2 Replies to “Work in process”

  1. Hello, I have a question: would you call this text style foundational hand? I am very new to the craft and am starting out with foundational; this looks very similar except the “dots” on the i’s don’t match what is in the ductus I have. I don’t know enough about other styles to be able to really distinguish them yet when I see them! Thanks for your advice, sincerely a calligrapher in Helena.

    1. I would call this my own bookhand. It is a modernization and synthesis of Carolingian (6th-cen. unifying hand under Charlemagne), Humanist bookhand (15th-cen. revival of classical forms), and Foundational (c 1900) … informed by some general knowledge of typography.

      Foundational Hand was the specific hand that Edward Johnston developed upon study of the 10th-cen. Ramsey Psalter (aka Harley 2904 at the British Library). You can read about this in Johnston’s own book, Writing and Lettering and Illumination (Project Gutenberg has several formats of the book for free), where he some examples of both his hand and the Ramsay Psalter pages he studied.

      I think the Foundational Hand is rather heavy and stylized for general use today. So, for instance, I replaced the rather heavy and static tittle on his “i” with something lighter and more casual. I also tend to have smaller serifs.

      This might be more information than you wanted! I’m an enthusiast, and do get carried away.

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