NEW

Learn Calligraphy

Through gorgeous hand-lettering, Learn Calligraphy guides readers step-by-step in the subtle movements required to perfect each letter. Offering comprehensive lessons and advice for choosing alphabets appropriate for different moods, messages, and media, Shepherd encourages variant strokes to personalize lettering and create true art. She describes everything from choosing the corect pen nib to finding the angle that is both comfortable and graceful. Along the way, she discusses intriguing details about calligraphers throughout the ages, from Ancient Rome to the Renaissance.
[free guidelines and more info...]

NEW

The Art of the Handwritten Note

When you receive the daily mail do you jump to open the handwritten envelopes first because you can’t wait to see who has written and why? Or do you hold those letters aside to savor and enjoy after you are done sorting your bills and tossing the junk mail? Whatever your approach, you no doubt recognize the importance of the note that comes in a unique envelope with distinct handwriting and possibly a decoration or two. Indeed, in an age when even birthday greetings are sent by e-mail, the personal letter is appreciated more than ever before.

For those who enjoy writing notes, or those who value doing so but find themselves intimidated by the task, acclaimed calligrapher Margaret Shepherd has created both an epistolary tribute and rescue manual. Just as you cherish receiving personal mail, you can take pleasure in crafting correspondence. Love, gratitude, condolences, congratulations–for every emotion and occasion, a snippet of heartfelt prose is included, sure to loosen the most stymied letter writer.

Not only providing inspiration for the content of the missives, The Art of the Handwritten Note gives thorough instruction in the specific details that give so many men and women the jitters when it comes to correspondence that can’t (or shouldn’t) be produced on a keyboard. From overcoming illegible penmanship to mastering the challenge of keeping straight margins, avoiding smeared ink, and choosing stationery that is appropriate but suits your style, this is a powerful little guide to conveying thoughts in an enduring–and noteworthy–way.

NEW

"The authors of the etiquette book "The Art of Civilized Conversation" say that conversation's versatility makes it 'the Swiss Army knife of social skills.'...This little guide underscores how selfish and inadequate certain ways of speaking have become....

This book is full of ways in which a two-way talk can be hijacked by one person's self-interest. So don't tell the bride about your own wedding. And don't turn an apology into your own long tale of woe. Reciting, negotiating, scolding, interviewing, notifying, debating, insulting: these are all one-person pursuits that should not be mistaken for real communication. When speaking to someone facing real trouble, ditch any remark that begins with "You should"....

In a world where loose talk is a growing blight - on radio, television and the Internet even more so than in face-to-face encounters - a book like "The Art of Civilized Conversation" does speak to a real need."

In Print

Calligraphy Alphabets Made Easy

For beginning calligraphers, this book presents a new lettering challenge for each day of the year, 365 in all (plus a bonus for Leap Day). In addition to daily practice, a practical lettering project is provided for each week--52 in all, ranging from wholly creative projects such as designing an award to money-makers like wedding invitations and greeting cards.

In Print

Calligraphy Made Easy

The best book for learning calligraphy I have seen. I found this book to be very comprehensive, easy to follow and will recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn calligraphy.

In Print

Margaret Shepherd's Calligraphy Projects for Pleasure and Profit

In Print

Modern Calligraphy Made Easy: A New Script for Streamlined Lettering

America's leading author of books about calligraphy now presents an easy-to-learn, back-to-basics system of lettering that brings the ancient art of calligraphy into the modern world--a book for novice and master alike.

In Print

Using Calligraphy : A Workbook of Alphabets, Projects, and Techniques

Here are links to other great books by Margaret Shepherd. Some of these are hard to find classics, but definitely worth getting!

1. Calligraphy for Celebrating Your Wedding
2. Calligraphy for Celebrating Your Newborn
3. Borders for Calligraphy
4. Borders for Calligraphy : How to Design a Decorated Page
5. The Basics of Left-Handed Calligraphy
6. Calligraphy Now : New Light on Traditional Letters
7. Capitals for Calligraphy
   
   

Classics

Here are some of Margaret's other books which are now out of print. You might still find them at your local bookstore though, and they are definitely worth searching for! They can also be bought by heading off to BiblioFind

1. Basics of the New Calligraphy
2. Calligraphy for Celebrating Your Wedding/With Pen
3. Capitals for Calligraphy : A Sourcebook of Decorative Letters
4. Manual of Modern Calligraphy : Lessons in the Art of Handlettering
5. Margaret Shepherd's 1985 Calligraphy Calendar