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Letters to Dead Authors (1886)

- April 24, 2018 in andrew lang, literary criticism, writers, writing

Letters to Dead Authors, by Andrew Lang; 1886;London: Longmans, Green, and co. Letters to Dead Authors contains twenty-two letters written by Andrew Lang (1844–1912) to bards, poets, and novelists from Homer to Rabelais to Austen. An incredibly prolific writer from the Scottish Borders, Lang’s name can be found on 249 books and thousands of newspaper […]

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Letters to Dead Authors (1886)

- April 24, 2018 in andrew lang, literary criticism, writers, writing

Twenty-two letters written by Andrew Lang (1844–1912) to bards, poets, and novelists from Homer to Rabelais to Austen.

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The Model Book of Calligraphy (1561–1596)

- November 7, 2017 in botanical illustrations, botany, calligraphy, flowers, fruits, Georg Bocskay, insects, Joris Hoefnagel, writing

Pages from a remarkable book, the result of a collaboration across many decades between a master scribe, the Croatian-born Georg Bocskay, and Flemish artist Joris Hoefnagel.

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The Model Book of Calligraphy (1561–1596)

- November 7, 2017 in botanical illustrations, botany, calligraphy, flowers, fruits, Georg Bocskay, insects, Joris Hoefnagel, writing

Pages from a remarkable book, the result of a collaboration across many decades between a master scribe, the Croatian-born Georg Bocskay, and Flemish artist Joris Hoefnagel.

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The History of Ink, including its Etymology, Chemistry, and Bibliography (1860)

- July 19, 2017 in calligraphy, history of writing, ink, type, typography, writing

Delightful little book from Thaddeus Davids and co, one of the largest ink manufacturers of their time: a wonderful example of form matching content.

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The History of Ink: Including its Etymology, Chemistry, and Bibliography (1860)

- July 19, 2017 in calligraphy, history of writing, ink, type, typography, writing

Delightful little book from Thaddeus Davids and co, one of the largest ink manufacturers of their time: a wonderful example of form matching content.

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The History of Ink: Including its Etymology, Chemistry, and Bibliography (1860)

- July 19, 2017 in calligraphy, history of writing, ink, type, typography, writing

Delightful little book from Thaddeus Davids and co, one of the largest ink manufacturers of their time: a wonderful example of form matching content.

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On the Writing of the Insane (1870)

- March 12, 2013 in calligraphy, collections, insane asylum, texts, Texts: 19th, Texts: Non-fiction, Texts: Science, writing

On the Writing of the Insane, with illustrations, by G. Mackenzie Bacon, M.D.; 1870; John Churchill and Sons, London. A book of observations on the peculiarities of writing styles as shown by asylum patients. G. Mackenzie Bacon was a medical superintendant at Cambridgshire County Asylum (now Fulbourn Hospital) located near Cambridge, England. As well as the fascinating images, the book also gives a series of transcribed excerpts. See also our images post “The Diagrammatic Writings of an Asylum Patient” which shows two of the most striking images from the book. The book is housed at the Internet Archive, contributed by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine via the Medical Heritage Library. Hat-tip to Pinterest user Marisela Norte. DONATE NOW TO SAVE THE PUBLIC DOMAIN REVIEW! With our initial funding now come to an end, we need your support to help us continue our mission – to promote the public domain as an indispensable public good, and to curate and showcase the most interesting out-of-copyright works on the web. SIGN UP TO THE NEWSLETTER Sign up to get our free fortnightly newsletter which shall deliver direct to your inbox the latest brand new article and a digest of the most [...]

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The Diagrammatic Writings of an Asylum Patient (1870)

- March 12, 2013 in calligraphy, collections, diagrams, Images, Images-19th, Images-Engraving-Line, Images: Miscellaneous, insane asylum, outsider art, writing

These two images are from the book On the Writing of the Insane (1870) by G. Mackenzie Bacon, medical superintendant at an asylum (now Fulbourn Hospital) located near Cambridge, England. The pictures are the product of a “respectable artisan of considerable intelligence [who] was sent to the Cambridgeshire Asylum after being nearly three years in a melancholy mood”. Bacon describes how the unnamed patient, for the two years he was committed, spent “much of his time writing — sometimes verses, at others long letters of the most rambling character, and in drawing extraordinary diagrams.” The two images shown here were drawn on both sides of the same small half sheet of paper, and the patient, “as though anxious, in the exuberance of his fancy, to make the fullest use of his opportunities, [...] filled up every morsel of the surface — to the very edge — not leaving an atom of margin.” Bacon goes on to explain that the man, after leaving the asylum, went “to work at his trade, and, by steady application, succeeded in arriving at a certain degree of prosperity, but some two or three years later he began to write very strangely again, and had some [...]

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17th century Calligraphy from Germany

- October 18, 2012 in calligraphy, collections, Images, Images-17th, Images-Engraving-Line, typography, writing

Select full page spreads from a 17th century German book on calligraphy entitled The Proper Art of Writing: a compilation of all sorts of capital or initial letters of German, Latin and Italian fonts from different masters of the noble art of writing. Although some can be recognisable as letters, it seems that a penchant for elaborate decoration has made most of them wonderfully illegible. See more images in the whole book housed in our post in our Texts collection. (All images taken from Kunstrichtige Schreibart (1655) housed at the Internet Archive, donated by the The Getty. Hat tip to Pinterest user Frances Macleod). Sign up to get our free fortnightly newsletter which shall deliver direct to your inbox the latest brand new article and a digest of the most recent collection items. Simply add your details to the form below and click the link you receive via email to confirm your subscription!

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