Acquiring
a Formal
Hand:
(3) Models

are found by examination—with a magnifying glass
if necessary—and by the experimental putting to¬
gether of strokes, to form a similar letter. For this
a large pen, such as a reed, is useful, and it is a good
plan to write individual letters and words exactly
two, three, or four times their height in the model :
both the pen nib and the individual letters are made
correspondingly two, three, or four times as wide as
in the original.

It is particularly important, in copying, to pre¬
serve accurately the proportion of the thick stroke to
the height and width of a letter (see p. 288). These
are conveniently measured by the pen nib itself, or
by the estimated width of the thick stroke ; thus, in
the writing shown in fig. 50, the width of the о is
approximatelyfive, and the height approximatel у four,
times the width of the thick stroke.

_ Not only must the copier ascertain what the forms
are like and what are their proportions, but he must
try to find out how they were made. This is of the
greatest importance, for the manner of making a
letter, or even a single stroke, affects its form and
character with a definite tendency (see p. 378 &
fig. 172). And this becomes more marked the faster
the writing. An apparently right form may yet be
wrongly—if slowly—made ; but in rapid writing, a
wrong manner of handling the pen will inevitably
produce wrong forms. As the real virtue of pen¬
manship is attained only when we can write quickly,
it is well worth training the hand from the beginning
in the proper manner.

Patient and careful examination should be made of
the changing pen-strokes, and of the mode in which
they join—to form letters—and begin and end—
to form “ heads ” and “ feet.” This, accompanied

50

by practical experiments in cutting and handling the
pen, will bring out details of the utmost technical
value. A certain amount of legitimate “ faking ”
(p. 210), play of the pen, and sleight of hand (p. 275),
may be found, but, in the main, the regular, natural,
thick and thin strokes of the pen, and the orderly
arrangement of the writing, give to a manuscript its
beauty and character.

Then having cut the nib rightly, you may, in a
sense, let the pen do the writing, while you merely
follow the strokes of the model, and you will, in
course of time, have the pleasure of seeing the same
beautiful writing—in the very manner of the ancient
scribes—growing under your own hand.

CHAPTER V

ACQUIRING A FORMAL HAND: (4) PRACTICE

Practice—Scripts I. & II.—Arranging & Ruling a
Single Sheet—Problem I (a Sheet of Prose)—
Problem II (a Sheet of Poetry)—Spacing &
Planning Manuscript.

PRACTICE

In acquiring a formal writing the penman should
have two paper books constantly in hand: one for
the study of the forms of letters, the other for both
the letters and their arrangement. The first should
contain large and very carefully made writing—with
perhaps only one word to the line ; the second should

51

Acquiring
a Formal
Hand:
(3) Models

Acquiring
a Formal
Hand:
(4) Practice