What do you think?
Rate this book
The Golden Thread: A History of Writing
From the simple representative shapes used to record transactions of goods and services in ancient Mesopotamia, to the sophisticated typographical resources available to the twenty–first–century users of desktop computers, the story of writing is the story of human civilization itself.Calligraphy expert Ewan Clayton traces the history of an invention which—ever since our ancestors made the transition from a nomadic to an agrarian way of life in the eighth century BC—has been the method of codification and dissemination of ideas in every field of human endeavour, and a motor of cultural, scientific and political progress. He explores the social and cultural impact of, among other stages, the invention of the alphabet; the replacement of the papyrus scroll with the codex in the late Roman period; the perfecting of printing using moveable type in the fifteenth century and the ensuing spread of literacy; the industrialization of printing during the Industrial Revolution; the impact of artistic Modernism on the written word in the early twentieth century—and of the digital switchover at the century's close.The Golden Thread also raises issues of urgent interest for a society living in an era of unprecedented change to the tools and technologies of written communication. Chief among these is the fundamental "What does it mean to be literate in the early twenty–first century?" The book belongs on the bookshelves of anyone who is inquisitive not just about the centrality of writing in the history of humanity, but also about its future; it is sure to appeal to lovers of language, books and cultural history.
416 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 5, 2013
38 people are currently reading
369 people want to read
About the author
Ewan Clayton
16 books6 followersEwan Clayton is Professor in Design at the University of Sunderland and co-director of the International Research Centre for Calligraphy. For a number of years he was a consultant for Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Centre) where he worked within a research group that focused on documents and contemporary communications. He is an award winning calligrapher and has exhibited and taught calligraphy in many parts of the world.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
April 27, 2021
Near the end of his book (p. 344 in my edition) Clayton writes succinctly about one of the reasons he considers his contribution through this book is important; it expresses better than I could why this book can be considered beautiful on a number of levels:
“The search for ways in which to encourage the mysterious process that somehow transforms knowledge about something into instances that we feel and experience as truth had long been an explicit feature of the paper-based world. Indeed the material culture of this world, the shape of its objects, the nature of the institutions that have grown up alongside them and in which they find currency, is the sum of the ways that we human beings have developed, thus far, to engage in the process. It is through a bodily engagement over time — rich in sensual information and channels of knowing — through a contemplative rehearsal, through finding ways of living with the material, in discussion and debate, alongside it in libraries, with books that can be transported to different settings, made with materials and structures that speak to us in satisfyingly embodied ways that we actually digest, coordinate and incorporate the knowledge that documents bear. This is one reason why the history of the material culture of writing is important, and this culture penetrates right down to the level of the individual letter.”
Clayton’s history attempts to identify many of the issues related to the impact and effectiveness of writing on society, starting from the Romans, then through the developments of handwriting styles over one and a half thousand years until the time of the development of the Gutenberg printing press, through the next five hundred years to the development of computers and associated technologies right up to the present day ubiquitous digital technologies which affect just about every aspect of the written word, whether in advertisements, on television, in the various other media, in politics, etc. etc. all of which are so prevalent and “familiar” to us that their power and influence has become more or less invisible. This “invisibility” tends to make us disregard the written word as irrelevant and passé, but which instead makes it even more powerful in the way marketers (especially) use it to manipulate and control every aspect of our lives…
It needs to be said that Clayton’s attention is understandably “limited” to roman letter writing, so it is linked more directly to those countries that use such writing: viz. those countries we generally tend to refer to today as belonging to “the West”. The history, also, deals with many side-effects and issues directly in relation to the development of Western technologies, but also in relation to social, domestic, national and international issues. All of these developments, interesting in themselves, do make for a rather esoteric approach to the matter. Unfortunately, this might result in many potential readers becoming “alienated” and/or “bored”. The reader needs to approach this work calmly and in a leisurely manner which is at odds with the fast, instant, immediate gratification apparently demanded by today’s world. Clayton’s writing reflects his own calm, leisurely and intelligent approach, and makes his work easy to read. Whether this is a benefit or a hindrance to today’s readers is a moot point. Personally I very much enjoyed the experience; hopefully other potential readers will share in that enjoyment.
All along the way of this history, there are many historical titbits to enjoy. They are the bits of history that one only finds in the deeper levels of some histories, though more often than not they are simply disregarded as “irrelevant” to “bigger” issues — more’s the pity. I have selected only a couple of examples that tickled my fancy, to give you a taste of what these fascinating titbits might reveal:
First, as a definer of perceptions of social style and taste at the turn of the 15th–16th century in Italy:
“Ambitious young men, such as the young Michelangelo Buonarotti, had changed their writing style in order to adopt this new fashionable look. Michelangelo had been taught a regionalised form of gothic cursive, the merchantesca, at school in Florence. Some time between 1497 (when he was twenty years old) and 1502 he learned the new cancellaresca script which he used for the rest of his life.” (p.133)
Secondly, as an insight into the beginnings of government involvement in education in Henry VIII’s England:
“Regionally, from the 1440s onwards, many wealthy merchants, clergy and yeomen had endowed local schools, paying the teachers’ wages and sometimes the pupils’ fees. But the dissolution of the monasteries and their schools in the late 1530s, and the closure of chantry chapels, whose priests often doubled as schoolmasters, left the Crown with a sense of responsibility for education which was new. One consequence was an authorised grammar, drawn up at the request of King Henry VIII in 1540. It replaced all other textbooks, whose use was now forbidden. Henry’s textbook began with an ABC and then moved on to a simple catechism in Latin and English followed by a detailed grammar. It was the basis for school textbooks in England for the next 300 years…
“… Henry VIII had all his children taught the italic hand. We have samples from the future King Edward VI (1537–1553) whose handwriting aged eight is astonishingly well formed. Elizabeth I (1533–1603) was taught italic by her tutor Roger Ascham. She was the most skilled calligrapher of all the British monarchs; a handwritten prayer book in the British Library demonstrates her accomplishments.” (pp. 129 and 133)
Towards the end of his book (p. 356), Clayton expresses what could be described as a cri de coeur in relation to his work:
“Writing, at its best, can celebrate the whole way we explore the material world and its sensuality to think and communicate; this is what writing does. My belief is that future generations will continue to search for and respond to joy in writing and reading and beauty in written artefacts, and to generously share these experiences. We should expect to demand to be supported — in the digital domain as elsewhere — in pursuing these profoundly human aims.”
If this cry from the heart does nothing for you, this book is not for you; if it does, then I warmly and whole-heartedly commend it to you.
“The search for ways in which to encourage the mysterious process that somehow transforms knowledge about something into instances that we feel and experience as truth had long been an explicit feature of the paper-based world. Indeed the material culture of this world, the shape of its objects, the nature of the institutions that have grown up alongside them and in which they find currency, is the sum of the ways that we human beings have developed, thus far, to engage in the process. It is through a bodily engagement over time — rich in sensual information and channels of knowing — through a contemplative rehearsal, through finding ways of living with the material, in discussion and debate, alongside it in libraries, with books that can be transported to different settings, made with materials and structures that speak to us in satisfyingly embodied ways that we actually digest, coordinate and incorporate the knowledge that documents bear. This is one reason why the history of the material culture of writing is important, and this culture penetrates right down to the level of the individual letter.”
Clayton’s history attempts to identify many of the issues related to the impact and effectiveness of writing on society, starting from the Romans, then through the developments of handwriting styles over one and a half thousand years until the time of the development of the Gutenberg printing press, through the next five hundred years to the development of computers and associated technologies right up to the present day ubiquitous digital technologies which affect just about every aspect of the written word, whether in advertisements, on television, in the various other media, in politics, etc. etc. all of which are so prevalent and “familiar” to us that their power and influence has become more or less invisible. This “invisibility” tends to make us disregard the written word as irrelevant and passé, but which instead makes it even more powerful in the way marketers (especially) use it to manipulate and control every aspect of our lives…
It needs to be said that Clayton’s attention is understandably “limited” to roman letter writing, so it is linked more directly to those countries that use such writing: viz. those countries we generally tend to refer to today as belonging to “the West”. The history, also, deals with many side-effects and issues directly in relation to the development of Western technologies, but also in relation to social, domestic, national and international issues. All of these developments, interesting in themselves, do make for a rather esoteric approach to the matter. Unfortunately, this might result in many potential readers becoming “alienated” and/or “bored”. The reader needs to approach this work calmly and in a leisurely manner which is at odds with the fast, instant, immediate gratification apparently demanded by today’s world. Clayton’s writing reflects his own calm, leisurely and intelligent approach, and makes his work easy to read. Whether this is a benefit or a hindrance to today’s readers is a moot point. Personally I very much enjoyed the experience; hopefully other potential readers will share in that enjoyment.
All along the way of this history, there are many historical titbits to enjoy. They are the bits of history that one only finds in the deeper levels of some histories, though more often than not they are simply disregarded as “irrelevant” to “bigger” issues — more’s the pity. I have selected only a couple of examples that tickled my fancy, to give you a taste of what these fascinating titbits might reveal:
First, as a definer of perceptions of social style and taste at the turn of the 15th–16th century in Italy:
“Ambitious young men, such as the young Michelangelo Buonarotti, had changed their writing style in order to adopt this new fashionable look. Michelangelo had been taught a regionalised form of gothic cursive, the merchantesca, at school in Florence. Some time between 1497 (when he was twenty years old) and 1502 he learned the new cancellaresca script which he used for the rest of his life.” (p.133)
Secondly, as an insight into the beginnings of government involvement in education in Henry VIII’s England:
“Regionally, from the 1440s onwards, many wealthy merchants, clergy and yeomen had endowed local schools, paying the teachers’ wages and sometimes the pupils’ fees. But the dissolution of the monasteries and their schools in the late 1530s, and the closure of chantry chapels, whose priests often doubled as schoolmasters, left the Crown with a sense of responsibility for education which was new. One consequence was an authorised grammar, drawn up at the request of King Henry VIII in 1540. It replaced all other textbooks, whose use was now forbidden. Henry’s textbook began with an ABC and then moved on to a simple catechism in Latin and English followed by a detailed grammar. It was the basis for school textbooks in England for the next 300 years…
“… Henry VIII had all his children taught the italic hand. We have samples from the future King Edward VI (1537–1553) whose handwriting aged eight is astonishingly well formed. Elizabeth I (1533–1603) was taught italic by her tutor Roger Ascham. She was the most skilled calligrapher of all the British monarchs; a handwritten prayer book in the British Library demonstrates her accomplishments.” (pp. 129 and 133)
Towards the end of his book (p. 356), Clayton expresses what could be described as a cri de coeur in relation to his work:
“Writing, at its best, can celebrate the whole way we explore the material world and its sensuality to think and communicate; this is what writing does. My belief is that future generations will continue to search for and respond to joy in writing and reading and beauty in written artefacts, and to generously share these experiences. We should expect to demand to be supported — in the digital domain as elsewhere — in pursuing these profoundly human aims.”
If this cry from the heart does nothing for you, this book is not for you; if it does, then I warmly and whole-heartedly commend it to you.
November 18, 2016
I’ve read several histories of writing and type, and this one tops the lot. Ewan Clayton does an excellent job showing the interrelated histories of handwriting, calligraphy, and typeface design. The later chapters on the development of personal computers were news to me, and very comprehensive. At the end, he brings us back to the beginning with a surprisingly moving statement on the enduring value of handwritten messages.
Clayton ranges from history to design to science, but wears his learning lightly.
The few illustrations included are of middling to poor quality, but the book would have had to be twice as long. It’s easy to Google any of the images you’d like to see, though.
Clayton ranges from history to design to science, but wears his learning lightly.
The few illustrations included are of middling to poor quality, but the book would have had to be twice as long. It’s easy to Google any of the images you’d like to see, though.
August 27, 2017
Wow, just wow. From ancient greeks, medieval priests, early publishers, early computers, to even graffitis. The book covers the history of how the Roman letters we use to read and write has changed over the millenias. It only covers Roman letters, so don't expect to read about Chinese characters. This book is a good read on western history of writing.
November 11, 2014
This was terrible. I'm a sucker for any history-of-x for lay people (my friends tease me b/c one of my favorites is _The Pencil_, but this was pedantic and dry and filled with unexplained technical terms, and contained none of the human stories that are so critical to bringing the genre to life and helping the reader care about why the subject is important. I skimmed it and returned it.
May 31, 2017
A fascinating history of handwriting. An earlier review said it was pedantic but I felt it was educational. Had never even thought about how many of the fonts one can choose on their word processing program started as handwriting.
August 7, 2020
Clayton is fascinating and charismatic. A former monk, and now one of the world's great calligraphers, he has a wide open mind that is able to situate writing culture in the larger world of sensuous human experience. I've found his lectures eye-opening before and had to get a copy of his book. While it wasn't exactly what I thought it might be (a brilliant history of our letter forms and writing practices) it is an excellent and thoughtful engagement with what writing has been, is, and might be.
May 5, 2015
An accessible, leisurely grand tour through the history of writing.
June 5, 2014
A bit of a bore, a long slog.
February 23, 2017
An encyclopedic masterpiece about the miraculous development of writing. To quote from the back cover: "the cultural miracle that is the written word" I simply could not put it down.
Read
March 26, 2019I loved it!
August 10, 2018
This book is a history of the evolution f western writing, everything from the development of the Roman alphabet from Ancient Mediterranean cultures, the development of different writing styles, the use of different writing implements from reeds to quilles to steel nibbed pens, and the use of different mediums to write on from marble blocks and papyrus to paper and computers. The book includes many other interesting tidbits such as the increase in literacy, the development of the book, record keeping, increased use of writing in corporations, the development of the post-office, the printing press, the novel, graffiti and the computer. While the book was interesting and informative, I found the writing style to be somewhat pedantic.
February 29, 2020
Un fascinante recorrido de la historia de la escritura.
El autor nos lleva de la mano a recorrer la historia, pero la historia vista desde la perspectiva de la escritura. Apasionantes relatos históricos y el rol o el desarrollo de la escritura en esos momentos esta plasmado en esta gran obra.
Es natural que Ewan, como calígrafo que es, se apasioné y nos llevé por recovecos o cajuelas históricas llenas de detalles técnicos que el lector común y corriente no alcanza a apreciar.
El autor nos lleva de la mano a recorrer la historia, pero la historia vista desde la perspectiva de la escritura. Apasionantes relatos históricos y el rol o el desarrollo de la escritura en esos momentos esta plasmado en esta gran obra.
Es natural que Ewan, como calígrafo que es, se apasioné y nos llevé por recovecos o cajuelas históricas llenas de detalles técnicos que el lector común y corriente no alcanza a apreciar.
February 8, 2021
Bueno, no lo terminé porque me terminó pareciendo más un libro educativo que informativo.
Pero tiene informaciones interesantes...
Claro que no tuvo lo que esperaba, aunque quizás eso esté en lo que no leí.
Se me hizo una lectura pesada, francamente, no pude concentrarme la mayoría del tiempo que lo leía. No obstante, y repito, tiene buena información que podría ser de mejor interés para otros interesados en el tema de la historia de la escritura.
Pero tiene informaciones interesantes...
Claro que no tuvo lo que esperaba, aunque quizás eso esté en lo que no leí.
Se me hizo una lectura pesada, francamente, no pude concentrarme la mayoría del tiempo que lo leía. No obstante, y repito, tiene buena información que podría ser de mejor interés para otros interesados en el tema de la historia de la escritura.
September 29, 2025
This was a solid five stars great read for most of the history of writing & printing, until the author started working through the modern era and lost my interest. That part of the book needs to be edited differently somehow. But, I am now sufficiently enamored by calligraphy that I have laid my hands on a calligraphy manual, and maybe something will come of that.
August 11, 2021
Civilization through the lens of writing. What was written ... how it was written .. with what .. on what ... Libraries and booksellers played a role, as did technology, but I was particularly fascinated by how writing styles developed -- making abrupt changes at times. Great maps, too.
Want to read
August 3, 2023recommended by jon; one of his teachers is the author.
started it…highly focused on european writing history (greek & roman) and minimally includes the initial writing habits stemming from cuneiform.
started it…highly focused on european writing history (greek & roman) and minimally includes the initial writing habits stemming from cuneiform.
September 7, 2017
Interesting book, but hard to get through. Not a gripping tale. Not sure a book about handwriting can be that though.
September 6, 2023
Por el título no sé qué esperaba encontrar pero, siendo estrictos, una historia de la escritura no es.
https://liblit.com/ewan-clayton-la-hi...
https://liblit.com/ewan-clayton-la-hi...
March 3, 2024
Certo molto interessante, purtroppo alcune pagine sono decisamente troppo tecniche, ma nel complesso un libro da leggere.
April 12, 2024
Thorough study of Western writing covering everything from pre-Christian Roman inscriptions to modern-day graffiti. Very readable, and full of information and illustrations.
April 28, 2018
Un libro para los amantes de las letras, para los curiosos o los que necesiten información adicional para un escrito o trabajo. No se lleva más estrellas porque en ocasiones ha sido algo denso.
May 5, 2016
Da lo que promete. Dedicado en un 90% a tipografía y estilos de escritura (particularmente con pluma de ganso), y en un 10% menos sesudo al concepto de documento tras el advenimiento de las nuevas tecnologías, apostando fuerte por mantener el clásico papel y lápiz contra la dictadura de lo digital. No puedo decir que le apoye mucho en esto, pero entiendo su postura.
Por otra parte, me ha venido de perlas para clavar una cita en un trabajo universitario que tengo que entregar mañana, y eso dice bastante: está muy bien escrito, pero solo será de interés para gente interesada en tipografía y similares; como contenido de cultura general no lo recomendaría por su especialización y probable generación de bostezos.
Por otra parte, me ha venido de perlas para clavar una cita en un trabajo universitario que tengo que entregar mañana, y eso dice bastante: está muy bien escrito, pero solo será de interés para gente interesada en tipografía y similares; como contenido de cultura general no lo recomendaría por su especialización y probable generación de bostezos.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews