Customer Reviews

Writing and Illuminating and Lettering

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This is an excellent volume by Edward Johnston, the individual responsible for the rediscovery of the broad edged pen and the revival of Calligraphy. He was the founder of "The Society of Scribes and Illuminators", London. This was his first published book and gives an excellent background for the student of calligraphy into the basic knowledge, formats and techniques of the scribes who produced the most beautiful books and documents in history. I would call this the "Bible" of the true craft. It is not a modern book with flashy photos or artwork. It is not from the perspective of a modern artist, learning to incorporate lettering into "art pieces". It is a volume which teaches you the basic historic fundamentals of lettering, layout, illumination, etc., geared to the production of books and documents. I highly recommend it.

The whole book is very soft and very fragile. Paper on cover and inside block is very thin. But the most crucial thing that is page numbers and pages subsequently misplaced, i.e. all left pages are odd (73, 115, 251 etc) and all right pages are even (4, 88,166 etc). Dont buy this reprint!

Good historial review of calligraphy, but would not recommend it as a good reference book if you are looking for something to guide and show you how to do calligraphy. Recommend "Encyclopedia of Calligraphy" instead. I purchased first edition many years ago, and accidentally bought this one again. Oh well...