Exploring the history of calligraphy, penmanship, lettering, and design.
You are currently browsing the monthly archive for March 2009.
Mar. 30, 2009 — I first learned about “pen spinning” at the website of my favorite source for imported Japanese writing implements, JetPens.com. (They have a huge selection of rare pens and pencils, imported directly from Japan, reasonably priced.)
Pen spinning is a strange art form, that has become popular in many parts of the world, but still hasn’t caught on here in the U.S.
Mar. 30, 2009 — Can you decipher the three words shown above? They were written in cursive Italic handwriting, nearly five centuries ago, by one of the greatest experts in this hand, Gerardus Mercator. If you need help decoding this loopy Italic cursive, click on the image.
I’ve finished reading Script & Scribble, a new book about the history of handwriting, by Kitty Burns Florey. She gets many of her facts wrong, but for the most part she has nice things to say about traditional American penmanship — that is, until she jumps off the deep end in the final chapter and claims that modern Italic handwriting is far superior to American cursive styles. Her criticisms are presented amateurishly, comparing poor examples of “loopy cursive” with clearly written, semi-cursive Italic, and repeating the clichés and biased opinions of Italic handwriting experts. (Opposing views were not included.)
The real “penmanship wars” lasted for centuries, but this strife ended long ago. Serious penmanship pedagogy, in American schools, was dead and buried by circa 1940–1960 (a bit later in some places), and yet our modern Italic enthusiasts struggle along to this day, like abandoned soldiers on a forgotten island.
They criticize penmanship methods they know little or nothing about, but they never see the inherent flaws and weaknesses of Italic handwriting, of which there are many.
As Charles P. Zaner (1864-1918) emphasized, all handwriting styles have their strengths and weaknesses — therefore it’s silly to get hung up on a particular style, and to belittle other approaches.
