A history of alphabets from around the world
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A history of alphabets from around the world | |
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The Alphabet and Elements of Lettering by Frederic W. Goudy Chapter 6: The National Hands, page 3 Visigothic, or the national hand of Spain, is similar to the Lombardic and became an established text in the eighth century, persisting until the twelfth. At first extremely crude & illegible, it later became fine and handsome. A characteristic of the text was a tendency to extreme elongation of the limbs of the letters. Merovingian, the national hand of France, was made up largely of loops and angles in a cramped irregular way. Its derivation is the same as that of the Visigothic, & though the writing of the seventh century is practically illegible, that of the eighth may be read almost easily. One characteristic of the hand, as in the Visigothic, was an elongation of the up and down strokes, which occurred even in the capitals. This hand and the preceding one present little of value as patterns for the student-craftsman. Celtic, the national hand of Ireland, was founded on the semiuncial Roman and developed from manuscripts taken into Ireland by missionaries. It is bold, clear, & frequently of great beauty, lending itself to some of the most wonderful achievements of penmanship in the history of calligraphy; but although it is of intense interest to the student, it does not present much material for the present-day artist in his everyday work.
Continue to Chapter 7: The Development of Gothic |
The Alphabet and Elements of Lettering by Frederic W. Goudy Introduction What Letters Are Letters in General The Development of the Roman Capital Letters Before Printing The National Hands The Development of Gothic The Beginnings of Types The Qualities of Lettering Some Practical Considerations Notes on the Plates |
