19/05/2026
Today marks the 130th birthday of Paul Standard (1896-1992); author, calligrapher, teacher, advocate of calligraphy in the twentieth century, particularly with regard to handwriting.
Paul Standard was born in Russia and emigrated to America in 1903. As Press Representative for the Canadian Pacific Railway, Standard’s interest in writing led him to take an active part in the work of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. His main spheres of interest were the quality of handwriting and the perceived need to improve standards across the lettering arts; Standard was regarded as the main force behind the recrudescence of calligraphy in America. In championing handwriting reform in American schools, Standard adopted an italic script modelled on the formal hand of Ludovico degli Arrighi (also known as Vincentino), an early sixteenth century Italian scribe and type designer who produced the first printed ‘instruction’ book on italic (chancery cursive) in 1522.
Standard’s articles on the subject of writing were widely published; but possibly his book, ‘Calligraphy’s Flowering, Decay, & Restuaration’ (see references), became more well–known here in the UK.
In recording the revival of calligraphy, Standard became a supporter of the German type designer and calligrapher Herman Zapf (a prominent figure in both disciplines, then and now) and since he was fluent in German, Standard assisted Zapf with translating his works. Paul Standard championed the work of calligraphers in England too – Alfred Fairbank, William Morris, Graily Hewitt, and Daisy Alcock among them. He also corresponded with Edward Johnston (founder of the calligraphy revival in England, beginning in the late nineteenth century) and in one letter, written shortly before his death in 1944, Johnston famously (for calligraphers!) outlined his reasoning behind choosing the writing in the British Library’s Harley MS2904 (the Ramsey Psalter) as a good model for a formal minuscule hand; he writes that ‘. . . it seems to me the perfected seed of our common print . . .’.
This is just a brief sketch drawn from scant material, but I hope you have found it interesting.
Thank you for reading.
*****
References
Fairbank, A ‘A Handwriting Manual’, Faber and Faber, 1954 (First published in 1932).
Fairbank, A ‘A Book of Scripts’, Faber and Faber, 1977.
Johnston, E (ed. Child, H) 'Formal Penmanship and Other Papers', Taplinger, 1971.
Standard, P ‘Calligraphy’s Flowering, Decay, & Restuaration’, Sylvan Press, 1947.
Online
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Standard
https://www.ismardavidarchive.org/indexofnames/about-paul-standard/
