Research for Booklet

I have found a company that produced origional copybooks that shown the user how to create ornamental writing. They were produced in the victorian era, and they are a perfect example of the type of copy book that I want to produce with my victorian handwriting that I have developed and vectored in illustrator.

I really like the layout and the grid structure of the pages in these copy books. The lines are really delicate and the book has a sophisticated look, it does not look like it was created for a child to improve handwriting but for an adult that has a love for handwriting and letter forms. The cover and inside pages for text look like they were completed on a typewriter. Perhaps this is something that I could do with my copybook. I know that I am already producing my professional contexts book on the typewriter, but I think that this book would be a perfect use of the typewriter. The text would be delicate and typical of fine copy books of the period. Perhaps then, if I printed all of the pages digitally with the text that I have vectored, and then added the typewriter font and worked on a front cover? This may be a solution to the copybook production. It is already going to be very interesting because of the people that I have chose to base the handwriting on. Therefore, I believe a simple, no frills layout such as the one seen here would be best suited for the copy book. When producing the grid structure for each writers style, I need to look closely at how the origional text was written, and how lines were formed etc. For instance, Jack the Ripper,s lines were certainly not straight and structured like you see here. His handwriting was awful and scrawled into the page. Also, I wish to create details such as line height, x height lines and cap height lines.

Victorian writings book- people to include

I want to have a look at writings from famous Victorians. So far, I have presumed that all Victorian writers used to write elegantly. However, naturally, This is not going to be the complete case. I imagine that their handwriting took on a unique form as ours does today.
I am going to look at the handwriting of really interesting famous Victorians. I imagine that Queen Victoria would have extremely elegant and ornate handwriting whereas the handwriting of the infamous Jack the Ripper would be more of a scrawl. Ultimately, it would be fun to produce a publication that explores how to write like a Victorian. I could include details such as equipment that you need, the ink and the type of pen etc. For somebody like Jack the Ripper, this information could be really fun. For instance, the equipment needed could list things like 1 pint of blood etc. I need to deeply analyse the writing style of the Victorians that I choose to study to do this convincingly.


People to include in the 'how to write like a victorian' book-

Jack the Ripper


specific points to make in the book-

Before the detail of actual writing-

How to write like a Victorian
How the Victorians used to write
What tools they used to use for writing
How they developed as writers

For the actual writing part-

Transcription of each piece of writing
What the piece of writing should be written in (ink, wine, blood etc)
Contents page?

The history of script writing

This research has come from a book that I found in the library titled 'scripts.' It is a great book for research into elegant script handwriting. I am not sure about what I actually want to do with the handwriting at the minute or where the project is going to take me. I definitely need to come to a conclusion about the format that the project will take soon. What I am sure about however is what I want to explore. I want to actually learn how to write like a victorian. Then, perhaps I could design a book teaching people what I have discovered through the process of learning how to write in a specific typeface? This may make an interesting read. 

I love the way that old handwriting looks and how much time was taken over the creation of making it look beautiful. It is true that the people that were able to write pre victorian era were the people that were well educated and in modern society everybody can write. Maybe this is why the art of handwriting has depleted through the decades? I just feel that so much can be learnt from the studying of handwriting. In the image above, the piece of writing is instantly recognised as an old document because of the paper that it is printed on, which has discoloured over time, an the fact that it is an elegant script font writing. The question that I am asking myself as I am conducting this research is does this style of handwriting have a place in modern society? If you saw a sign that was advertising a butchers in this handwriting style, what would it be suggesting about the butchers? We have become accustomed to seeing really poorly written signs for cafe opening times, market stall sales, fruit and veg shops etc that this is now what we expect. Would it suggest that the cafe was dated if the owner decided to write the sign in a victorian style? Back to the research, I love the way that the writer in this piece has used elongated flourishes in titles and the variance in stroke width. The really delicate, fine lines make this writing sophisticated. If it was all one thickness, I think that it would loose some of its elegance and charm. 

This is really interesting research above. It is a continental writing style which I am not too interested in exploring, I want to focus on Victorian writing. However, there is a grid behind the writing in this research which suggests how the letters are formed. This is something that I want to explore. I want to show the victorian handwriting as an artform. I want to convey the amount of perserverance that went into perfecting fluent writing. I want to do the handwriting justice and convey that the modern man does not pay enough attention to the way that they write. I want to show that people have become lazy and that we should all take something from a bye gone age of writing style that is part of our heritage. I am going to explore initially the construction of Victorian handwriting letterforms. I will construct grid lines to work to, much like this research here. 

In the above image, I think that the writing is set beautifully. This is an engraved typeface called Palace script. It is an english typeface developed in the Victorian Era. Here it is called palace script. I have also seen it called Copperplate round. It is an elegant victorian writing style and the typeface that the Victorians learnt to write in at school. Perhaps the challenge that I face is to show that a beautiful script handwriting does have a place in concemporary society? Maybe I should try and develop the Victorian Handwriting style so that it takes a more modern form?