---
product_id: 1407007
title: "Medieval Calligraphy: Its History and Technique (Lettering, Calligraphy, Typography)"
price: "248.40 DT"
currency: TND
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1407007-medieval-calligraphy-its-history-and-technique-lettering-calligraphy-typography
store_origin: TN
region: Tunisia
---

# Medieval Calligraphy: Its History and Technique (Lettering, Calligraphy, Typography)

**Price:** 248.40 DT
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** Medieval Calligraphy: Its History and Technique (Lettering, Calligraphy, Typography)
- **How much does it cost?** 248.40 DT with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.tn](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1407007-medieval-calligraphy-its-history-and-technique-lettering-calligraphy-typography)

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## Why This Product

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## Description

"Vastly rewarding and illuminating." — American Artist This comprehensive history and instruction manual contains, in one volume, thirteen significant medieval scripts, with a history of the evolution of the alphabets, and fascinating background material on the scribes, their world, and how writing styles changed over a thousand years. Moreover, it is the only modern book that provides clearly described, brilliantly photographed, and accurately reproduced examples of both major and minor hands along with explicit directions for writing them. The author — a professional calligrapher of medieval styles, as well as illuminator, writer, and teacher — presents a spirited historical account of thirteen important writing styles developed from about the fourth century to the end of the fifteenth. These include Roman Rustic, Uncial, Carolingian Minuscule, Early Gothic, Luxeuil Minuscule, Gothic Littera Bastarda , and seven other distinctive hands. The text explains how and why different styles evolved, why certain devices, codes, and abbreviations were used, and how form and function interacted. In addition to fascinating facts about the origin and development of medieval scripts, Medieval Calligraphy also shows you how to duplicate medieval techniques with modern writing tools. Thorough instructions and sharply detailed, full-page photographs of the original alphabets explain pen angles and stroke sequences for each letter and capital. By carefully studying and practicing the techniques described, calligraphers will be able to master some of history's most interesting and influential scripts. Mr. Drogin has rounded out the book with helpful lists of suppliers of tools and materials, American and European sources for facsimiles and books, calligraphic societies, a bibliography, index, and more.

Review: Good resource for artists and historians - Whether you are interested in medieval calligraphy or medieval documents, this book is a great place to start. The book provides a chronological presentation of different script families used from the early medieval to just before the printing press is invented. The author Marc Drogin is a practicing calligrapher, so there is a lot of technical information about how to replicate the lettering for modern pieces. But the book does a pretty deep dive into actual medieval documents including lots of photos of real manuscripts in different languages from Old English to Latin and Middle French. This isn't a paleography course, but this does give real insight into the documents containing text from the MIddle Ages from beautiful illuminated letters to tiny snippets of Anglo Saxon 'glosses' inserted between lines of Vulgate Latin in a Bible. I have an even deeper appreciation of the value of these documents and the value the writing centers have for European civilization.
Review: Best book if you want to know about the history of scripts - I have a whole bookshelf full of books on calligraphy, but this title is extraordinary. The author wrote it in 1980 as a frustrated calligraphy teacher who wanted a comprehensive book for his students. He felt that most other books on the subject were either too simple and glossed over important information, or were written for scholars and therefore inaccessible to the average student. “Medieval Calligraphy” is the result, and an impressive one it is! The book is full of history and technique, but more importantly, it’s eminently readable. Most books on calligraphy are heavy on technique (unfortunately “modernized”); more of a reference than a good read. I sat and read the book as if it were a novel, looking forward each day to my private reading time, and as with reading any good novel I was sad to come to the end. The scripts are explained in chronological order so there is a clear historical line drawn from, say, Roman Rustic to Roman half-uncial and the scripts in between. Drogin explains the pressures of the day, the movement of people, the politics and other factors that went into the development from one script to another. Included are dozens of pictures of original documents so that you can see the scripts in their native habitat. The author also includes technical notes on each script, though full alphabets are not included. Other interesting sections show page layout used by the scribes and also how to order facsimiles. If you are passionate about calligraphy and are hungry for more than mere technical guidance, I highly recommend this book.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #265,663 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #144 in Calligraphy Guides #297 in Art Movements (Books) #1,031 in Art History (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.8 out of 5 stars 485 Reviews |

## Images

![Medieval Calligraphy: Its History and Technique (Lettering, Calligraphy, Typography) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91NnYLYZqHL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good resource for artists and historians
*by E***T on April 3, 2023*

Whether you are interested in medieval calligraphy or medieval documents, this book is a great place to start. The book provides a chronological presentation of different script families used from the early medieval to just before the printing press is invented. The author Marc Drogin is a practicing calligrapher, so there is a lot of technical information about how to replicate the lettering for modern pieces. But the book does a pretty deep dive into actual medieval documents including lots of photos of real manuscripts in different languages from Old English to Latin and Middle French. This isn't a paleography course, but this does give real insight into the documents containing text from the MIddle Ages from beautiful illuminated letters to tiny snippets of Anglo Saxon 'glosses' inserted between lines of Vulgate Latin in a Bible. I have an even deeper appreciation of the value of these documents and the value the writing centers have for European civilization.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Best book if you want to know about the history of scripts
*by C***X on April 3, 2014*

I have a whole bookshelf full of books on calligraphy, but this title is extraordinary. The author wrote it in 1980 as a frustrated calligraphy teacher who wanted a comprehensive book for his students. He felt that most other books on the subject were either too simple and glossed over important information, or were written for scholars and therefore inaccessible to the average student. “Medieval Calligraphy” is the result, and an impressive one it is! The book is full of history and technique, but more importantly, it’s eminently readable. Most books on calligraphy are heavy on technique (unfortunately “modernized”); more of a reference than a good read. I sat and read the book as if it were a novel, looking forward each day to my private reading time, and as with reading any good novel I was sad to come to the end. The scripts are explained in chronological order so there is a clear historical line drawn from, say, Roman Rustic to Roman half-uncial and the scripts in between. Drogin explains the pressures of the day, the movement of people, the politics and other factors that went into the development from one script to another. Included are dozens of pictures of original documents so that you can see the scripts in their native habitat. The author also includes technical notes on each script, though full alphabets are not included. Other interesting sections show page layout used by the scribes and also how to order facsimiles. If you are passionate about calligraphy and are hungry for more than mere technical guidance, I highly recommend this book.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Perfect book
*by E***H on September 25, 2018*

I cannot believe my luck finding this book. I was doing a lot of research on Medieval handwriting and paleography for an art project. I want to create original art using different types of scripts along with some knowledge I have about Old and Middle English. Originally I tried to blow the letters up and trace them, but it didn't work well because the letters varied a bit in size over different pages (had to use different pages because for instance a capital Q isn't found very often). I decided to try to learn the writing styles myself. I found this book and thought I might as well try it. It is PERFECT. I was expecting it maybe to show different styles, but it actually teaches you how to write them. I'm amazed that this book wasn't written exactly for my project. It even has a picture of the specific manuscript I had used for my tracing attempt. I also wanted to add that my art will be given to others who may not be well-versed in letters like wynn, a w that looks like a p. I had considered trying to make modern letters for that reason. But lo and behold, this book has modern letters already made for me for scripts with old-fashioned ones. The author also clearly cares a lot about this subject and it shows. It's a wonderful book that I will treasure.

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*Product available on Desertcart Tunisia*
*Store origin: TN*
*Last updated: 2026-07-06*