Alphabet: The Story of Writing pt. 1 and 2 by Donald Jackson

Alphabet: The Story of Writing by Donald Jackson (1980). The first two parts cover letter forms up to the fourteenth century. Donald Jackson makes reed pens (part one) and quill pens (part two) and demonstrates their influence on letter forms. Part two also features a demonstration of the art of illuminating. Part I: The making of letters After an introduction and shots of lettering on various different kinds of signage the film goes back in time and discusses the development of letterforms including: · Cave paintings, clay tablets, and wax tablets · Hieroglyphics · Papyrus · The reed pen · The origins of the alphabet · Roman inscriptions Part II: The pen is mightier than the sword Focuses on manuscript production from the end of the Roman Empire including: · The dark ages – the Book of Kells · Development of lowercase · The quill pen · Using gold leaf · Making ink · Illumination Produced and directed by Jeremy Bennet. Calligrapher: Donald Jackson. Narrator: Susannah York. I do not own this video nor the images featured in this video. All rights belong to it’s rightful owner(s). No copyright infringement intended. Calligraphy.