#blackletter

[thefourofdiamondsart]

The king ran to embrace him;

more than a hundred times

he hugs and kisses him.

As soon as he got a chance

he gave him back all of his land;

he gave him more than I’m telling you.

“Bisclavret” by Marie de France, 12th C.

Prints available here!

[oldbooksarchive]

Black Book of Hours 1/2/3

"Black books of hours are a type of luxury Flemish illuminated manuscript books of hours using pages of vellum that were soaked with black dye or ink before they were lettered or illustrated, for an unusual and dramatic effect. The text is usually written with gold or silver ink" (link)

[nimthirielrinon]

Ode 2 Spot

IT IS FINALLY FINISHED.

After days of work, I’m finally happy with the result! I have completely reworked my hand-lettered Ode To Spot, and I am so proud of it!

I've also made an old-looking version, of which a high-res download is available to anyone that's supported me on Ko-Fi :)

[americaisdead]

beverly hills. august 2023

© tag christof

[lojsa]

Ghost • Calligraphy and Music

[theedwardianwriter]

“Have fun but not too much fun, lol (that’s one word) (no but yeah)”

Fantasy High, Sophomore Year - E7 “Daddies & Demons”

[misterveeare]

A loving compliment

[myfavoritedemons]

there are some EXTREMELY SEXY fonts mentioned in this article; if you were excited by that medieval-inspired synthesizer that went viral recently and you love graphic design, check this article out.

[typefacetournament]

ROUND 1 - BLUE GROUP

Propaganda under the cut.

Courier: "The kerning, the round letters are oh so round and the hard edge ones have great lines. It’s also a serif font which makes it immediately gorgeous in my eyes. Also, it has the best capital Q and E in my opinion. And one last piece of propaganda. Is that its my specialest little guy so. Please."

Blackletter: "It is the first printed font ever. It was the one used by Guttenberg."

[uwmspeccoll]

Typography Tuesday

BLACKLETTER

Blackletter, also called Gothic, was the first typographic form to be founded in metal type by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-fifteenth century. The first book printed in English was in blackletter, as was the first book printed in England (both by William Caxton; the first printed in Bruges in 1473, which was also the very first book printed in Bruges, and the latter in Westminster in 1476). It is called blackletter because its narrow, condensed forms produce a darker appearance on the page than do Roman fonts. By the late 16th century, most Western national printers had dropped blackletter in favor of the arguably more readable Roman-style fonts, except for some Scandinavian countries which held onto blackletter forms until the late 18th century, and Germany being the last holdout until 1941.

Blackletter fonts are still used today, however, as display faces, for ceremonial use, and for certain kinds of emphases. That’s certainly how Theodore Low De Vinne (1828-1914) would have used it at his De Vinne Press in New York. These examples come from Types of the De Vinne Press, published in New York by the De Vinne Press in 1907. Theodore De Vinne founded his press in 1883. He was also a co-founder of the prestigious Grolier Club and one of the leading commercial printers of his day, whose enterprise had a profound influence on American printing and typography. This book was intended as a promotional specimen book “for the use of compositors, proofreaders, and publishers,” to demonstrate the wide variety of typographic possibilities that could be available to their clients.

View more posts from Types of the De Vinne Press.

View more posts on Gothic/Blackletter type faces.

View more Typography Tuesday posts.

[lexiklecksi]

The saddest noise, the sweetest noise, The maddest noise that grows,— The birds, they make it in the spring, At night’s delicious close.

Between the March and April line— That magical frontier Beyond which summer hesitates, Almost too heavenly near.

It makes us think of all the dead That sauntered with us here, By separation’s sorcery Made cruelly more dear.

It makes us think of what we had, And what we now deplore. We almost wish those siren throats Would go and sing no more.

An ear can break a human heart As quickly as a spear, We wish the ear had not a heart So dangerously near.

Thanks for submitting this beautiful poem by Emily Dickinson. It is a bit too long for me to write. Because it worked so well last time, let's turn this into a collaborative calligraphy piece! Every calligrapher writes two verses, then tags another calligrapher to continue it until the poem is finished. I'm tagging @noctuamagna to continue!

[thefourofdiamondsart]

take and wear my lady’s belt/the green knight gladly cries

Prints of this piece are available on my Inprnt!

[digitab-m]

I did a bunch of cheap comms on twitter (limited run kinda thing for fun!) Here's how they turned out!

[writer-at-the-table]

I've started doing calligraphy again!

[saddleboy]

a reminder from mother cain

[lojsa]

Ghost • Calligraphy and Music