The word Calligraphy means beautiful writing .It is the design and execution of lettering.

A contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as, "the art of giving form to signs in an
expressive, harmonious, and skillful manner".
Modern calligraphy ranges from functional inscriptions and designs to fine-art pieces where the
letters may or may not be readable. Classical calligraphy differs from typography and non-classical
hand-lettergin. Before the invention of printing press, this was the way to make each page of
books. Each copy of books was handwritten by a flat edged pen
Calligraphy is still very popular in the forms of wedding and event invitations, font design
and typography, religious art, cut stone inscriptions, and memorial documents. It is also
used for filmm and television birth and death certificates, maps, and other written works.
Today, there are three types of calligraphy-
1. Western or Roman.
2. Arabic
3. Chinese or Oriental.

These symbols were used inside the tombs of the pharaohs or painted with brushes across
papyrus paper

HISTORY:
The Calligraphy originated during the Stone Age. Letters did not exist then but things were
described by making pictures. The major events of the cavemans life were described by the
caveman on the walls of the cave in the form of pictorial representation.

The art of making pictures modernized with the development of humans. Egyptians played a
very important role to develop drawing pictures. In about 3600 B.C, the Egyptians created
the hieroglyphics for which they are so well known for.. Hieroglyphs were called, by the
Egyptians, the words of God and were used mainly by the priests. These drawn symbols
were great for decorating the walls of temples but for conducting day to day business there
was another script, known as hieratic. It was a simplified form of the hieroglyphic script in
which the people, animals and object depicted are no longer easily recognizable, but
structurally the same as the hieroglyphic script
Hieroglyphs are written in rows or columns and can be read from left to right or from right to
left. You can distinguish the direction in which the text is to be read because the human or
animal figures always face towards the beginning of the line. Also the upper symbols
Hieroglyphic signs are divided into four categories:
1. Alphabetic signs represent a single sound. Unfortunately, the Egyptians took most
vowels for granted and did not represent such as e or v. So we may never know
how the words were formed.
2. Syllabic signs represent a combination of two or three consonants.
3. Word-signs are pictures of objects used as the words for those objects. they are
followed by an upright stroke, to indicate that the word is complete in one sign.
4. A determinative is a picture of an object which helps the reader. For example; if a
word expressed an abstract idea, a picture of a roll of papyrus tied up and sealed was
included to show that the meaning of the word could be expressed in writing
although not pictorially.
are read before the lower.
Around 1000 B.C, the Phoenicians created what is now believed to be
one of the first alphabets and writing systems. They were seafaring type
hence they passed their talent in every seaport they reached. The
Phoenician alphabet was perhaps the first alphabetic script to be widely-
used - the Phoenicians traded around the Mediterraean and beyond, and
set up cities and colonies in parts of southern Europe and North Africa -
and the origins of most alphabetic writing systems can be traced back to
the Phoenician alphabet, including Greek, Etruscan, Latin, Arabic and
Hebrew, as well as the scripts of India and East Asia.
Notable features
Type of writing system: abjad / consonant alphabet with no vowel
indication
Direction of writing: right to left in hortizontal lines. Sometimes
boustrophedon.
Number of letters: 22 - there was considerable variation in their
forms in different regions and at different times.
The names of the letters are acrophonic, and their names and
shapes can be ultimately traced back to Egyptian Hieroglyphs. For
example, the name of the first letter, 'aleph, means ox and
developed from a picture of an ox's head. Some of the letter names
were changed by the Phoenicians, including gimel, which meant
camel in Phoenician, but was originally a picture of a throwing stick
(giml).
Used to write
Phoenician, a Northern Semitic language which originated in about the
11th century BC in what is now Lebannon, Syria and Israel, an area then
known as Pt in Ancient Egyptian, Canaan in Phoenician, Hebrew and
Aramaic, Phoenicia in Greek and Latin.
Phoenician spread around the Mediterranean, particularly to Tunisia,
southern parts of the Iberian peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal),
Malta, southern France and Sicily, and was spoken until the 1st century
AD.
A variant of Phoenician, known as Punic, was spoken in Carthage, a
Phoencian colony in what is now Tunisia, until the 6th century AD.
The native name for the language was (dabari-m) Pnnm/Kana'nm,
which means "Punic/Canaanite (speech)"
Phoenician alphabet

They influenced the Greeks a lot, who later on developed their own kind of writing which by 850
BC the Romans had adapted to suit the Latin language.

Latin was the lingua franca of the churches of Europe in the Middle Ages and the monks (and a
smattering of nobility) constituted the only literate members of society. The monks started to write
ancient text in books. Since paper was costly at that time, so the monks discovered a new style of
Calligraphy which can accommodate more words in a single line. This new style was known
as Gothic and lasted as a popular scribing technique throughout much of the Middle Ages.

Based on the Gothic style of the monks, in 15 century, Johannes Gutenberg discovered
the printing press. This allowed a faster printing of books. Although the use of printing press was
high, the handwriting skill was in demand. Italians during this time invented the italic script,
which became popular throughout most of Europe.
One hundred years later, artistic penmanship was in a steep decline.

In 19th century, flat-edge pens were replaced by the fountain pens and steel pens. It became
difficult to achieve beautiful curves of calligraphy with these replaced pens due to its rounded tips.
The value of calligraphy was going to disappear but a British poet and artist William Morris in the
mid-19th century spearheaded a calligraphic revival, reintroducing the flat edged pen and
elevating the act of writing to the art form of its past.

The rise of computers!

It appears that the art of calligraphy couldnt possibly withstand the competition from the 20th
centurys most important invention the computer. With a click of the mouse, a list of various
scripts are generated electronically and lasered onto bleached paper in an instant the art of
script preserved in an electronic pulse. But calligraphy is flourishing more than ever with
calligraphic societies throughout the world. Computers may print the copies different calligraphy
but it does not have the talent to make new styles calligraphy.

CALLIGRAPHERS PEN:
A calligraphers pen is very important to write a new style of handwriting. It can be flat-edged (can
be made of bamboo) or rounded tip pen or can be brush. For some decorative purposes, multi-
nibbed penssteel brushescan be used. The work of calligraphy has also been done with ball
pens. The ink used are water based and are less viscous than the oil based inks used in printing
press.

The principal tools for a calligrapher are the pen and the brush. Calligraphy pens write
with nibs that may be flat, round, or pointed.[8][9][10] For some decorative purposes, multi-nibbed
penssteel brushescan be used. However, works have also been created with felt-
tip and ballpoint pens, although these works do not employ angled lines. There are some styles of
calligraphy, like Gothic script, which require a stub nib pen.
Writing ink is usually water-based and is much less viscous than the oil-based inks used in
printing. High quality paper, which has good consistency of absorption,[clarification needed] enables
cleaner lines,[citation needed] although parchment or vellum is often used, as a knife can be used to
erase imperfections and a light-box is not needed to allow lines to pass through it. Normally, light
boxes and templates are used to achieve straight lines without pencil markings detracting from
the work. Ruled paper, either for a light box or direct use, is most often ruled every quarter or half
inch, although inch spaces are occasionally used. This is the case with litterea unciales (hence
the name), and college-ruled paper often acts as a guideline well.[11]
Common calligraphy pens and brushes are:

Quill
Dip pen
 Ink brush
Qalam
Fountain pen