Wednesday 26 May 2010

Learning to write

As a direct descendant of a pen manufacturer and a collector of Brandauer pen nibs and memorabilia it crossed my mind that I had never written with a dip pen.  I remember my great Uncle's writing when he sent me letters as a child.  They always stood out from the rest of the post as he wrote using a fountain pen (I imagine, as I'm not that old!) and across the envelope were the most beautiful copperplate letters.  I still have his letters to this day.

Currently, I am busy sorting out the Brandauer business archive and all the 19th and early 20th century ledgers, legal documents and minute books are written using a dip pen (a Brandauer one, of course) and versions of copperplate writing.  I wonder how long it took to write a page in one of the large ledgers?  It is interesting, too, that they didn't make mistakes when writing so they must have been extremely careful.

So, recognising that I have never written with a dip pen I decided that an introductory course would be a good place to start and that is exactly what is going to happen.  With my Mother and husband (who has always been interested in hand-writing and fonts) we are off to Sussex to start learning how to use a dip pen and study the basics of calligraphy with a well-known teacher.  The course details sounds very exciting and last week we went off to the local art shop to buy the items we will need, and what an experience that was ...

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