Foundational

The Foundational or Foundational Hand is a calligraphic textbook.

It was designed by the British calligraphy teacher Edward Johnston at the beginning of the 20th century and completed in 1919 .

The minuscule (lower case) of the Foundational designed Johnston, based on his studies of Carolingian manuscripts from the 9th and 10th centuries , in particular the Ramsey Psalter (written about 970 to 980). The capital letters (uppercase) developed based on the Roman Capitalis monumentalis that were stylistically adapted to the minuscule.

The foundational is particularly widespread in Great Britain and the USA, but it is also increasing in German-speaking countries.

Web links

• Calligraphy Demonstration Foundational
• The Foundational Alphabet
• Detailed calligraphic instruction (English) ( Memento from June 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive )