Notecards with charismatic creatures from the quills of old writing masters celebrate the playful art of flourishing
Sourced from Letterform Archive’s collection of historic writing manuals—books in which Europe’s leading scribes showed off their talents—this set of 20 unique notecards with accompanying envelopes delightfully displays hand-drawn animals made with ink and pen. Dogs, cats, bears, elephants, lions, dragonflies, peacocks, swans and more are reproduced in bright hues on an array of colorful backgrounds. These technically masterful and playfully expressive artworks by famed calligraphers such as Jan van de Velde, John Seddon and Joseph Friedrich Leopold make ideal companions for handwritten messages of all kinds. Presented in an elegant foil-stamped box, this set is the perfect gift for all animal-loving pen pals.
Europe’s scribal masters of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries advertised their talents and advanced their art by publishing elaborately engraved writing manuals and copybooks. In many, charming calligraphic figures made with decorative pen strokes called flourishes appear alongside written examples of formal scripts. Lines and swirls transform into birds that alight on letterforms, bears and foxes that romp across the page, lions and elephants that frame stately compositions, and fish and insects that meander in the margins.
Often formed with one continuous line, these creative feats were ideally improvised like a conjuring act from the writer’s quill. While some penmen criticized figural flourishing as a decorative indulgence, an epitaph for British writing master John Seddon (1644–1700) shows the admiration won by these lighthearted yet commanding performances:
Princes by birth, and politics, bear sway,
But here lies one of more command than they;
For they by steady councils rule a land,
But this is he, could men, birds, beasts command,
Ev’n by the gentle motion of his hand.
Featuring art from classic writing manuals including...
- Jan van de Velde (calligrapher), Jacob Matham and Simon Wynhoutsz Frisius (engravers), Spieghel der schrijfkonste… (1605)
- Louis Maingueneau (calligrapher) and Claude Auguste Berey (engraver), Modèles d’écriture financière de présent en usage (circa 1680)
- Etienne de Blégny (calligrapher) and Claude Auguste Berey (engraver), Les elemens, ou, Premieres instructions de la jeunesse (1691)
- Johann Muscat (calligrapher) and Christoph Riegel (engraver), Vorschrifft, Teutsch und lateinischer Schrifften (1696)
- Joseph Friedrich Leopold (calligrapher and engraver), Anmuthige Schau Bühne allerhand lateinisch-italianisch-romanisch und französische Alphabeth, Schrifften, Zahlen, und Zugwercke vorstellend… (circa 1696)
- Ambrosius Perlingh (calligrapher) and Wilhem de Broen (engraver), Exemplaar-boek inhoudende verscheyde nodige geschriften… (circa 1700)
- Johann Jacob Losenauer (calligrapher) and Johann Georg Hertel (engraver), Vorschrifft, Teutsch- lateinisch- und frantzösischer Schrifften (1719)
- George Bickham (engraver), Penmanship in Its Utmost Beauty and Extent (1731)
- Louis-Antoine Saintomer the elder (calligrapher) and [Louis?] Lefrançois (engraver), Graphométrie… (circa 1799)
Details
| Publisher | Letterform Archive Books |
| Publication date | July 22, 2025 |
| ISBN | 979-8-9891423-8-5 |
| Printing | 2 regular and 2 fluorescent spot colors, plus metallic rainbow foil on box |
| Format | Box set of 20 notecards and matching envelopes |
Write A Review
Related Products
