Later On

A recipient of an inscribed copy of Leisureguy’s Guide to Gourmet Shaving commented that his wife admired my handwriting, so I thought I should post something about it. I’ll include links to instructional books (generally to inexpensive secondhand copies) and to stores that sell good pens.

I will distinguish italic handwriting (aka chancery cursive) from italic calligraphy. In calligraphy, as I use the term, letters are more drawn than written, and every stroke is pulled—no pushing. In handwriting, you’re simply doing the usual handwriting thing, though (for italic) with a specific point, letter shape, and angle. Technically, “calligraphy” means “beautiful writing,” so would apply to handwriting as well as to formal calligraphy, and others don’t necessarily make the distinction that I do.

I became interested in italic handwriting from an article in the New Yorker “Talk of the Town” section around 1962 or early 1963. The article was about Paul Standard, an American calligrapher, who waxed enthusiastic about the virtues of italic handwriting: legible and attractive handwriting that doesn’t break down and become illegible with speed. So I immediately bought a book (John Le F. Dumpleton’s Teach Yourself Handwriting) and an Osmiroid pen with italic nibs and taught myself.

It turns out to be easy, though—strangely, so far as I’m concerned—some people are queasy about changing their handwriting fearing (of all things) that it will change their character or personality or some such. Weird.

Making the change is simply a matter of practice. In the fall of 1963, I was in graduate school, and I decided to take all my course notes in italic—lots of practice, willy nilly. I would focus on a single letter, and whenever I wrote that letter I would take pains to get it right. Gradually, letter by letter, my handwriting improved and established itself as a habit. In addition to the class notes, I also did some structured practice, using a trace-and-copy workbook by Fred Eager.

Italic handwriting has three components:

1. the pen point, which is square-cut;
2. the angle at which you hold the point (45º, so that a written “+” has the upright and crossbar the same width); and
3. the shapes of the letters, so that the shading, which results from the point held at the correct angle, looks good.

Obviously, you also need paper that takes ink well and a good ink that will feed well.

Left-handers use the same point as right-handers, except left-handers hold the paper horizontally and write vertically down the page. This results in the proper angle for the point and the proper shading of the letters. Again, it’s simply a matter of practice. I introduced italic handwriting at a day school in Annapolis (grades K-8 at the time), and all the children learned it, including the left-handers, who rather delighted at their classmates’ amazement at their skill at writing vertically. With this orientation, left-handers enjoy the same comfortable position of the hand as right-handers, and their hand similarly rests on the unwritten portion of the sheet, rather than (in the usual cramped left-handed writing position) being dragged across the wet ink.

I should mention that having the children learn italic handwriting was a stroke of marketing genius. Their parents (who paid the bills) were tremendously impressed with their children’s handwriting and had visible evidence of the effectiveness and quality of the school’s instruction.

I later got another book—one I highly recommend—and it showed me some mistakes I had been making with certain letters—lower-case “p” in particular. The book is Italic Handwriting, by Tom Gourdie. In this book, as in Dumpleton’s, samples of italic handwriting by various people are included, so that you can see the variety (and copy letter shapes you like). Gourdie’s book includes a valuable section on common mistakes, and he also teaches a hand without the swash serifs that Dumpleton uses and that tend to present difficulties.

Peter Rudland’s From Scribble to Script is interesting. It’s aimed directly at helping adults reform their handwriting. And George L. Thomson’s Better Handwriting is a short Penguin book that has many excellent examples and also a valuable little template: trace it, cut it out and glue as indicated, and you have a model that shows the exact angle (angle to the paper and also the angle to the writing line) at which to hold the pen.

In Oregon there’s been an italic handwriting revival, using instructional materials and workbooks developed by Barbara Getty. You can order the books here. I have not used these, but trace-and-copy workbooks are quite useful.

The shape of the letters, together with the italic point, makes an attractive shading. Moreover, the italic point guides your hand and resists movements in the wrong direction, unlike a ballpoint or rollerball, which provides no guiding feedback—one direction’s as easy as another with those pens, so using them often leads to degraded penmanship.

Some pen manufacturers provide italic points, though you must specifically request them. Sometimes they are called “italic” points (“broad italic,” “medium italic,” and the like) and sometimes they are called “stub” points. Sheaffer, for example, uses the “stub” designation, and it’s quite a nice point. Parker uses “italic.” Pelikan doesn’t make a point that fits the bill, but John Mottishaw custom grinds pens to a square italic point. I have a number of Mottishaw points, and they’re excellent. I send him a Pelikan pen (the M800 is my favorite) with a Broad point, and the pen is returned with the broad modified to a square italic point. Take a look. Pelikan pens are particularly nice in that the nib units screw out, so you can have different nibs for the same pen. Mottishaw also sells pens with the points already customized: no waiting.

You might want to try grinding your own  point. Here’s how.

You can also find inexpensive (and thus not quite so good) italic pen sets and materials in any good art supply store and in stores that specialize in fountain pens. These sets are very good for the beginner, since they typically include nibs of different widths. Sets made by Sheaffer, Parker, or Platignum are available. They are often called “calligraphy” sets, but with a fountain pen they are really designed for handwriting, rather than formal calligraphy (usually done with a dip pen).

There are a variety of inks that are good. I like Waterman Florida Blue, a washable ink with a very nice color. If you need permanence, the most permanent I have found is Doctor Black, made in China. It resists sunlight, water, and everything else. A good ink for a journal, for example.

A good pen store will let you try the pen, and will quite happily order the pen with the point you specify (e.g., a Sheaffer with a stub point). Here are some good dealers who sell over the Web, in their store, and by mail. The Fountain Pen Hospital catalog is especially useful, so you may want to request a copy:

• Bertram’s Inkwell (Baltimore)
• Bittner’s (in Carmel, CA—tell him I sent you)
• Fahrney’s (DC)
• Fountain Pen Hospital (NYC)

UPDATE: From ShaveMyFace forum, a useful italic link.