Broad-nib calligraphy: charters, initials, handwritten scrolls

I write with a broad-edged nib, the same tool that ruled book pages long before movable type. The work begins with ruling rather than with letters: I measure the nib width, step it up the margin to fix the height of the minuscules and capitals, and only then pick up the pen. Margins follow historic proportions, the inner one narrower than the outer, the foot the widest of all, so the sheet breathes before a single word lands on it.

I love the formal book hand for its calm rhythm. Letters stand apart, almost upright, each in its own cell, and the page reads like even masonry. The cursive hand is another speed and another temper: ligatures, ascenders that sweep, flourishes, a visibly living hand. Both live on one sheet if you give them separate jobs, the book hand for the body, the cursive for a signature or a marginal note. An illuminated initial is its own job: outline, vine ornament, a fine boundary line, then gilding over gesso, where loose gold leaf settles onto the prepared ground and is later burnished with an agate.

I work on heavy cotton paper or on parchment-grade stock, with stick ink and iron gall ink, choosing the colour for the purpose of the sheet and for the frame it will live in. Finished pieces go behind museum glass, which barely reflects and holds back ultraviolet light.

Three things are fairer said up front. I do not forge or imitate documents, seals or signatures in any form; the work is decorative, and every sheet reads as a piece of lettering rather than as paper with legal weight. Send the text proofread to the last comma, because a manuscript error is not corrected, the sheet is written again from the top. Gold leaf and gum arabic are safe and odourless, but the finished sheet fears damp and direct sun: do not hang it facing a window and do not store it in a humid room.

Honest timing: one complex sheet with an initial and gilding takes a working day plus a night to dry, a presentation address takes two or three days, a family tree about a week, and envelopes or place cards run forty to sixty a day, no more, because a tired hand shows in the line.

What I take on:
— presentation addresses, charters and commemorative certificates in a formal or semi-formal hand;
— illuminated initials and headpieces with vine ornament, gilded over gesso;
— family trees and genealogical sheets on parchment-grade paper;
— wedding envelopes, place cards, menus and signage;
— decorative charters and certificates for an office, studio or home;
— ruling and a layout proof for your text, with the nib height worked out;
— framing behind museum glass and packing for shipment.