"Italic script, in calligraphy, is script developed by the Italian humanists about 1400 from antique Latin texts and inscriptions. The humanists called the Carolingian minuscule in which most of these sources were preserved lettera antica, mistakenly regarding it as a Roman script from the time of Cicero. The Florentine scribe Niccolò Niccoli (d. 1437) combined the rhythm and fluidity of the familiar black-letter current hand with the narrow, inclined strokes of the lettera antica in his antica corsiva, which became the model for italic printing types."
Italic lettering, calligraphy & handwriting by  |
La operina di Ludouico Vicentino, da imparare di scriuere littera cancellarescha. By Ludovico degli Arrighi and Ugo da Carpi from 1522. |
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Harley MS 3859. By Vegetius and others from the 1st half of the 12th century. |
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Historia Florentina. By Poggio Bracciolini and Jacopo Bracciolini from 1475. View full text in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library |
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This guide was initially created by library graduate students at Emporia State University, Gregory MacNaughton from the Cooley Gallery, and the Reed College Special Collections staff.
This work by the Reed College Library is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY Attribution 4.0 International License.
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