What in the world is Calligraphy? You may have heard it mentioned at the craft store or when your aunt handed out her wedding invitations and your mom said something like, “That is some really pretty calligraphy!” And then you are just like, what in the world are you talking about? It is just a card with pretty handwriting. That is exactly what is! Calligraphy is the art of decorative handwriting. Not to be confused with hand lettering or cursive, but more on that later.
It has been speculated that the Romans really started to make a big deal about calligraphy and started spreading it around
Calligraphy has been around for so long and has been in so many different places that there are different types and styles of calligraphy. One of the styles, that we use here in the United States, is Western Calligraphy. Western Calligraphy mainly uses the Latin alphabet and to a lesser degree, the Greek and Cyrillic writing systems.
Though Calligraphy has been around for a rather long time, it has been a dying art. When the printing press was invented in the 15th century this art form began to decline. This new form of writing was remarkably faster and more efficient; no one had the time to be fancy with their writing. It wasn’t until the end of the 19th century when a man by the name of Edward Johnston took up an interest in calligraphy and started teaching a calligraphy class at the Central School in Southampton Row, London. Now he is known as the Father of Calligraphy.
We are starting to see calligraphy everywhere! From logos on t-shirts to paintings, maps, and cards. A lot of people are even making this their career! They will do envelopes, cards, ribbon, graduation announcements and so many other items.
Now, whenever you see someone writing in fancier handwriting you can say, “Hey! Cool calligraphy!”