Mastering Copperplate Calligraphy: A Step-by-Step Manual

by Eleanor Winters

Impress yourself and your friends with your creativity in Mastering Copperplate Calligraph y! Add a personal touch to cards, invitations, posters, and more with this guide to hand-lettering. Whether you're a graphic artist or just looking for gift ideas, a hobby, or craft creation, mastering copperplate calligraphy allows you to add your own personal touch!

In this practical manual, a noted calligraphy teacher offers a comprehensive, step-by-step guide for the student. Beginning with a brief but fascinating history of copperplate, she moves quickly to an in-depth examination of the alphabet, numbers, and punctuation. Each letter is demonstrated stroke by stroke with a clear explanation.

Students will learn the fundamentals of copperplate–its minuscule and capital letters, from basic strokes to elaborate variations. Contemporary examples are provided of commercial and fine art calligraphy. This book is perfect, whether you are an expert or just a beginner .
Developed by English handwriting masters in the 18th century, copperplate calligraphy is admired for its fluidity and beauty . It is the most popular style for social correspondence, invitations, and other communications requiring an elegant hand . With this easy-to-follow manual and some practice, calligraphers will be able to create copperplate scripts with the rhythm, grace, and ease of the great writing masters.

Dover publishes a collection of books dedicated to the fine art of lettering, calligraphy, and typography, from basic ornamental letters to "how-to" and history books.





 

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Reference, Crafts, Design, Art Design, How To

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Lusy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Calligraphic practice by definition is the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious, and skillful manner, according to Wikipedia. The post also shared about what happens with this type of art these days.

Calligraphy continues to flourish in the forms of wedding invitations and event invitations, font design and typography, original hand-lettered logo design, religious art, announcements, graphic design and commissioned calligraphic art, cut stone inscriptions, and memorial documents. It is also used for props and moving images for film and television, and also for testimonials, birth and death certificates, maps, and other written works.

As an ancient art that can be found in variety of forms from different countries both in the Eastern and Western worlds, I'm not only glad that it's not a lost art but also relieved that nowadays, it's expanded into more modern forms embraced by young generations. So there are plenty of rooms for everybody to grow!





Needless to say, Calligraphy comes in many styles from around the world. If you want to learn it, then Copperplate Calligraphy is a part of Western Calligraphy that is a good start for beginners. If you can, joining the in-person course of Eleanor Winters is the best way to go. If not, then learning from this book of hers is the next best thing!





It's a step-by-step manual that offers different ways for someone to learn Copperplate Calligraphy. I love that it shares the historical background of Copperplate as a calligraphic style in the beginning of the book. I also love the steps on how to do the letters both minuscules and capitals, complete with the wrong examples!





I just wish there were more wrong examples in form of sentences in this book but overall, when it comes to helping beginners of this calligraphic style? This book is really helpful! If you'd like to learn Copperplate Calligraphy, I highly recommend this book.

Good luck!





Picture Credit: © Lusy (top picture) and the rest from unsplash.com.

[Maddison Holland · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great beginner’s guide to learning Copperplate Calligraphy! I stuck to it, treating it like a class and following all her instructions how she presented them and picked up on it quickly! I definitely recommend this book to anyone getting started in this style. It provided a great foundation that I can improve on.

[Kizia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my go-to book every time I practice calligraphy. It is concise and clear. Perfect book for learning the basics and for drills. I believe it's a great book for first-timers who want to dive into the beautiful world of calligraphy.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very clear, concise guide to copperplate. With clear instructions on letter and word formation. Great for the beginner but if you've read many calligraphy instruction manuals probably not much info you haven't already found elsewhere.

[Kitiya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect book for a beginner!

[Lyndsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction into Copperplate Calligraphy, I found taking my time and working through the pages really useful. A great resource.

[Tanrus · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE guide book for copperplate calligraphy! This book is part of the holy grail for copperplate books.

[Srividya Raghavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent instructions for a self learner. I am yet working through it, but find the instructions clear and useful to develop my own skills.d

[Mustafa Pracha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book to learn calligraphy, it also serves as a reference to traditional copperplate script

[Robbin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good text somehow not as inspiring as others.

[Charlotte CanCountAndRead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly comprehensive and very detailed. I consider myself fluent in writing copperplate from this book alone.

[Nguyễn Giao · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was the first book I've read to start my calligraphy journey, and I'm so thankful for that choice. Eleanor is such a great teacher!

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best copperplate calligraphy manual around! Highly recommended for anyone who wants to teach themselves the difficult art of copperplate penmanship.

[Sifatullahwaris · Rating 5 out of 5]

nice

[Serdar Emre · Rating 5 out of 5]

good

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like it says on the tin, literally just about the one script type.

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best instructional manuals I've ever read. Clear instructions, clear pictures.