Calligraphy Books

The Calligrapher's Bible: 100 Complete Alphabets and How to Draw Them

David Harris

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great! 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This is a great book for beginners. It has a great layout and is easy to understand.

Editorial Review:

Both hobbyists and students of design will value this easy-to-use self-teaching book. Each of its 100 sections shows a complete A-to-Z calligraphy alphabet, with lessons on correct pen strokes and advice on avoiding errors. Beginners will find sound basic instruction, while experienced calligraphers can extend their repertoire with letter styles that range from classic Roman to clean and elegant contemporary styles. In addition to analysis of each alphabet’s features, the book’s detailed instruction provides information on— Tools and materials * Layout basics * Numerals and punctuation * Illumination and ornamentation * Tips for the left-handed calligrapher . . . and more. Readers will also find examples by master calligraphers from past eras. This book’s spiral binding ensures that pages lay flat when opened, allowing calligraphers to study and copy each pen stroke with ease. The Calligrapher’s Bible is printed in color and features more than 350 illustrations.

Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters Volume 1: A Revolutionary New Way to Learn and Remember the 800 Most Basic Chinese Characters

Alison Matthews, Laurence Matthews

Amazon Price: $19.77 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Tuttle Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 34 new & used starting at $17.39

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I agree with the other glowing reviews. One of the hard things about Mandarin is remembering the tone of the words. There are four tones - high, rising, falling/rising, and falling. The characters are either building block characters or formed out of two (and rarely three) building block. E.g., the character for good is comprised of the symbol for woman and child and it has a falling/rising tone.

The book has a "dorky" story about each character that help you remember the constituent building blocks which has one of 4 prototype characters woven into the story depending on the tone. Thus, if I am trying to remember the character for lamp, there is story about a giant (which signifies first tone) and fire and nail (the two constituent buiding blocks) plus a sound word which helps to jog the memory.

As someone who went through medical school, I appreciate good mnemonics. This is an excellent book. If you want to learn the hanzi (Chinese characters), just get this book! It teaches the 800 most common characters. But also, it teaches a method to learn even more. When I see a character now, I start making up my own stories following the pattern of the book.

Editorial Review:

Aimed at helping students of Chinese learn and remember Chinese characters—including the pronunciation of characters—fast and effectively, Learning Chinese Characters Volume 1 is a systematic study aid to this difficult language.
Designed specifically to ease students into the daunting process of learning Chinese characters, Learning Chinese Characters Volume 1 incorporates the key principle of visual imagery. A book for serious learners of Chinese, it can be used alongside (or after, or even before) a course in the Chinese language. Concise, clear and appealing, this practical guide is well designed and includes an easy-to-use index.

Calligraphy Kit: Learn the Art of Beautiful Writing (Walter Foster Art Kits)

Arthur Newhall, Eugene Metcalf

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 9 to 13 days By: Walter Foster Amazon Marketplace: 11 new & used starting at $11.79

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

not completely satisfied 3 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Some of the ink cartridges were all dried up. However, the book is good.

caligraphy pens 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This is a duplicate order but we decide to keep and pay for it and it turned out well excelent product

Great for anyone who needs to improve writing 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I got my 10 year old daughter this for Christmas, and she loves it. She loves art, painting, crafts, and her handwriting was not great. She did not like to write much. Now she really enjoys it as she sees it more as an art rather than a chore. Great product, the book has lots of different styles to work on.

Not comprehensive, but a way to get started 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I bought this because I wanted an inexpensive way to try out calligraphy. I know it's all about practice, so I didn't want to sink too much money into it before I'd stuck with it any time. I had a difficult time finding calligraphy pens online--I wanted the cheapest thing I could find, but the shipping made everything uneconomical. This seemed to be the best value around, with the pens, 'practice pad', and book.

PROS:
Variety of pens. Three fountain pens with different nubs, several ink cartridges in different colors, and two colored felt markers.

Guide book has clear breakdown of upper- & lowercase letters' strokes, numbered and spaced a little apart on one page, and as they should appear on your paper on the facing page.

CONS:
There is only one ruled page to practice on, and it's glossy and looks unpleasant to write on. The other pages are totally unlined & blank. I find it easier to just practice in a notebook.

Pens are not super high-quality, but seem sufficient for getting started.

I didn't find the information I wanted on the first glance through the book. The book is nice & concise, but sometimes I'd like just a little more info.

Editorial Review:

This complete kit includes a 32-project book that covers the basics--such as pen styles, angles, and hand positions; letter heights and spacing; and practice strokes--before offering advanced techniques for rendering several calligraphic alphabets. And every lesson can be accomplished with the array of writing materials provided, including calligraphy pens, nibs, ink cartridges, practice paper, calligraphy paper, and more!

Learn Calligraphy: The Complete Book of Lettering and Design

Margaret Shepherd

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Broadway Amazon Marketplace: 66 new & used starting at $4.35

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In an age of myriad computer fonts and instant communication, your handwriting style is increasingly a very personal creation. In this book, Margaret Shepherd, America's premier calligrapher, shows you that calligraphy is not simply a craft you can learn, but an elegant art form that you can make your own.

Calligraphy remains perennially popular, often adorning wedding invitations, diplomas, and commercial signs. Whether it is Roman, Gothic, Celtic, Bookhand, or Italic style, calligraphy conveys class and elegance. Margaret Shepherd makes this ancient art form accessible in a completely hand-lettered technical guide that will:

* Provide context for calligraphy as an art, exploring the rich tradition of hand-lettering and mapping the evolution of the most popular styles.

* Give detailed technical advice on choosing pens, paper, and inks, setting up your workspace, mastering various pen angles, along with step-by-step illustrations to guide you as you practice.

* Explain which alphabets are appropriate for different forms of writing. For example, the Roman alphabet works well for short, unpunctuated passages, while the Italic alphabet is more suited to informal everyday communication.

* Encourage you to personalize your lettering by using variant strokes and interpreting how you would like the words to look on the page.

* Inspire you with carefully chosen illustrations and examples, which bring letters to life.

In Margaret Shepherd's own words, "Calligraphy trains not only your eye and hand, but your mind as well." Learn Calligraphy is the authoritative primer for this age-old craft, and will help develop a new appreciation for lettering as you discover your creative personality.

The Book of Kells: An Illustrated Introduction to the Manuscript in Trinity College Dublin

Bernard Meehan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Darkness into Light 5 out of 5 stars.
40 of 40 people found this review helpful.

I was glad I had this book along with me when I went to see the real Book of Kells at the Trinity College Library in Dublin. The lines of tourists waiting to view this famous eighth century manuscript were about a quarter of a mile long, and the museum proctors were really hustling us through the area where a small sampling of pages were actually on view.

(If you take the tour, be sure to check out the main chamber of the Old Library with its first editions of Newton and Darwin, plus the harp that is (alas, falsely) attributed to Brian Boru, high king of Ireland).

The first facsimile of the Book of Kells was published in 1974, and although this book only advertises itself as 'an illustrated introduction to the manuscript...' it contains good color plates of many of the most famous pages, e.g. the symbols of the four evangelists and the beginning of the 'Breves causae' of Matthew, among others.

Author, Bernard Meehan, the current Keeper of Manuscripts at Trinity College states that "the sacred text itself was copied in the Book of Kells with a remarkable degree of inaccuracy." It consists of the Latin text of the Gospels, illuminated in the very ornate Hiberno-Saxon style ('Hiberno' refers to the Irish, or Hibernians).

Legend has it that the Book of Kells was produced by St. Colum Cille on the island of Iona off western Scotland. Although it was probably begun in the Irish monastery on Iona, it was taken to the monastery of Kells in County Meath, after a series of Viking raids. The monastery on Iona was pillaged in 795, and again in 802. According to the author, "In 806, sixty-eight of the community were killed in another raid. The following year, the survivors migrated to Ireland and began to erect conventual buildings at Kells..." where the illumination of the manuscript was probably completed.

If you are interested in the historical background of the Book of Kells, the author devotes a whole Appendix to it.

Alas, according to this book's second Appendix, "Losses, Additions and Marginalia," the Book of Kells has not remained intact down through the centuries. "At present there are 340 folios, but around thirty folios, including some major decorated pages have been lost." The monks also used blank spaces in the manuscript to record details of property transactions in the late eleventh and twelfth centuries.

Meehan's book is definitely worth viewing and reading. It also contains a wealth of the smaller decorative illustrations that do not always relate to the sacred text, e.g. hares, dogs, horses, and at least one moth. The color and minute details of these decorations are a source of endless fascination, and the scholarly text, although a trifle dry, is also very interesting.

Logo, Font & Lettering Bible

Leslie Cabarga

Amazon Price: $21.77 List Price: $32.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: North Light Books Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $18.23

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 38 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This book is a hands-on guide to the entire process of making logos and fonts and even icons, all of which, essentially, start with the ability to draw letterforms. The intent of the book, in fact, is to enable the user to end reliance on "OPF" (other people's fonts) and learn to draw your own custom logos, fonts and lettering! There are many books on the market that simply display collections of logos and fonts, and that give the history of logos and fonts. But Logo, Font & Lettering Bible is unique in that it teaches you how to create logos and fonts from scratch using traditional tools as well as the computer programs Adobe Illustrator and Fontographer (plus a bit about FontLab). The book provides all the traditional rules and tips about letter formation relating to proportion, shaping, balance, spacing, composition and actually teaches five different methods of drawing letters on computer using bezier curves. There has never been a book like this one that goes into so much detail about drawing letters and takes such a fun and irreverent approach while doing so. The book is also full of inspiration and analysis of tons of great examples of vintage and current lettering from old manuscripts to graffiti. Logo, Font & Lettering Bible also shows you how to create fancy drop shadows and other type effects. And finally, the last section provides straight talk on the business of being a logo and font designer, from advertising your work and pricing to dealing with difficult clients (aren't they all?).

This book has been almost unanimously acclaimed by professional letterers, logo designers and font creators, both young and old. It is currently in use as a text in many typography programs and several Design college educators have stated it is one of the few texts that "students are actually happy about having to purchase."

The Bible of Illuminated Letters: A Treasury of Decorative Calligraphy (Quarto Book)

Margaret Morgan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The ancient art of illuminating manuscripts is currently attracting many new enthusiasts among artists, art students, and lovers of calligraphy. The Bible of Illuminated Letters is a volume they’ll all want to add to their collections. It presents step-by-step instructions for recreating twelve illuminated alphabets. Among them are Celtic, Saxon, Gothic, Romanesque, Modern Revival, and seven more, including several modern scripts. Detailed diagrams instruct on creating upper- and lower-case letters, as well as on ways for designing borders and decorations. More ambitious students can also follow clear directions for gilding—decorating with gold leaf—as was originally done in medieval European monasteries. Readers and students of illumination who open this book will find: a history of illumination; required tools, techniques, and materials for illuminating; instruction in layout and design; and steps to follow in order to create 12 alphabet styles. This beautiful book also features a picture gallery of outstanding historical and contemporary illuminated letters, as well as a glossary and index. More than 400 inspiring color illustrations in total.

Modern Mark Making: From Classical Calligraphy to Hip Hand-Lettering

Lisa Engelbrecht

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A complete volume offering lettering arts techniques as well as project ideasCalligraphy, the art of elegant, beautiful lettering, has increased in popularity over the last several years. From brides who want to address their wedding invitations to do-it-yourselfers who want to prepare certificates or make a family tree, and even for art journalers and scrapbookers who like creative text in their works, calligraphy books and classes are hot.

This book will spark the interest of the calligraphy novice by introducing a new approach to lettering, one that combines a lively combination of traditional lettering styles, fun and scripty modern styles, and artsy street-style lettering, along with project ideas that incorporate creative lettering.

The book demonstrates the uses of traditional and cutting edge lettering tools, from classic calligraphy pens to bling-producing metallic foils and glue pens. It introduces a wide array of lettering styles with complete alphabets sample artworks that show an application. Fully stepped-out illustrations breakdown each letterform, taking the reader through each stroke. A large collection of gallery images that provide further inspiration for how to use creative lettering in artwork.

Mastering Copperplate Calligraphy, a Step-by-Step Manual

Eleanor Winters

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Dover Publications Amazon Marketplace: 31 new & used starting at $8.72

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A beautiful work 5 out of 5 stars.
20 of 20 people found this review helpful.

I have a number of books on Copperplate. This is the most thorough, and produces the best results. Winters sweats the details, both in the letterforms (which all the books cover), but in the fine details of them, details of posture, help in choosing paper and ink (A real issue when trying to learn copperplate -- the right paper can make all the difference).

Absolutely, if you're trying to learn Copperplate, get a copy of Winters and read it. It will make all the difference.

Very thorough introduction to a once practical hand of calligraphy 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

First to Eleanor--thank you thank you thank you! For giving me a handwriting style that will last centuries yet.

Ahem... Copperplate hand is beautiful, and instead of having to guess how to go about making it right from a one-page sample, you have a kind and considerate teacher walk you through a complete tutorial in a real-world classroom pace--with every intention of actually passing down this beautiful hand--warts and elegance--all--from her years of experience into your fingers. This text will be your guide to teaching future generations this beautiful hand. I am honored to have found this book and even more honored to have the chance to learn this hand from a true master. I hope you will find it, as I did, that her tone is considerate, experienced, and helpful every step of the way--she made _every_ _word_ _count_. She will never bore you.

At this moment I plan to work on this hand whenever I take notes. I have a Namiki/Pilot Vanishing Point fountain pen, and although the default nib cannot vary stroke width through pressure--it's a hard nib--I have every intention of enjoying the styling of copperplate in my everyday writings. Like any others who have recently rediscovered the pleasure of writing a journal, I am using a fountain pen or a roller ball on a Moleskine brand notepad. There are many blogs and online write-ups helping you get into this fun activity. Check them out. But I realize I need a cursive hand to work on, otherwise my handwriting would remain illegible! But thanks to Ms. Winters--I am saved!

Editorial Review:

Admired for its beauty, grace and fluidity, copperplate calligraphy is perhaps the most popular writing style for social correspondence. This practical guide teaches students to handle the alphabet, numbers and punctuation, color and paper; how to write simple paragraphs, quotations, poems, cards, invitations and more. Numerous black-and-white illustrations. Bibliography. Index.

Calligraphy Alphabets Made Easy

Margaret Shepherd

Amazon Price: $8.76 List Price: $10.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Perigee Trade Amazon Marketplace: 48 new & used starting at $3.80

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

My Least Favorite Book on Calligraphy 3 out of 5 stars.
21 of 26 people found this review helpful.

I was given 3 books on Calligraphy, as a Christmas present from my daughter, and this book is at the bottom of the list.

It does contain many different fonts, and the idea of having a practice lesson every week for a year is a novel idea indeed. However, I found this book disorganized, and try to do the lessons with one arm trying to hold the book flat.

Not a beginner's book 3 out of 5 stars.
14 of 14 people found this review helpful.

I'm trying to teach myself this beautiful art. This book is certainly not for the beginner. The concept of a new alphabet each week and weekly projects is a great one, however there isn't enough instruction on materials or form to make it very helpful to those of us new to this art. I'll keep it for reference but must continue my search for a great teaching tool.

Editorial Review:

For beginning calligraphers, this book presents a new lettering challenge for each day of the year, 365 in all (plus a bonus for Leap Day). In addition to daily practice, a practical lettering project is provided for each week--52 in all, ranging from wholly creative projects such as designing an award to money-makers like wedding invitations and greeting cards.