Learn how to illuminate your writing like the scribes of the past, bringing letters to life with plant and animal motifs, swirling vines and leaves, graceful arabesques and flourishes, fantastical imagery, and more. Draw creatures cavorting across the page as Gothic illuminators did, or create the knotwork seen in famous Celtic manuscripts. Step-by-step tutorials, tips for creating striking effects, and blank letterforms you can illuminate yourself make this the perfect modern-day guide to the medieval art of beautiful writing. 160 pages. 6-1/4" wide x 8-1/4" high (15.9 cm wide x 21 cm high). Rights: World (English)

A classic study of penmanship, lettering, and illumination, this volume covers fundamentals of acquiring a formal hand, tools and materials, creating manuscript books, much more, including 250 illustrations and many useful exercises.

Excerpt from Writing Illuminating,& Lettering In issuing these volumes of a series of Handbooks Editors on the Artistic Crafts, it will be well to state what Preface are our general aims. In the first place, we wish to provide trustworthy text-books of workshop practice, from the points of view of experts who have critically examined the methods current in the shops, and putting aside vain survivals, are prepared to say what is good workmanship, and to set up a standard of quality in the crafts which are more especially associated with design. Secondly, in doing this, we hope to treat design itself as an essential part of good workmanship. During the last century most of the arts, save painting and sculpture of an academic kind, were little considered, and there was a tendency to look on "design" as a mere matter of appearance. Such "ornamentation" as there was was usually obtained by following in a mechanical way a drawing provided by an artist who often knew little of the technical processes involved in production. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

One of the founders of modern calligraphy, Edward Johnston regarded lettering, writing, and illuminating as not only desirable ends in themselves but also as practical avenues to mastery of typography, decoration, and design. In this classic, profusely illustrated guide, he distilled his expertise into a series of easy-to-follow lessons that will benefit any student of calligraphy, book design, or art.This new edition features new formatting, re-digitized artwork, increased readability and all you would expect from a modern published book. This is an invaluable research guide for those interested in Typography, Calligraphy, and any other practice involving writing.

The twenty-eight essays in this collection showcase cutting-edge research in manuscript studies, encompassing material from late antiquity to the Renaissance. The volume celebrates the exceptional contribution of John Lowden to the study of medieval books.