts with the scripts of the late Roman empire and covers the various changes in styles all the way up through the early Renaissance and advent of the printing press. I was particularly fond of the examples of each script, complete with ductus (stroke order and direction) for each letter. The historical backgrounds and additional information are also fascinating and readable. Though I would have liked to have seen the manuscript reproductions in color, I suppose that would have been a distraction from the standpoint of studying calligraphy (not to mention driving up the cost of the book considerably). Overall I strongly recommend this to anyone who’d like to learn the arts of Medieval scribes.

[Liralen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A practical and fascinating guide to Medieval Calligraphy. The styles are all in there, with excellent pictures of source material from the various periods under discussion and the styles that are highlighted are also given a thorough study on how the letters are formed. Each alphabet comes with a complete guide on how to create the letters, embellishments, and spacing found in the source texts. There is a whole historical section on how each script type was used and what their focus was as well as speculation on how the various writers of those scripts worked with them for their livelihood.

It's a beautiful book, and there's good instructions for recreating historically accurate scripts yourself.

[Hannah Buzil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides a really good history of medieval calligraphy as well as teaching you the technique for doing it yourself. There are a lot of pictures that help explain what calligraphy looked like and how it changed over time and how it might be different in different areas or from different calligraphers.

[Davis Guilliams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting overview of the history of European manuscripts from the Roman Empire to the Renaissance. Very clear instructions for different scripts and lots of supplemental information with a big bibliography. Sometimes the text shows its age with a strong focus on Insular hands. I would have liked more attention to southern and eastern European hands.

[Marion Taffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful resource as I researched my historical fiction about a girl who learns to write in the 10th Century. The author's love of calligraphy comes through, and the information is deep and rich yet also accessible.

[Fortluna · Rating 5 out of 5]

my main calligraphy reference book - great, and readily available

[Rick Wolff · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's as close as the Society for Creative Anachronism will ever come to a universal calligraphy textbook. By no means comprehensive, it's still clear and unmistakeable, with photographic examples from which he pulled each ductus.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is both a great source of historical information as well as instructions for how creating these scripts yourself.

[Zgardenldy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended. Good resource.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lot of fascinating historical information in here. I don't find his exemplars very beautiful, but I suppose they're better than anything I could make.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book.
Covers the history of the letters, has complete alphabets with step by step directions for you learn to write them your self.
Letters, numbers pen strokes and how to hold them all in this book.
It is not a college text going into the details of the ink and what not, but it does give you enough starting points to find your own way.
This is well worth the purchase.

[Krzysztof Smigrodzki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little of introductory material about evolution of handwriting styles in the beginning and plates with ductus for many styles. One up to two pages for a style. Enough material to try to reproduce the look of those handwriting styles, but not enough to understand the principles that lead to construction of those hands.

[Nuno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty nice book. It is about the history an evolution of the alphabets and a instruction manual on 13 different scripts, which I was practicing several scripts all these months. A mandatory resource if you are interested on this theme.

[Guy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic look at the history of calligraphy, as well as the techniques of layout and putting pen to paper. I highly recommend this book to artists of all types.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent - I'm just starting out and this is a perfect guide to supplement workshops with a good teacher.