Introduces basic techniques of italic handwriting.

A Teach-Yourself Guide to Italic Handwriting The Italic Way to Beautiful Handwriting is your key to mastering the Italic hand in just minutes a day. Originally developed in the early Renaissance as a "speedwriting" technique by Papal scribes who wanted to combine beauty and legibility with speed, Italic handwriting continues to appear today on diplomas, wedding invitations, and other special announcements. Now through modern teaching methods developed by Fred Eager, this handwriting can be yours. The foundation of the Eager system is a dual approach: you learn calligraphic and cursive simultaneously--one handsome, the other functional--to synthesize a perfect balance. Eager's techniques have been widely used throughout the United States and inspired the resurgence of Italic classes and clubs from coast to coast. In this step-by-step, trace-and-copy manual, renowned Italic instructor Fred Eager shows how to develop the ideal handwriting--legible and beautiful, yet characteristically your own.

This fascinating and wide-ranging book charts developments in the teaching and study of handwriting over the course of the twentieth century. The book shows how changing educational policies, economic forces and inevitable technological advance have combined to alter the priorities and form of handwriting. This 'long and sometimes sorry story' tells also of the sheer pain and hard work of children forced to follow the style of the day, and of the reformers who have sought to simplify the teaching and learning of handwriting over the years. Illustrated throughout with examples from copybooks and personal handwriting from across the world, the book is a compelling historical record of techniques, styles and methods.

For school, for art classes, for fun: this kid-friendly guide to the art of beautiful writing will be a hit anywhere. From the tools to the techniques to the fantastic projects, everything has been chosen specifically for children. Youngsters can use special, colorful, felt-tipped pens called chisel-edged markers to produce great-looking letters. The guidelines make it easier to get good results. Attractive pages, filled with brightly colored examples, get kids started with simple zigzags and then move on to small and large italics, gothic lettering, uncial, and Roman calligraphy. Children will enjoy using their new skills to write down favorite poems, fashion border designs, and create greeting cards and invitations.

Kids everywhere will be grabbing their calligraphy pens, because this follow-up to the wildly successful Calligraphy for Kids offers them even more artful fun. Inside they'll find new alphabets--and new ways to render the alphabets they already know--as well as fresh techniques and projects. There's coverage of the basic rules of layout; a review of some of the fundamental skills; advice on changing the weight of italic letters and forming italic capitals; and an introduction to both Swing and Modern Gothic handwriting. With just a little practice, children can make eye-catching signs, design their own personal stationery, address colorful envelopes in elegant script, and create calligraphic pictures and other decorations to hang on the wall.

With READ CURSIVE FAST, now anyone who can read print can read cursive. This carefully paced manual includes step-by-step instruction along with fun practice reading passages and historical documents that systematically teach you to read cursive. The techniques in READ CURSIVE FAST have succeeded with children, teens, and adults with and without disabilities. Anyone can learn to read cursive even if they do not write by hand at all. Learn to crack the cursive code so that you can read handwritten notes or our nation's historical documents.