To Amy in Aug

Here is another style that originated with Rachael - and we had a brief email discussion about it. I think she called it a mish-mash. So that is what I am calling it. Rachael can correct me if I am wrong - but it's such an open ended style that there is probably no way to even come up with an exemplar. I know on the inspiration envelope I received from her - some of the letters were in script - and on this one - I did not use any script. 

So how do we know when to let loose as opposed to sticking to an exemplar? When it is something specific - like Neuland or wildly inventive (variation-laden) - like DuBosch Jubilee. 

The script styles really complicate the whole situation. Platte Rogers Spencer designed a very specific style and called it Spencerian. My head nearly explodes when I see some of the variations that people refer to as Spencerian that are -to my eye- so far removed from Spencerian - that it seems bizarre that anyone would tack that name on it. They are usually based on copperplate.

There is no universal governing body to make judgments/rules about these things. In the world of fonts - there is some licensing - but as far as I know, if you write something by hand - you're just doing something by hand - and it would be hard to exert ownership over somebody else's hand. If I'm wrong about that -- I'd love to know. 

Bernard Meisner's penmanship would be the one to look at -- when pondering this topic. I wonder whatever happened to him.