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Quills and Calligraphy Masterclass
British Library96 Euston Road
Sat 19 Sept · 10:00 · £120
About this event
Writing with a quill on vellum (calfskin) is a heritage craft that has been practiced by scribes for centuries. Join world-renowned professional calligrapher and illuminator, Patricia Lovett MBE, for a day of learning how to write Bâtarde from mediaeval books. This is the writing style used in the many of the British Library's manuscript collections.You’ll cut a quill from a feather of a swan’s wing, and use it to write a name in this style with the quill on a piece of vellum you have prepared yourself.
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Follow the thread
From this venue’s worldWinter Reading RoomsJanuary is for ideas. These are the rooms where London still thinks in long form — independent bookshops, library reading rooms, and societies that predate the internet by centuries.From this venue’s worldLiterary LondonIndependent bookshops, reading rooms and literary houses where the city meets its writers.LineageBritish literary scholarshipTrace other London rooms working in this tradition.LineageKnowledge and research institutionTrace other London rooms working in this tradition.LineagePublic intellectual discourseTrace other London rooms working in this tradition.Adjacent this weekDistribution Models with Clara BalaguerCubittAdjacent this weekThe School of Life: Festival of Ideas 2026 (General Admission)The School of LifeAdjacent this weekJames Reed: Karma CapitalismChiswick Book Festival
A different kind of night
Not the same tradition as the lineage above — a genuinely different thread to pull, if you want one.