EDWARD JOHNSTON, BORN 1872
CALLIGRAPHER & TYPEFACE DESIGNER
Edward Johnston revived the art of penmanship and lettering through his books and teachings. His book Writing & Illuminating & Lettering, 1906, sparked a renewed interest in the art of calligraphy. Inspired by William Morris’s admiration of medieval manuscripts, he studied historic calligraphic scripts and devised the simply crafted round calligraphic handwriting style, written with a broad pen, known today as the foundational hand. With a remarkable ability to leap from the medieval to the modern, he also designed the famous roundel and sans serif typeface for the London Underground.