Calligraphy - Bickham's Penman

George Bickham’s The Universal Penman — Antique Calligraphy Prints

George Bickham’s The Universal Penman, published in parts between 1733 and 1741 and collected in a single folio volume, is the most celebrated work of calligraphic illustration ever produced in the English language. Engraved throughout by Bickham himself — one of the most accomplished engravers of his generation — the Universal Penman brought together examples of the writing hands of over 200 of the leading English penmen of the early 18th century, surrounded by decorative borders, ornamental panels, maxims, moral sentences and pictorial vignettes of considerable charm and variety.

The calligraphic scripts reproduced in the Universal Penman encompass the full range of hands in use in commercial and professional life in early 18th-century England — the round hand, the secretary hand, the italic, the text hand and the various specialist scripts used in legal, ecclesiastical and financial contexts. Each example is attributed to its practitioner and presented with the name engraved in the practitioner’s own hand, giving the work both a documentary and a celebratory character as a record of English penmanship at its highest professional level.

The decorative elements of the Universal Penman are as significant as its calligraphic content. The ornamental panels, cartouches, pictorial borders and vignettes that surround the script examples represent engraving of the highest quality, combining rococo ornamental invention with the technical precision of the finest English engravers. These decorative elements have given the prints from the Universal Penman an enduring appeal to collectors who value them as much for their visual elegance as for their calligraphic content.

Individual plates from the Universal Penman are among the most distinctive antique prints available in their category — recognisable immediately by the combination of flowing script, decorative border and moral or poetic sentiment that characterises Bickham’s design. They are collected by enthusiasts of historical typography and lettering, by admirers of 18th-century decorative engraving and by collectors drawn to the unique combination of art and craft that the work represents.

Antique calligraphy prints from Bickham’s Universal Penman are rare in fine condition and offer collectors a direct connection to one of the great achievements of English graphic art in the 18th century.