Edged brush writing is an unexplored phenomenon. Discovered by the Romans 2000 years ago, it was used to design and write the most famous and important capital letter form: the Trajan letters.

The book is available in hardback and softback.

Anyone who has tried writing with the edged brush knows that it behaves very differently from an edged pen. If you've ever watched Tom Kemp wield the brush, writing 5 inch letters in water on a blackboard, or even more memorably, 6 foot letters with a pasting brush on lining paper taped to a wall at a CLAS Festival, you will be half way to wanting this book already.

I aim to elucidate the finer details of Trajan lettering and to base a rigorous study of the edged brush on its astonishing capabilities with this script.This paragraph from Tom Kemp’s book sums up his intention, and I would have thought that few calligraphers would be able to resist the invitation to join him in this work. Every so often a new calligraphy book is published which stands out from the many volumes produced in the last few years. Such a book is this one, and not just because it covers a subject which is perhaps unfamiliar to many students. The strength of the book lies in its quality of thought, of writing, of presentation and of production.

Tom Kemp’s book would be unthinkable without the work of Johnston and Catich. He shares with Johnston a penetrating search into the origins of formal writing, and with Catich both the same tool - the chisel-edged brush - and the Trajan inscription. But Kemp goes far beyond Johnston and Catich in his description of technical details. In fact there has been no book that explains in such precise - practically obsessive - detail, every grip of the brush and every detail of its handling, with clear drawings and text. (The flow of writing and the preparation for it are however rather briefly covered.)