Historical Hands

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In keeping with our commitment to calligraphy education, the Gentle Penman is pleased to continue our popular series of short workshops, which serve as an introduction to a selection of styles of traditional calligraphy over the past 2000 years. 

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The workshops focus on broad-edged pen hands (scripts) with an emphasis on the basics: pen angle, letter proportions and "family groups" in order that students can build on these fundamentals to develop an understanding of our craft.  These workshops are relatively short, two 2-hour sessions for each hand, emphasizing basic skills rather than design and layout. Our purpose is to create a foundation for further study. 

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A special feature of this series has been the opportunity for students to participate in individual workshops or take advantage of the full series of Historical Hands.

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With the exception of the first workshop, The Foundational Hand, we are offering these workshops in historical sequence.  Among the workshops we have offered in our series are:  Roman Capitals, Uncial, Carolingian, Textura, Rotunda and Italic.   We are nearing the end of our sequence with one of the most popular styles of calligraphy: Edward Johnston's Gothicized Italic. 

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Gothicized Italic (Part 10)

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Among the most popular styles of calligraphy for students and professionals alike, this modern Gothic script, developed during the revival of calligraphy in the early 20th century, is a rhythmic, elegant variation on the medieval Black Letter hands.  It combines the cursive qualities of Italic with the ornamental appearance of Textura and other Gothic alphabets.  Gothicized Italic is associated with Edward Johnston, one of the key figures in the revival of the broad-edged pen.

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In this introduction to Gothicized Italic, students will study the basics of this lively and very legible script as well as some of the many variations which make this hand exciting and elegant.