Margaret Shepherd

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 enduringand noteworthyway. 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, congratulationsfor every emotion and occasion, a snippet of heartfelt prose is included, sure to loosen the most stymied letter writer.

For those intimidated by the complexity of personal interaction, or those simply looking to polish their speaking skills, The Art of Civilized Conversation is a powerful guide to communicating in an endearing way.In our fast-paced, electronic society, the most basic social interactiontalking face-to-facecan be a challenge for even the most educated and self-assured individuals. And yet making conversation is a highly practical skill: those who do it well shine at networking parties, interviews, and business lunches. Good conversation also opens doors to a happier love life, warmer friendships, and more rewarding time with family.In The Art of Civilized Conversation, author Margaret Shepherd offers opening lines, graceful apologies, thoughtful questions, and, ultimately, the confidence to take conversations beyond hello. From the basicsfirst impressions, appropriate subject matter, and graceful exitsto finding the right words for difficult situations and an insightful discussion of body language, Shepherd uses her skilled eye and humorous anecdotes to teach readers how to turn a plain conversation into an engaging encounter. Filled with common sense and fresh insight, The Art of Civilized Conversation is the perfect inspiration not only for what to say but for how to say it with style.

In an age of myriad computer fonts and instant communication, your handwriting style is increasingly a very personal creation. In this book, Margaret Shepherd, Americas premier calligrapher, shows you that calligraphy is not simply a craft you can learn, but an elegant art form that you can make your own. Calligraphy remains perennially popular, often adorning wedding invitations, diplomas, and commercial signs. Whether it is Roman, Gothic, Celtic, Bookhand, or Italic style, calligraphy conveys class and elegance. Margaret Shepherd makes this ancient art form accessible in a completely hand-lettered technical guide that will: Provide context for calligraphy as an art, exploring the rich tradition of hand-lettering and mapping the evolution of the most popular styles. Give detailed technical advice on choosing pens, paper, and inks, setting up your workspace, mastering various pen angles, along with step-by-step illustrations to guide you as you practice. Explain which alphabets are appropriate for different forms of writing. For example, the Roman alphabet works well for short, unpunctuated passages, while the Italic alphabet is more suited to informal everyday communication. Encourage you to personalize your lettering by using variant strokes and interpreting how you would like the words to look on the page. Inspire you with carefully chosen illustrations and examples, which bring letters to life.Learn Calligraphy is the authoritative primer for this age-old craft, and will help develop a new appreciation for lettering as you discover your creative personality.

Learn World Calligraphy has something for everyone. Whether you want scholarly insight, artistic inspiration, classroom projects, or a theme for your next party, this comprehensive, unparalleled full-color book will guide you on a virtual trip around the globe. Covering nearly all of the worlds writing systemsfrom African to Arabic, Chinese to Greek, Hebrew to Russian, and beyondLearn World Calligraphy offers a unique glimpse of scripts worldwide and the calligraphers who write them.Lushly illustrated with gorgeous examples of both historical and modern calligraphic designs, this book is filled with practical instruction for how key aspects of each exotic script can be applied to the English alphabet, generating calligraphic hybrids with a distinctly foreign flair. Like a new cuisine that you cant wait to cook at home, the scripts you meet in this book are sure to infuse your own calligraphy with the flavor of abroad. Bon voyage!

Reclaim the lost art of letter-writing with this accessible, invaluable guide to crafting a personal letterwhether digitally or by handfrom the renowned calligrapher and author of The Art of the Handwritten Note and Learn American Calligraphy. When was the last time you wrote a letter? Or received one in the mail?These days, its so easy to dash off a quick e-mail or text message or make a call while youre on the run that you may rarely make time for letter writing. But letters are a time-honored form of connection that simply cannot be equaled or replaced by faster methods of communication.The Art of the Personal Letter gives you the gift of leisurely expression and allowing you to write beautiful, enduring letters to the people you care aboutbe it by hand or on a computer. For any occasionwhether youre reaching out to connect with a long-lost friend or you want to express condolences with graceauthor Margaret Shepherd gives you both the inspiration and the tools to write a memorable and meaningful letter that will be cherished by its recipient for years.Filled with marvelous examples of common types of letters, The Art of the Personal Letter provides helpful guidelines to enhance your unique voice and inspire you to start that holiday letter or difficult letter of apology. From choosing just the right words, the right stationery, and even the right pen or font, youll learn everything you need to know about the timeless art of the personal letter.

En la era de las fuentes digitales y de la comunicación instantánea, el estilo de escritura es cada vez más personal. En este libro, Margaret Shepherd muestra que la caligrafía no es simplemente una habilidad que se puede aprender, sino tambien un arte. La caligrafia se utiliza para adornar invitaciones de boda, diplomas y carteles comerciales. Transmite clase y elegancia con todos sus estilos: romano, gotico, celta o italico.Esta obra brinda asesoramiento tecnico sobre la eleccion de plumas, papel y tinta, la configuracion del espacio de trabajo y el control del angulo de colocacion sobre el papel. Ademas, guia el aprendizaje paso a paso mediante ilustraciones. Explica, asimismo, los alfabetos apropiados para las diferentes formas de escritura, anima a personalizar la caligrafia utilizando trazos variados e inspira con ilustraciones y ejemplos para que las letras cobren siempre vida.