The English writing masters of the seventeenth and eighteenth century, wrote with an edged quill, producing the script known as “English Roundhand”, hence the name on Mitchell’s square-edged nibs, to this day.

The following extracts are from “Penmanship made easy” by George Bickham (calligrapher & engraver) London 1733.

“Make all your body strokes with the full & all hair strokes with the corner of your pen”.
“Make the nib of your pen for the Round & Round-Text and the breadth of the full stroke and that part lying next ye hand something shorter and narrower”.

In other words, in the downstroke of the small letter “t” for example, the stroke was even from top to bottom, determined by the width of the edged nib, until narrowing at the foot when the nib was turned upwards onto the left corner to form the hairline stroke.

For the production of copy books for teaching writing, the writing masters passed their work to engravers who were able, with the engraving burin, to clean up any irregularities. These engraved “Copper plates” were used to produce the copy books which showed lettering which had been drawn (by the engraver) and not handwritten.

In a sense, Bickham’s instructions, as above, were rather unfair, as they applied to the method of his original hand lettering which he had subsequently engraved in preparation for printing. These instructions do not apply to his improved, engraved lettering which appeared in the printed copy book!

With an edged pen, it would have been extremely difficult to replicate the twists and turns and accuracy of the engraver’s work, so sharpened, pointed quills were developed in an attempt to emulate the swelled strokes of the burin, opening the tines under control by applying varying degrees of pressure to downstrokes.

As they were more consistent and durable, metal nibs were developed and are still used to this day. The handwritten lettering thus produced, has become known as “Copperplate” in reference to its origin, but strictly speaking, it is handwriting based on the engraver’s copy of original English Roundhand text.

This is esentially different from the version known as Engraver’s or Engrosser’s script, as exemplified by Dr Vitolo on the Zanerian site. Using the same flexible, pointed nibs, his drawn lettering is very beautiful and is probably as close as possible to the original engraved exemplars of the past.

Inconsistent inter-letter spacing could  improve immensely if the same slope for lettering , was maintained for ligatures. Although italic letters may be well formed, the spacing may be irregular. If the same  slope line is followed with your ligatures, the letter spacing will largely take care of itself.

In the first example, I’m using ‘under-linking’ where the ligatures join to the next letter about half way up. In the second version I’m using ‘over-linking’ where the ligatures join to the next letter over a top curve, anticipating the upper curve of the letter ‘n’ which follows.

With the two styles of joining, neither is better than the other - they are both equally valid. Although the letters are basically the same size and shape, the first version is shorter because the under-linking creates narrower spaces than the second over-linked version.

It’s quite possible to use this grid to help with letter spacing even if you don’t use ligatures, by lifting the pen at the bottom of each letter and ‘feeling’ the space as your nib travels up the slope line, without touching the paper. The under-linked first version, is particularly effective for this.

From time to time, there are discussions concerning hand position, finger writing, tension, fatigue/cramp when writing for long periods etc. and various remedies and suggestions are put forward.

I don’t pretend, in any way, to have found a magical solution, but I can honestly say that, since modifying my hand postion many years ago, I have never suffered from fatigue/cramp when writing for long periods and I remember that there was an immediate improvement in the quality of my writing.

This is much simpler to explain in photo form, hence the two illustrations.

The first is a fairly common pen hold with the thumb, forefinger and middle finger gripping the pen which is held at about 45 degrees to the paper.

If the thumb, forefinger and middle finger are all extended to an extent, as in the second photo, this automatically has three effects :-

1) The strength of grip is lessened which eases tension, improves control and eliminates fatigue.

2) The pen to paper angle is lowered, which can help ink flow (and enables upstrokes more easily with a flexible nib).

3) There is naturally less finger movement and more writing with the hand, which can produce smoother results.

If your hand position is similar to (1) give it a try. It is easy to do and, in my experience, can have immediate, beneficial results.

Practicing with a pencil can be very useful when starting out with flex nib writing and you

can quickly become accustomed to the feeling of writing with a  nib by producing thick and

thin strokes by pressure.

With a soft pencil (I use a 6B) the feeling is very similar to using a pen with a flex nib, but

there is no nib to dig into the paper - a common problem when beginning.

This technique is not an end in itself, but it can be a useful stepping stone to developing a

feeling for this type of script. All upward strokes are as light as possible and all downward

strokes swell with controlled pressure.

To achieve the stroke difference with a pencil, it may be necessary to blunt the point slightly.

Although ‘copperplate’ style writing requires the use of a flexible nib, a simulation

is possible using an edged ‘italic’ nib. Weight distribution is a bit different but the

shape can be maintained. This is in no way a substitute but it is an interesting

deviation.

Those who are trying to learn in the ‘copperplate’ style, frequently have difficulty

in finding and writing at the correct slope of 55 degrees from the horizontal. In this illustration,

I’ve drawn in the slope line then turned the paper so that this line is at right angles to the edge

of my writing surface. I then write upright and the angled paper takes care of the slope. All

styles of writing can be done following this method - Italic 8 degrees, Spencerian 52 degrees

etc. In every case, I’m writing upright with the paper turned appropriately.

Recently on the Fountain Pen Network, about a third of all participants weren’t sure of the difference between Spencerian and Copperplate script. This is an attempt to make the differences clearer. All of this writing was done at the same time with the same pen and nib (Gillott 303) using the same ink with the strokes swelled to the same degree where appropriate. The minuscule size is 6mm high and I have made no attempt at more than the basic majuscule flourishing to highlight the differences. The two styles have the same common root but are quite different from each other.

Copperplate script, (formerly English Roundhand), is written at 55 degrees from the horizontal and the 19th century Spencerian script is written at 52 degrees. The first line is in Spencerian and the second is in Copperplate.

Italic lettering derives from the Roman and as it began to be written at speed, so it naturally began to slope to the right and the characteristic wedge shapes which define italic writing, began to emerge. The degree of this slope is fairly flexible. It is generally accepted that anywhere from 5 to 15 degrees is all right - further than 15 degrees and the lettering begins to topple over and distort.

I base my normal italic on the proportions of the letter ‘n’ being 8 : 6 (8 being the height of the letter) written at a slope of 8 degrees from the vertical. At these proportions, the characteristic wedge shape of italic lettering is formed at a slope of 40 degrees from the vertical. If this 40 degrees slope is then applied to the ligatures, the two sets of parallel lines are produced - one by the 8 degree slope of the writing and the other by the slope of the wedge shapes and the ligatures.

Including the base line, there are then 3 sets of parallel lines i.e. base lines, writing lines at 8 degrees and wedge/ligature lines at 40 degrees. I find this balance to be symetrical, easy to write and legible. This formation, produced as a grid provides the basis for practice. In time, as the lettering becomes natural, the grid can be dispensed with.

If a different slope to the lettering is preferred, then adjustments can be made. For example, if the writing slopes at 12 degrees, then the ligature/wedge slope is 44 degrees to maintain the shape of the lettering.

If lettering which is wider or narrower is preferred, then compensation for the change of proportion has to be made.

The important point is that the three sets of parallel lines should be adhered to.

This is only one approach to writing italic, but it works well. As a skeletal base, this structure forms a strong basis on which formal italic or personal handwriting can be built.