English Roundhand & American Engrosser's Scripts

[caliken]

English Roundhand & American Engrosser’s Scripts

Similarities & Differences

Perhaps direct comparisons with the same piece of text, will clarify some of the differences
between English Roundhand (aka Copperplate) and Engrosser’s (Engraver’s) Script.

 

1) This line was written by Willington Clark c1733 and engraved onto Copper for printing by
George Bickham. The style was described at the time as Roundhand, and eventually became
known as English Roundhand. The name ‘Copperplate’wasn’t used at the time, but as the
copybooks had been produced by this method, it seems natural that the name Copperplate
should have been adopted and indeed, this is the name most commonly associated with this
style of script.

 

2) It’s a popular misconception that this style of writing has to be drawn and not written. My
handwritten version is based on the script from the engraved version. Being handwritten,
albeit slowly, it conforms to the norm insofar as there are very few pen lifts and the writing is
continuous from left to right with no paper turning or hand manipulation.

The minuscule ‘e’ has to be written in two strokes if one is to emulate the slight downstroke
shade on the second part of the letter. To achieve the flow of handwriting, I found it necessary
to make one minor change. I have dispensed with this shade as I feel that it is more important
to maintain the flow. In a handwriting style, two strokes when one will do, is counter-productive.
This second downstroke shading appears in several letters and can likewise be dispensed with,

as shown here -

 

 

In all the ellipsed letters in the alphabet i.e. a, d, g, o and q, the weight of the left-side shaded
stroke increases to the foot of the letter. I prefer to use the later form which evolve from pen use,
and shade evenly from top to bottom.
This can be seen here and also in the two letters ‘e’ (above)

 

 

I personally, don’t like the slight backwards twist of the descenders, This can be seen in (1)
in the letter ‘y’. I prefer to write these, straight as here -

In the 18th century examples in ‘The Universal Penman’, it’s very rare to find a looped ascender.
I have no special preference and use both straight and looped ascenders, from time to time. I
have used a looped ‘l’ in my example (2) to show the difference.

 

3) This is the American Engrosser’s or Engraver’s Script, which evolved from English
Roundhand. I have written this example based on exemplars by Dr Joe Vitolo and C P Zaner.
Although not all versions of this script are identical, there are several key points which obviously
difference it from its ancestor, English Roundhand. Typically this script is stronger than
Roundhand with heavier shades.This is apparent in Engrosser’s Script (3) Although written at a
slightly smaller x height, the weight of the letters means that the line is longer. Looped ascenders
and descenders are usually larger and fuller.

As this is a drawn lettering style, flow is not an issue and many strokes can be used to achieve
the finished result. As can be seen, the little downstroke shade in the second part of ‘e’ and other
similarly formed letters, is used in this Script.

 

If an upward hairline follows a heavily-shaded downstroke, as in the letter ’n’ for example, the
hairline is produced as a second stroke, avoiding touching the downstroke with the tiniest of
spaces. This is to avoid pulling any of the ink up outof the downstroke. This technique
results in the letter ‘m’ being drawn in three strokes. In the handwritten version (2) one stroke
would suffice. I feel that the possibility of ink being dragged up into the hairline is minimal,
and if it should happen, it’s a small price to pay for maintaining the handwritten flow.
However, I realise that this is a subjective view and many will undoubtedly disagree.

Edited August 23, 2014 by Ken Fraser

[77kath]

Thank you for this analysis. I would like to develop English roundhand as my running hand, but have been discouraged by the multi-stroke necessities. I think I'll continue to practice the standard forms with an eye to a later adaptation.

[Stompie]

All very interesting Ken, and thank you for this!

 

With my current writing projects I have been experimenting with many different techniques.
Depending on the nib I use, that 'pulling ink' from the down stroke in to the up stroke, has been challenging sometimes and has messed up quite a good number of hairlines for me!

[caliken]

All very interesting Ken, and thank you for this!

 

With my current writing projects I have been experimenting with many different techniques.

Depending on the nib I use, that 'pulling ink' from the down stroke in to the up stroke, has been challenging sometimes and has messed up quite a good number of hairlines for me!

 

 

 

 

This is a one-stroke letter 'n'.

 

You can see in the enlargement the amount of ink inevitably pulled up in the hairline.

It's my belief that this insignificant defect, barely detracts from the appearance of the letter, and can be ignored in the interest of flowing script.

.

Edited August 27, 2014 by Ken Fraser

[Anne-Sophie]

Ken, what is the hand on your web page that says: I sometimes worry about my attention span, but not for very long?

 

It is very close to the letter forms I use, except I use a round non flex, bold nib and French Cursive letter size rules:t, b, l, d... upper strokes, must be 2 seyes lines above the main body of the letters and y, g, p... down strokes, 2 seyes down the main body of the letter, f has the same but 2 up and 2 down seyes strokes.

 

Capitals have 3 Seyes line hight about the main letters.

[caliken]

Ken, what is the hand on your web page that says: I sometimes worry about my attention span, but not for very long?

 

 

It's a variation of English Roundhand but written much heavier than usual. I deliberately left the stroke ends more rounded (not squared off) and the last stroke of letters n & m is a slight compound curve as is the letter r. The heavier stroke-width means that the letters are much wider than convertional Copperplate.

 

Edited August 28, 2014 by Ken Fraser

[drssalahuddin]

My humble attempt at copperplate. It is a translation of a poem by Sufi poet Amir Khusro. The original work is in Persian and traditional Brij bhasha. I'm also attaching the persian script,I wrote the persian script with a stub nib, thats why it didn't turn out sharp. English was written by Wahl Eversharp nib.

 

As I am just a beginner, please advice on improvements.