Beautiful Penmanship

Another thing I always keep an eye out for are old books on penmanship. The pages below are all from the Daniel T.Ames Notebook from the early 1860's. These are just a few samples from one of the books shown in its entirety at Iampeth ~ The International Association of Master Penman, Engrossers, and Teachers of Handwriting. There is a wonderful rare books section on the site where one can look through dozens of hard to find books and see gorgeous samples of ornamental penmanship, alphabets, calligraphy etc.

There is also an artwork section on the site where many more samples are shown ~ many have been created by contemporary artists and some are illuminated. The samples below can be found in the artwork section.

{all images via iampeth}