Excellent English Roundhand From 19Th Century Germany

[Columba Livia]

This book was published in 1857. The calligraphy was reproduced by lithography (would have been on limestone then). It is (obviously) a penmanship instruction book, presumably intended for people at a Realschule

 

The slant of the writing is, I believe, 40 degrees (up from the horizontal).

 

From what I've seen of 19th century penmanship books, this is a plain one teaching simple and practical cursive handwriting. Note that for example the lower case x is a form which can be made without lifting the pen off the page.

 

There are some interesting features which seem to be characteristic of how English roundhand was written in Germany at this time, such as gradually thickening the descender on f,g,p q and y.

 

Here are some scans and a few photos from/of the book. I did not scan any German writing pages but have included a photo of one, the foreword.

 

http://i.imgur.com/bPPTyYJ.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/GfzOZo6.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/LcZTSPP.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/AXneN0j.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/CPCsyhY.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/rVIi5Jn.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/vzc8uuy.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/Wwv5iK0.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/kgYaPIT.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/wTsp4DX.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/seh2PlD.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/SVYs0HB.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/cGSP80G.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/SFJxQkv.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/Gh6sgJp.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/fqJ8Rrc.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/qo352kJ.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/DVFxhm2.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/fYf0zNe.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/iJITBp0.jpg

Edited March 20, 2013 by Columba Livia

[The Good Captain]

Nice to see that the art of uniform illegibility wasn't just an American invention then.

[caliken]

Nice to see that the art of uniform illegibility wasn't just an American invention then.

The problem lies in the difficulty of reproducing the extremely fine hairlines. The style, in its original form, is very beautiful and perfectly legible.

 

Ken

[Stompie]

Is this digitally available or can one purchase it?

 

I think the illegibility is because the pictures are not 100% in focus?

[Columba Livia]

Is this digitally available or can one purchase it?

 

It doesn't seem to be digitally available, or for purchase anywhere, but here are high-resolution scans, which should help with the fineness of the lines:

 

http://www.sendspace.com/file/usrzry

^

30mb

 

In person the lines are a lot easier to see, since although so very fine, the ink used was a dark velvety matt black which stands out very well. With the large hand city names (Mainz, Leipzig etc) you can actually feel the ink standing off the page a little when you run your finger over it. The paper is slightly off-white and has decorative(?) flecks consistently throughout.

 

Here are some enlargements, the minuscules in the first one are 4mm high on the page:

 

http://i.imgur.com/9d8ldU8.jpg

 

The smallest minuscules here approx 3mm on the page:

 

http://i.imgur.com/6KmBNvs.jpg

 

Here they are 10mm on the page:

 

http://i.imgur.com/An7ISKR.jpg

Edited March 21, 2013 by Columba Livia

[nana_kathy]

Beautiful!

[Stompie]

Thanks for the additional pictures.

 

How do they get that hairline, apart from having exceptional eyesight, it must be one brilliant nib and of course the paper as well.

 

No matter what paper I use I always find those little bumps and lumps knock out my straight lines!

[thang1thang2]

Thanks for the additional pictures.

 

How do they get that hairline, apart from having exceptional eyesight, it must be one brilliant nib and of course the paper as well.

 

No matter what paper I use I always find those little bumps and lumps knock out my straight lines!

 

 

LOTS of practice makes the lines super smooth. Then they use ink that is absolutely perfect for the paper that they use. Since it's a professional, their entire job depends on the ink and paper being perfect for each other, so of course it is. Then they have their nibs which are fully broken in and are very very fine. For such an extreme contrast, they probably used two nibs. One for the hairlines with gentle swelling and the other to fill in all the swells for the extreme contrast. The important thing to remember in professional calligraphy is that it is rarely done "as you see it", but rather labored over and constantly refined until it is the look that the artist wants. Much like body-builders use steroids and artists paint over their work, calligraphers fix their errors with razors, multiple nibs, multiple passes, etc. It's the nature of the craft, and it certainly looks beautiful.

[Stompie]

 

 

LOTS of practice makes the lines super smooth. Then they use ink that is absolutely perfect for the paper that they use. Since it's a professional, their entire job depends on the ink and paper being perfect for each other, so of course it is. Then they have their nibs which are fully broken in and are very very fine. For such an extreme contrast, they probably used two nibs. One for the hairlines with gentle swelling and the other to fill in all the swells for the extreme contrast. The important thing to remember in professional calligraphy is that it is rarely done "as you see it", but rather labored over and constantly refined until it is the look that the artist wants. Much like body-builders use steroids and artists paint over their work, calligraphers fix their errors with razors, multiple nibs, multiple passes, etc. It's the nature of the craft, and it certainly looks beautiful.

 

You will most probably think I am a real turkey but honestly, I thought this is all done once off and that is how they actually write!

 

Having that thought in mind has been the demotivator for me practicing my hand as I can not see myself getting such steadyness of hand or accuracy and smoothness of line!

 

So then this sort of hand, is drawn as in a work of art, not written per se.

 

Okay, makes sense.

[smk]

 

 

LOTS of practice makes the lines super smooth. Then they use ink that is absolutely perfect for the paper that they use. Since it's a professional, their entire job depends on the ink and paper being perfect for each other, so of course it is. Then they have their nibs which are fully broken in and are very very fine. For such an extreme contrast, they probably used two nibs. One for the hairlines with gentle swelling and the other to fill in all the swells for the extreme contrast. The important thing to remember in professional calligraphy is that it is rarely done "as you see it", but rather labored over and constantly refined until it is the look that the artist wants. Much like body-builders use steroids and artists paint over their work, calligraphers fix their errors with razors, multiple nibs, multiple passes, etc. It's the nature of the craft, and it certainly looks beautiful.

 

Calligraphers do touch-up their work and sometimes even write out the text lightly in pencil before inking. However, this does not mean that there is no writing. I would be greatly surprised if this text was done with two nibs as it is not big enough to warrant the trouble. I'm sure a Gillot 303 can produce comparable results with a good ink and paper combination.

 

I find it easier to produce such work by writing it out rather than drawing the outlines and filling them in with ink.

 

 

You will most probably think I am a real turkey but honestly, I thought this is all done once off and that is how they actually write!

 

Having that thought in mind has been the demotivator for me practicing my hand as I can not see myself getting such steadyness of hand or accuracy and smoothness of line!

 

So then this sort of hand, is drawn as in a work of art, not written per se.

 

Okay, makes sense.

 

While the result might be touched up in places, it is far from being drawn per se. Even with Engraver's text, which can be considered the formal and drawn version of Copperplate, the strokes are made in one go - there are frequent starts and stops but it is far from drawing in the literal sense.

 

Please do not be disappointed in your progress, examples like these can be produced by hand with concerted effort. The masters did the same exercises we do and faced the same challenges we need to overcome. Keep at it and don't skip the basic exercises. You are bound to get there.

 

Salman