Historical roots

Letters are all around us, and the actual shapes of the letter-forms we know today have evolved over the centuries.

Many think that the letters cut into stone during Roman times are the best formed, and it is these that are often taken as a model for use in modern buildings and monuments.

These grand letters are very similar in form to the ones we recognise as capitals, upper case, or majuscule letters, but there were more changes for small, lower case, or minuscule letters. Note: minuscule letters are minus – less than – majuscules, they are not necessarily mini, or small!

Calligraphers today often use the letter-forms, images and designs from mediæval manuscripts as their inspiration. It helps to go back to study these early forms when learning historical lettering styles such as Uncial, Caroline Minuscule, Gothic Black Letter and Italic, as well as less familiar styles.