The pen should be so lightly held that the act of writing should draw the edge of the nib into perfect contact with the paper, both the half-nibs touching the surface. (To make sure that the contact is perfect, make experimental thick strokes on a scrap of paper—pinned at the right-hand side of the desk—and see that they are “true,” i.e. that they are of even width, with “clean cut” edges and ends.) The writer should be able to feel what the nib is doing. If the pen be gripped stiffly the edge of the nib cannot be felt on the paper; and it will inevitably be forced out of shape and prematurely blunted.
A thin slip of bone—a “folder” or the handle of the pen-knife will do—is commonly held in the left hand to keep the paper flat and steady (see fig. [41]). [p065]
THE CUSTOMARY MANNER.—The ancient scribe probably held his pen in the manner most convenient to himself; and we, in order to write with freedom, should hold the pen in the way to which, by long use, we have been accustomed; provided that, for writing an upright round-hand, the pen be so manipulated and cut as to make fine horizontal thin strokes and clean vertical thick strokes (see fig. [40], & footnote, p. [304]).
SLANTED SHAFT, &c.—Most people are accustomed to holding a pen slanted away from the right shoulder. The nib therefore is cut at [p066] an oblique angle[13] to the shaft, so that, while the shaft is slanted, the edge of the nib is parallel with the horizontal line of the paper, and will therefore produce a horizontal thin stroke and a vertical thick stroke. For example: if the shaft is held slanted at an angle of 70° with the horizontal, the nib is cut at an angle of 70° with the shaft (fig. [42]). The angle of the nib with the shaft may vary from 90° (at right angles) to about 70°, according to the slant at which the shaft is held (fig. [43]).
