Medieval Calligraphy: Its History and Technique (Lettering, Calligraphy, Typography) Paperback – November 1, 1989

Whether you are interested in medieval calligraphy or medieval documents, this book is a great place to start. The book provides a chronological presentation of different script families used from the early medieval to just before the printing press is invented. The author Marc Drogin is a practicing calligrapher, so there is a lot of technical information about how to replicate the lettering for modern pieces. But the book does a pretty deep dive into actual medieval documents including lots of photos of real manuscripts in different languages from Old English to Latin and Middle French. This isn't a paleography course, but this does give real insight into the documents containing text from the MIddle Ages from beautiful illuminated letters to tiny snippets of Anglo Saxon 'glosses' inserted between lines of Vulgate Latin in a Bible. I have an even deeper appreciation of the value of these documents and the value the writing centers have for European civilization.

I cannot believe my luck finding this book. I was doing a lot of research on Medieval handwriting and paleography for an art project. I want to create original art using different types of scripts along with some knowledge I have about Old and Middle English. Originally I tried to blow the letters up and trace them, but it didn't work well because the letters varied a bit in size over different pages (had to use different pages because for instance a capital Q isn't found very often).I decided to try to learn the writing styles myself. I found this book and thought I might as well try it. It is PERFECT. I was expecting it maybe to show different styles, but it actually teaches you how to write them. I'm amazed that this book wasn't written exactly for my project. It even has a picture of the specific manuscript I had used for my tracing attempt.I also wanted to add that my art will be given to others who may not be well-versed in letters like wynn, a w that looks like a p. I had considered trying to make modern letters for that reason. But lo and behold, this book has modern letters already made for me for scripts with old-fashioned ones.The author also clearly cares a lot about this subject and it shows. It's a wonderful book that I will treasure.

I have a whole bookshelf full of books on calligraphy, but this title is extraordinary. The author wrote it in 1980 as a frustrated calligraphy teacher who wanted a comprehensive book for his students. He felt that most other books on the subject were either too simple and glossed over important information, or were written for scholars and therefore inaccessible to the average student. “Medieval Calligraphy” is the result, and an impressive one it is!The book is full of history and technique, but more importantly, it’s eminently readable. Most books on calligraphy are heavy on technique (unfortunately “modernized”); more of a reference than a good read. I sat and read the book as if it were a novel, looking forward each day to my private reading time, and as with reading any good novel I was sad to come to the end.The scripts are explained in chronological order so there is a clear historical line drawn from, say, Roman Rustic to Roman half-uncial and the scripts in between. Drogin explains the pressures of the day, the movement of people, the politics and other factors that went into the development from one script to another. Included are dozens of pictures of original documents so that you can see the scripts in their native habitat. The author also includes technical notes on each script, though full alphabets are not included. Other interesting sections show page layout used by the scribes and also how to order facsimiles.If you are passionate about calligraphy and are hungry for more than mere technical guidance, I highly recommend this book.

I was frustrated with calligraphy books that only contained modern, sometimes not too attractive lettering forms, but I also wanted to know the history of the evolution of the text used in illuminated manuscripts, which I find fascinating and beautiful. This book is perfect for both. If you are looking simply for a lot of older alphabets to copy, this is not the book for you, but if you would like samples of a few alphabets from the middle ages to work with and also know the history of the evolution of the practice and how preferences changed over time, this is a wonderful book. Keep in mind, this is black and white - no color in the book and no "practice pages" to write in, but that wasn't the purpose of the book. I highly recommend this book if you like the history of the illuminated manuscript - this one very much concentrates on the text therein and its evolution.

If you’re interested in calligraphy- particularly the blocky, angular, medieval variety- this book is fantastic.The first 40% is history. Extremely interesting to certain types of people, but perhaps a bore to others. There’s ample black&white photographs of examples. It’s a shame they aren’t in color, but that would have significantly increased the price of the book.The next 40% covers 12 scripts from the 1st to the 13th centuries (and beyond). Again, numerous B&W photographs of samples. Most scripts are presented as one or more plates of all letters with some indication regarding stroke direction and order for more complex letters. Stroke guidance isn’t explicitly provided for every single letter, but you should be able to make a reasonable educated guess.The last 20% is miscellany: page layout, references, etc.There are other books that cover a broader spectrum of scripts- with perhaps one or two of the medieval persuasion for good measure. But, I like this focused approach as it gives perspective on how writing changed over time.