Monday, January 30, 2012

Calligraphy Letterform Album

'Kalligraphische Schriftvorlagen' (calligraphic writing styles) was produced in the 1620s in Germany by the scribe, Johann Hering.



Kalligraphische Schriftvorlagen by Johann Hering o



Kalligraphische Schriftvorlagen by Johann Hering b



Kalligraphische Schriftvorlagen by Johann Hering n



Kalligraphische Schriftvorlagen by Johann Hering



Kalligraphische Schriftvorlagen by Johann Hering e



Kalligraphische Schriftvorlagen by Johann Hering h



Kalligraphische Schriftvorlagen by Johann Hering g



Kalligraphische Schriftvorlagen by Johann Hering d



Kalligraphische Schriftvorlagen by Johann Hering i



Kalligraphische Schriftvorlagen by Johann Hering a



Kalligraphische Schriftvorlagen by Johann Hering p



Kalligraphische Schriftvorlagen by Johann Hering r



Johann Hering (?1580-1647) compiled his album of elaborate calligraphic letterforms, innovative type arrangements and traditional alphabets over a ten year period in the 1620s and 1630s in the Kulmbach region of Bavaria. (Or it was produced sometime during this time frame: it's not clear)

I tend to believe - and I may well be wrong - that Hering's album is more along the lines of a practice manuscript for himself rather than being a true copybook or modelbook* for educational purposes. The majority of the writing is in German (with occasional Latin) and many of the written pages are obviously copied from the bible, particularly the Book of Psalms.

[*Modelbooks: see here & here]

There is next to nothing by way of commentary online about either Hering's life or the background to his amazing album. He is simply described as a 'writing master'. A number of published books are attributed to Hering - most or all on the type/font arts - and one of his handwriting manuals was apparently republished in German in 1982 (although I didn't actually find much of a trail online).

13 comments :

Dan said...

It may be so, as he says, that all wisdom comes from God. But this scribe, it's clear, had a bit of the devil in him.

Kelly Robinson said...

Wonderfully said, Dan.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful!

proyectable said...

Siempre estupendas publicaciones. !Gracias!

Ferdinandus, d.s. said...

Hermosas letras cadel. Gracias.

ia said...

So beautiful !!!

Travel expert Shamim said...

THEY LOOK AMAZING

pictogramme said...

Hello peacay, is there way I can reach you by e-mail ?

Regards

peacay said...

Thanks everybody.

pictogramme, use my nickname with the gmail service and you'll find me. (or if that's too obscure, in the sidebar near the top is WHO/EMAIL.

John Hopper said...

Beautifully crafted work. Thanks very much for sharing.

Anonymous said...

In the last pic of the alphabet the letter " J " is omitted.

peacay said...

M Lang, the letter 'J' emerged in the 16th century latinate alphabet as a variant of the letter 'I'. You might like to search around for more detailed history, but it may have something to do with Hering's location or social and professional clique or regional standard. In other words, I can't speak to the reason why it would be omitted from this particular suite of prints. It could even be a space issue.

Anonymous said...

Splendid, I shall try to compile a biography of the elusive scribe.

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