3 ms·

What is an italic pen? I'm aware of italic fonts (slanted letters) and italic script (the same but handwritten), but I can't find anything about a specific type

• denton-scratch 4y ago
  The kind of pen I'm referring to is a pen with a nib that is a flat blade of metal, cut across, making a straight edge, then slit to make an ink channel. If you drag it horizontally, e.g. left-to-right, it makes a very fine line; if you drag it vertically, it makes a line as broad as the width of the nib. Sometimes they are cut on a slant; sometimes you hold them on a slant. So take "horizontal" and "vertical" with a bushel of salt. Basically, these things are metal replicas of quill pens, which are made as flat blades cut across to make an edge and then slit. That wide-stroke/thin-stroke business isn't anything to do with italicness, as far as I know; nor is the business of everyone leaning to the right. It's about serifs, and related orthographic flourishes, isn't it? [Edit: the kind of script I mean is angular, straight lines, with vertical strokes meeting diagonal strokes; rather gothic.] Well, those flourishes are facilitated by that kind of nib. Whether that's italic or not, I don't know; but the pen-and-nib sets used to be sold as "Italic pen with set of nibs", or something like that.
• mminer237 4y ago
  It sounds like a calligraphy pen, e.g.: https://handwritingsuccess.com/wp-content/uploads/pen-examples2.jpg https://handwritingsuccess.com/wp-content/uploads/pen-exampl...