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Early alphabets had evolved by about 3000 BC. From the Greek alphabet evolved the Latin alphabet. Capital letters were developed first and lower case letters were invented considerably later.
Long, heavy rolls of papyrus were replaced by the Romans with the first books, initially simply folded pages of parchment made from animal skins. Reed penThis article is about the writing implement. For alternate uses, see Pen (disambiguation). A pen is a writing instrument which applies ink to some surface. Terms and expressions Originally the word meant quill, and is derived from pinna (Latin for feathers were replaced by quillThis article discusses the quill pen. For other usages of this word, please refer to Quill (disambiguation). A quill pen is made from a flight feather (preferably a primary) of a large bird, most often a goose. Quills were used as instruments for writing pens.
ChristianityChristian cross and its many variations are widely recognized as an ancient Christian symbol. Christianity is an Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the New Testament. Although Christians generally chara gave a boost to the development of writing through the prolific copying of the BibleThe Bible (From Greek βιβλια biblia meaning "books", which in turn is derived from βυβλος byblos meaning "papyrus", from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported papyrus) and other sacred textMany religions and spiritual movements hold certain written texts (or series of spoken legends not traditionally written down) to be sacred. Often believing that their sacred texts (or scriptures are wholly divine or partially inspired in origin, the faits. UncialBook of Kells, c. AD 800, is lettered in a majuscule script called "insular half uncial" because it was in use in the British Isles. Uncial is a majuscule script commonly used from the 3rd to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes. From the 8th centu letters were used by monkA monk is a male religious ascetic. The word comes from the Greek monachos , commonly translated as a solitary person''. It should be noted, however, that monachos is a word that had to be forged especially to name the then new phenomenon of men living sos in IrelandThe island of Ireland ire in Irish, Airlann in Ulster Scots) is the third-largest island in Europe. It lies on the west side of the Irish Sea, close to the island of Great Britain. It is composed of the Republic of Ireland in the south and Northern Irelan, Scotland, and other places, hence the name "Insular style" for this type of writing. This was also the heyday of the illuminated manuscript. Charlemagne made a big difference to the spread of beautiful writing by bringing Alcuin, the Abbot of York, to his capital of Aachen. Alcuin undertook a major revision of all styles of script and all texts. He then developed a new "hand" named after his patron Charlemagne: " Carolingian minuscule style".The Fraktur followed in the 11th century, and Italy contributed Chancery and Italic scripts.
What followed was the heyday of the illuminated manuscript.
Hand-written and hand-decorated books went out of fashion for a while after the invention of printing by Johann Gutenberg in the 15th century.
However, at the end of the 19th century, William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement rediscovered and popularized calligraphy. Many famous calligraphers were influenced by Morris, especially Edward Johnston, Eric Gill and others.
Some important contemporary calligraphers are Author Baker and Hermann Zapf. As handwritten forms of communication have become more rare, calligraphy is often reserved for special occasions and events, most notably the addressing of wedding invitations and announcements.