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The first modern calligrapher to create illustrated envelopes was Francis Courtney (1867–1952). Back in 1908, Courtney sent a series of wonderful envelopes to his friend and colleague, William C. Henning, who was at that time an associate editor of The American Penman (A. N. Palmer’s magazine). Here’s a picture of one of them:

Courtney was a great master of formal calligraphy, in many styles — but his work could also be delightfully strange, casual, and even illegible, when this suited his purpose. (Courtney was way ahead of his time, in this regard.)

Several more examples of these decorated envelopes, all from the year 1908, and many more illustrations of Courtney’s amazing work, can be found in this book: An Elegant Hand: The Golden Age of American Penmanship & Calligraphy.

Today the art of illustrated envelopes is thriving! There’s even an international contest devoted to this art form. Click on winners’ names at bottom of that page, to see some beautiful examples.

Here’s another nice picture from Friedrich Soennecken’s Methodical Text Book to Round Writing (pub. by Keuffel & Esser; New York & Chicago, 1877). It appears on page xxiv, and takes up half the page.

Perhaps it seems odd that Soennecken would publish such a complicated diagram, for such a simple and intuitive concept: keep the pen nib at a constant angle, in this case 45 degrees, and the letterforms will flow naturally from the pen. Even beginners will understand, very quickly, that the shape and angle of the pen nib determine the shape of the letters, and vice versa — since this is just common sense — but things quickly become more complicated as the hand moves across the page, and the angle, relative to the writer’s head, appears to change. So a model like this must be kept in mind at all times, at least while the novice is still learning the craft.

However, much simpler models were also used, like Charles Zaner’s elegant little diagram from 1895, published in his book, Zanerian Alphabets, page 5. On this page he noted: “Use Soennecken’s pens, usually No. 1 for first practice.” Also: “Keep the point of the pen at an angle of 45 degrees at all times, until further notified.” (Later in the book he described how other angles should be used, in different situations.)

Skillful calligraphers often vary the width of their strokes in other ways, as well. One technique for creating tapered strokes is to increase and decrease the downward pressure on the nib, so it spreads and contracts, respectively. The Soennecken broad nibs are flexible and snappy — perfect for this. That’s why the famous scribe Henry W. Ellsworth wrote (in 1897) that “very elastic, square-pointed steel pens may be substituted” for broad-edged quill pens (made from feathers). In this regard, these diagrams show only a basic principle of broad-pen calligraphy, and not the more refined techniques that are generally used.

The 1907-1908 supply catalog of the Detroit School of Lettering has a page on the airbrush’s forgotten cousin, the “air pencil.” It was used by show-card writers to create raised-letter effects. You could buy a nice little air-pencil kit, for just $.75 (about $17.00 today), which included the following items: “one bottle of liquid, one box of compound, one air-pencil, one funnel, one bottle gold bronze, one air-pencil specimen, and full directions how to use.” Here is the description from the catalog: “Air-pencils may be used to splendid advantage in the work of the card writer. With this instrument the raised-letter effect illustrated [here] may be produced. The work is very fascinating and may be executed with rapidity and ease. Anyone can manipulate the air pencil with just a few minutes practice. With the use of various colored bronzes, flitters, diamond dust, tinsel, etc., very elaborate and handsome effects can be obtained by the most inexperienced.”

Matrimonial Penmanship

A knowledge of the art of deducing character from handwriting is especially valuable for those who are contemplating matrimony, or in the choice of friends or acquaintances. In fact, the calligraphy of one’s intended becomes, as it were, a semaphore, flashing its signals of safety or danger to anyone who will accept its message.

— William Leslie French, Woman’s World, April, 1914.

He Married the Girl Because Her Handwriting “Charmed” Him

Miss Hannah Sperber, of No. 460 Grand Street, became the bride today of Benjamin H. Cohen, a young businessman, who fell in love when he saw her handwriting in a letter seven years ago, when she was a girl of fifteen, and he was nineteen years of age.

Cohen saw the letter, which had been written to a friend, Miss May Cousins, of Brooklyn. He was told the writer was a girl living in San Francisco. “I’m going to marry that girl some day,” the youth said. “I don’t care how much you laugh at me; that handwriting has charmed me.”

Cohen wrote. In time photographs were exchanged. Then, somehow, Hannah persuaded her parents to come to live in New York.

The marriage ceremony was performed by Rabbi Heller.

— New York Journal, June 5, 1914.

All Beginning Calligraphers Desire Expert Formal Guidance and Help. Most people already know about pangrams, such as “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” These are useful for practicing calligraphic styles — but what about the capital letters? Pangrams often don’t work well for those, because many styles look unattractive or odd, when written in all capitals.

About a century ago, an American calligrapher named James D. Todd (from Salt Lake City, Utah) came up with a wonderful solution for this problem: the alphabetogram.

In an alphabetogram, capitalized words, beginning with each of the 26 letters in alphabetical order, are used to create a brief statement, often aiming for some degree of literary merit. Helper words (few or many) can be used between the main words, for smoothing out the syntax. The letter ‘X’ often stands for ‘Ex-’ — and several other liberties may be taken.

Alphabetograms come in many styles: minimalist (few helper words), backwards (z to a), double (through the alphabet, twice), random (start the sequence with any letter), and lots of others.

Here’s one of James Todd’s most beautiful alphabetograms, called Astronomy:

Zodiac in Yonder Xpanse reveals Worlds that Vibrate Under The Starry Realms Quite like the Pleiades or Orions Nebula. Much Light Keeps Jupiter In the Heaven’s Gleam. From Every Day Comes Brightness Always.

Todd published his alphabetograms in magazines dedicated to penmanship and calligraphy (The American Penman, etc.), written out in many different styles.

Here are the first few words of several more of Todd’s alphabetograms:

• War — Armies Blow up Cities and Devastate the Earth in Fighting…
• Arbitration — Arbitration Besets Challenge, Demands Explanation, Frustrates Greed…
• A Merry Christmas — A Bright Christmas Delightful and Enjoyable…
• Instruction — Advise Before Commanding. Don’t Entertain Freely…
• Advancement — Advance By Climbing. Don’t Ever Forget Gumption…
• F. B. Courtney — All-round Brilliant Courtney Dashes off Elegant Flourishes…
• E. W. Bloser — Alas! Bloser of Columbus is Dead. Everyone’s Friend has Gone Home…

Try to write your own alphabetograms.