Calligraphic Revival

カリグラフィー復興 / 1906– / Style / Type Classification

The modern revival of Western writing begun when Johnston rebuilt the foundational hand from medieval manuscripts. Through the Underground letters and Gill, the written hand became a source of modern design.

Calligraphic Revival — Lettering by Johnston, ca. 1915 (CC BY 2.0) · © mikeyashworth from UK — Lettering by Johnston, ca. 1915 (CC BY 2.0) · CC BY 2.0 · © mikeyashworth from UK

Calligraphic Revival — Johnston Sans type — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 · © User Kaihsu on en.wikipedia — Johnston Sans type — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · © User Kaihsu on en.wikipedia

Calligraphic Revival — Edward Johnston『Writing & Illuminating & Lettering』— Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0 · © Gwenddolen — Edward Johnston『Writing & Illuminating & Lettering』— Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0 · CC BY 2.0 · © Gwenddolen

At a glance

Visual cues

The broad pen's angle
The foundational skeleton
Reconstruction from manuscripts
The breathing of letter and space

Best used for

Body text and signature lines on certificates that must read as handwritten
Teaching the basics of writing, or testing the skeleton of a new typeface

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Dictionary entry

Type: A constant broad-pen angle, widths measured in pen widths
Composition: Leading over twice the letter height, flush left, wide page margins
Material: Heavy writing paper, dense black ink, faint ruling drawn then erased
Caution: Copying historical letterforms without holding the pen angle scatters the thicks and thins, and the writing never settles into an even texture.
Further study: Johnston's Writing & Illuminating, & Lettering / the Underground alphabet of 1916 / the inheritance through Eric Gill

Related entries

Blackletter (ブラックレター)Same Type Classification lineage.Compare Calligraphic Revival and Blackletter
Humanist Sans (ヒューマニスト・サンセリフ)Same Type Classification lineage.Compare Calligraphic Revival and Humanist Sans

Often confused with

Copperplate Script (カッパープレート・スクリプト)compare

Cite this entry

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Link: https://indexstyle.org/styles/johnston-calligraphy
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