#gothic hand

[jazzeria]

Getting back into Fraktur calligraphy practice.  Here I’m using a Pilot Parallel 2.4mm pen.   

Oh boy it’s been a while.  I started practising the words I’ll be writing in holiday greeting cards; then realised I needed to practise my “ce” and “ea”-shapes, “inmu”-shapes, and “ilt”-shapes.  omfg!  

[medieval-literature]

Royal 14 E III  f. 3, 14th century. 

Grotesques battling. Detail of a marginal miniature of a grotesque with wings engaged in a swordfight with an armoured man on a horse.

[kaleidos-copia]

Guys, I got my hands on a calligraphy pen and just wrote my name so perfectly I could cry. I will be exclusively writing in Gothic Hand from now on.

[charliecraftsthings]

I am out of practice. (I've also forgotten how long it takes Pilot Parallel ink to dry, and made a few smudges!)

But I hope this birthday card is still alright.

[upennmanuscripts]

Say hello to Misc Mss (Large) Box 2 Folder 25, an un-digitized manuscript fragment that we’ve pulled out and snapped a few quick shots of, just for you!

This fragment is a parchment leaf with text on Tristan and Palamedes, written in France, ca. 1300. The text is in a Gothic hand and the language is Middle French. 

There are two particularly interesting aspects of this manuscript fragment. First, it contains a damaged, and possibly unfinished, 12-line miniature depicting the king of Ireland and his knights. (The rubric in red speaks on the kings of Ireland and Estroite Marche). Unfinished manuscript images may not look pretty, but they are a treasure trove of information on the artistic process. Here one can see the way that each figure has been sketched out with the detail of faces and hands left for the painter. It also looks likely that the gold leaf was placed prior to painting. 

The second interesting thing about this fragment is its life after manuscript. Note that the leaf has trimmed corners and folded edges. Also, parts of the text are extremely blurred and faded, especially around the edges and directly down the center. All of this damage is from the fragment’s later use in a binding or as a pastedown. EDIT by dp: on Twitter, erikkwakkel notes that the fragment is actually heavily water-damaged, which explains the faded text and probably the wrinkled nature of the parchment. Also: mold!

Manuscript description can be found on Penn in Hand; http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/5850828