What do you think?
Rate this book
Sweet Roman Hand
A short history of italic handwriting and lettering from its origins in Rome (Trajan Column capitals)through the Renaissance into the mid-20th C. Numerous examples of characterful and expressive cursive handwriting by schoolboys and rulers alike as well as of the correspondence hands of well-known calligraphers like Edward Johnston and Alfred Fairbank. The author (1901-1987) was a drawing master at Eton who promoted the teaching of italic to schoolchildren to give pride, pleasure and readability in hand-written communication.
99 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1952
7 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 14, 2014
In a world where those who still hand-write anything more than a signature take self-deprecating pride in how illegible their "chicken scratch" is, there will be little future use for teaching or learning good handwriting. If you want to motivate someone to learn and use a self-expressive, flowing, un-fussy and graphologically revealing hand this is the book to hand him or her.
The book is not a how-to manual. Its point is that italic, those familiar slanted letters, can be written rapidly even with a ball-point pen. [Warning: learning it requires using a nibbed pen before a transition to ball-point.] It can be used every day. It does not hide individuality. It can be as masculine or as feminine or as gender-neutral as the pen-person wants. Nor is it hard to get competent at it. Learning "the sweet Roman hand" and doing it gives an appreciation of lettering in stone as it came to perfection with artists like John Howard Benson and Will Kindersley.
Because keyboards and touch screens will make handwriting obsolete and because a nibbed pen is indispensable at first, I think few schools of the future will introduce this hand or rely on it. For anyone inspired to write italic, this is a perfect book, to go with a manual like that of Alfred Fairbank. My father in law, now deceased, was a devotee of italic handwriting. I'm glad he converted me.
The book is not a how-to manual. Its point is that italic, those familiar slanted letters, can be written rapidly even with a ball-point pen. [Warning: learning it requires using a nibbed pen before a transition to ball-point.] It can be used every day. It does not hide individuality. It can be as masculine or as feminine or as gender-neutral as the pen-person wants. Nor is it hard to get competent at it. Learning "the sweet Roman hand" and doing it gives an appreciation of lettering in stone as it came to perfection with artists like John Howard Benson and Will Kindersley.
Because keyboards and touch screens will make handwriting obsolete and because a nibbed pen is indispensable at first, I think few schools of the future will introduce this hand or rely on it. For anyone inspired to write italic, this is a perfect book, to go with a manual like that of Alfred Fairbank. My father in law, now deceased, was a devotee of italic handwriting. I'm glad he converted me.
Displaying 1 of 1 review