Art of Calligraphy

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful but......
Review: As with all Dorling Kindersley products the book is beautifully produced and laid out. However it does has some flaws. The style of the text is somewhat 'strained' and reads like a text book which doesn't not seem,in my mind to fit in with the usual user-friendly DK style. Secondly there appears to be a section of the book missing, in that the book leaps from a rather cursory look at what is required straight to the different styles, without discussing any basic techniquesof penmanship(penpersonship?) Further more I use the word 'cursory' since there is no mention of INK! How can a book about calligraphy not discuss types and colours of ink, gouache etc! I would suggest that the revised version of this 'practical guide' (sic) ought to consider this major oversight!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: If you want only one book to learn about calligraphy, this is the one. Trained by a master calligrapher of the Queen's Court many years ago, I recommend this book very highly to anyone who wish to develop skill and proficency in this art.

While I didn't pursue this field career-wise, I found this book to be an excellent reference to reignite the skill I thought was lost.

F.Lee

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: If you want only one book to learn about calligraphy, this is the one. Trained by a master calligrapher of the Queen's Court many years ago, I recommend this book very highly to anyone who wish to develop skill and proficency in this art.

While I didn't pursue this field career-wise, I found this book to be an excellent reference to reignite the skill I thought was lost.

F.Lee

Rating:
Summary: Just Get It
Review: Not only is this an excellent introduction to calligraphy the beauty of the manuscripts used as examples will make you fall in love with the art even more.

Rating:
Summary: Very Informative with GREAT Illustrations!
Review: The Art of Calligraphy by David Harris was extremely helpful to me, and its content very useful. There is just enough history in the book to make it informative, but not too much to make it wordy.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book of exemplars
Review: There are so many books on calligraphy; it is extremely difficult to write one that will please everyone. This one will please you vastly if you are looking for a book full of well-laid-out, very clear ductus' pages, with minimal instructional material and beautiful color reproduction of historical examples.

This book is basically about directions for writing historical hands. The DK style of minimal text supported by captioned pictures makes for a lot of visual learning, but this does cut down on the scope of information included. The information is historically basic, then, and the instructional section quite minimal. If you need beginner's instruction for the first steps of calligraphy, you may not find the depth of information you desire here.

The real stregnth of the book is in its breakdown of historic hands. The step-by-step breakdown of each letter of each hand is most helpfully produed in color, allowing the areas of overlap to be clearly seen; this is much more definite in visually presenting the letterforms than the traditional method of providing black and white exemplers. Further, each hand is made with different calligraphy tools; markers, reeds, quills, dip pens, et cetera, allowing you to compare the look of each tool.

There is a very helpful appendix, providing each alphabet in the book in simple, er, "abc form;" a skilled calligrapher could open the book to this two page spead and have every hand presented in the book available for visual reference.

In all, a very, very useful book for those who are looking primarily for instructions for writing historic hands.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book of exemplars
Review: There are so many books on calligraphy; it is extremely difficult to write one that will please everyone. This one will please you vastly if you are looking for a book full of well-laid-out, very clear ductus' pages, with minimal instructional material and beautiful color reproduction of historical examples.

This book is basically about directions for writing historical hands. The DK style of minimal text supported by captioned pictures makes for a lot of visual learning, but this does cut down on the scope of information included. The information is historically basic, then, and the instructional section quite minimal. If you need beginner's instruction for the first steps of calligraphy, you may not find the depth of information you desire here.

The real stregnth of the book is in its breakdown of historic hands. The step-by-step breakdown of each letter of each hand is most helpfully produed in color, allowing the areas of overlap to be clearly seen; this is much more definite in visually presenting the letterforms than the traditional method of providing black and white exemplers. Further, each hand is made with different calligraphy tools; markers, reeds, quills, dip pens, et cetera, allowing you to compare the look of each tool.

There is a very helpful appendix, providing each alphabet in the book in simple, er, "abc form;" a skilled calligrapher could open the book to this two page spead and have every hand presented in the book available for visual reference.

In all, a very, very useful book for those who are looking primarily for instructions for writing historic hands.