Sull's Manual of Advanced Penmanship: An Instructional Guide to American Cursive, Ornamental Penmanship, and Flourishing

If you are at all interested in Spencerian Penmanship, you know the name Michael R. Sull, as the two are often spoken of hand-in-hand. Sull’s Manual of Advanced Penmanship does a deep dive into his 40 years of experience to share all he has learned. Chapters include American Cursive Handwriting, Ornamental Penmanship, Flourishing, and an extended appendix. What sets it apart from other calligraphy books is the depth and breadth of the experience Sull shares which so few in modern times have encountered. Sull explains his reason for writing the advanced book was to preserve all he has learned and created over his extensive career that was not published in any existing text. This includes his Spencerian-styled monogram designs, Masterpiece Flourishing (a technique Sull created to simplify and emulate the lavish pen-work seen in The Universal Penman), signature writing, and the complex capital letters appropriately named super twisters. He includes novelty penmanship styles such as connected, relay, cross, backwards, and puzzle writing. There is also instruction for off-hand and title flourishing, bird flourishing, artistic line work, filigree, and banners. In Chapter 2: Ornamental Penmanship, Sull explains the foundational elements of advanced penmanship such as curvature, negative space, line quality, shading, balance, and spontaneity & movement. These are the secrets to advanced lettering and composition that so few books address in detail. He further drills it down to ink qualities and condition of the pen point. Perhaps the most delicious part of the book includes tips for flourishing, how to manipulate shaded strokes, and extensive instruction on twister capitals. Included are several examples of ornamental capital variations. Beyond that, Sull explains in-depth how to lay out finished pieces, line breaks, negative space, flourish density, and composition. These are perhaps the most important insights we could hope to have shared with us to study, absorb, and apply in our own work. Very few of the many, many classes I have taken over the years discussed details such as shade control, understanding the use of curves, and the balancing of letters and flourishing in depth. Sull has left no detail out of this generous master class. The manual finishes with handouts, exercises, guide sheets, historical and modern work from many of today’s accomplished calligraphers (all students of Michael R. Sull), and Sull’s “Secret of the Ovals.” For those who may be disappointed in the shaky character of the lines in the exemplars – don’t be. The form and technique are most important and Sull’s are flawless. Beyond the visuals, Sull’s Manual offers an in-depth sharing of integral information to advance your calligraphic penmanship. I am grateful for this treasure trove and know I will refer to it over and over for years to come.

The book contains advance penmanship instruction from the hand of Master Penman Michael Sull and it is a joy to read. The book is well structured, easy to follow and full of applicable knowledge. It contains step-by-steps instructions on flourishing, ornamental penmanship, drawing birds, monograms, acanthus leaves and inks. There are also a number of examples made by M. Sull and by many other penmen and calligraphers from years past that can be studied and analyzed by the interested reader. Please note however, that this is not a book for beginners as the premise is that its readers will already have a firm grasp of the Spencerian hand and at least one broad edge hand. Basic instruction on Spencerian has already been covered by other books written by M. Sull and other authors. As the book says, these are advanced techniques. All in all, this book contains distilled information based on M. P. M. Sull's decades of experience as a penman and an instructor; it is worth every penny.

I have seen this book and it's great. I bought it here because of the price... under $20.00, with free shipping, of course.

Just received my copy, and OH MY! Even my cursory flip through has left me with anticipatory excitement! The CONTENT is fabulous. The spiral bound is metal, not plastic, and this, along with the very heavy paper pages, works well for a book like this that I'll be using for reference on my drawing table. The hard binder-style cover is also heavy and durable. The book is hefty! When I consider the author’s efforts and expertise, if I’m able to glean only one good idea from this work, the return on investment is fabulous. From what I’ve seen, there will be so, so many more, and this guide will inform my practice way beyond my current abilities, if not my remaining lifetime. I remember decades ago telling my daughter about the huge entertainment value of a used book we’d once purchased when I described it in terms of entertainment hours per dollar. Likewise, when I think of the hours of a master penman’s attention received per dollar for this work? Priceless. Thank you Michael Sull!

Michael Sull should be ashamed of the quality of this "guide". I bought this hoping for it to have a focus on flourishing similar to how Sull's "The Art of Cursive Penmanship: A Personal Handwriting Program for Adults" focused on penmanship. To be fair, it ..might, but I can't get past the painfully poor illustrations the book attempts to pass as direction or examples. The examples and "practice" (?) are almost illegible! It feels as if most of the "book" (read: spiral folder) is a regurgitated fluff of the history of handwriting - if this is "Advanced Penmanship", show something advanced that you didn't show in its precursor. Considering how rigorous they verify and support the quality of their pens, it's surprising that Brian Goulet lent his name and pull quote for the cover.

You can't go wrong with any instruction from Michael Sull. His expertise is world-renowned.

The hard cover looks great, but once you open the book…it’s all low quality copy of a copy in spiral bind with mediocre examples. This is one of those, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” situations. I thought it would be another great addition to my collection of how to books. Only reason I haven’t returned it is because I’m overseas and it’s like pulling teeth. All in all book is painful. At least the penmanship on these books should be smooth, legible and full pages dedicated. It’s now categorized in my garbage pile.

It never crossed my mind to look at the pictures from other buyers - the quality of this print is terrible.

Wonderful book!

Poor hardcover quality. Tendency to tear with normal use.

Anyone who takes a little pride in their writing will find many ideas and lots of information to take their writing to the next level.