Learn Calligraphy: The Complete Book of Lettering and Design

Price: $18.99 - $13.45
(as of Aug 04, 2026 02:32:36 UTC – Details)


In an age of myriad computer fonts and instant communication, your handwriting style is increasingly a very personal creation. In this book, Margaret Shepherd, America’s premier calligrapher, shows you that calligraphy is not simply a craft you can learn, but an elegant art form that you can make your own.
Calligraphy remains perennially popular, often adorning wedding invitations, diplomas, and commercial signs. Whether it is Roman, Gothic, Celtic, Bookhand, or Italic style, calligraphy conveys class and elegance. Margaret Shepherd makes this ancient art form accessible in a completely hand-lettered technical guide that will:
• Provide context for calligraphy as an art, exploring the rich tradition of hand-lettering and mapping the evolution of the most popular styles.
• Give detailed technical advice on choosing pens, paper, and inks, setting up your workspace, mastering various pen angles, along with step-by-step illustrations to guide you as you practice.
• Explain which alphabets are appropriate for different forms of writing. For example, the Roman alphabet works well for short, unpunctuated passages, while the Italic alphabet is more suited to informal everyday communication.
• Encourage you to personalize your lettering by using variant strokes and interpreting how you would like the words to look on the page.
• Inspire you with carefully chosen illustrations and examples, which bring letters to life.
­
Learn Calligraphy is the authoritative primer for this age-old craft, and will help develop a new appreciation for lettering as you discover your creative personality.

From the Publisher

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0767907329
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Watson-Guptill
Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 20, 2001
Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 168 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780767907323
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0767907323
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.43 x 0.43 x 10.91 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #136,497 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #39 in Book Design #45 in Typography (Books) #63 in Calligraphy Guides
Customer Reviews: 4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars (1,586) var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when(‘A’, ‘ready’).execute(function(A) { if (dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction !== true) { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative( ‘acrLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault”: true }, function (event) { if (window.ue) { ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when(‘A’, ‘cf’).execute(function(A) { A.declarative(‘acrStarsLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault” : true }, function(event){ if(window.ue) { ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } }); });

Product summary

shift
+
alt
+
D