GEORGE BICKHAM (d.1769)

This monumental anthology presented the work of twenty-five contemporary writing masters on over 200 finely engraved plates. Bickham, who studied under the engraver John Sturt (1658-1730) and probably wrote eighteen of the plates in The Universal Penman, intended the work as a practical copy-book for the "Man of Business." His engravings, which contributed to a revival of interest in calligraphy, provide a record of the writing hands in use during the first half of the eighteenth century.

Gift of the University of Delaware Library Associates