Dr. Joseph Vitolo

This will be the first installment in a series of instructional articles on Engrosser's script. I would like to begin with a discussion of what Engrosser's script is and more importantly, what it is not. This beautiful form of pen art can be viewed as an American twist on the old English Round Hand script so wonderfully represented by Bickham's The Universal Penman.

In this article I will examine the fundamental strokes that make up the lower case letterforms in Engrosser's script (Figure 1). It is important to understand that I will be discussing my version of Engrosser's script. While I was heavily influence by The Zanerian Manual, this is not Zanerian Engrosser's script. My particular style of script involves fewer pen lifts.

In lesson three we will begin with the Group I lower case letterforms. It was my desire to make these lessons visually oriented. I designed the exemplars with this idea in mind. In addition, I would strongly recommend you continue to use The Zanerian Manual (ZM). Lupfer’s instructional pages remain the finest instruction ever given on the subject.

In this installment we will examine the lower case Group 2 letterforms shown in Figure 1. Let us begin with the Group 2A forms. The letters in this family are composed of the two basic shapes shown with their corresponding pen strokes illustrated in Figures 2A and 2B. Remember that letters are typically formed from left to right.

In this chapter we will continue our examination of the lower case letterforms, specifically the Group III forms. The letterforms in the first group (Figure 1A) are composed of a single basic shape shown with its corresponding pen stroke illustrated by the arrows in Figures 2A.

In this installment we will examination the last group of lower case letterforms (Figure 1). You will notice that the letters ‘z’ and ‘p’ are separated from the grouping of letters ‘b’, ‘h’ and ‘y’. This was done because the ‘z’ and the ‘p’ are special cases. While they do contain elements common to other forms they also contain unique characteristics as well.

This seventh installment marks the first lesson covering the uppercase letters. Grouping of the capital letters presents a greater challenge than does the lowercase letters. This is due in part to the greater variety of component strokes as shown in Figure 1A. I will begin with an examination of the capital P, B and R (Figure 1B).

In this installment I would like to examine the influence of the fundamental oval shape on letterforms that would appear to have little in common with ovals. An example of such a letter is the lower case 'p'. However, before I discuss these concepts I would like to talk about how to apply these concepts to your practice sessions.

Two styles of pointed pen calligraphy that have been enjoying a resurgence in popularity are Copperplate and Spencerian scripts. Unfortunately, these two beautiful styles are a point of confusion for some calligraphers who are at a loss to distinguish between them. In this article I will try to demystify the Copperplate-Spencerian enigma.

My Script Progress: August 1999 versus February 2003

There are several styles of oblique penholders available on the market. Some of them have set or glued flanges, while others have removable flanges such as the premium quality Del Tysdal’s Zanerian Style oblique penholder (catalog #H59).

Image: capital letter examples.