American Calligraphy #19: Cooper

ABCs of the USA: The stories behind America's most distinctive alphabets. 

The pen requires three basic
angles [see alphabet below}

This alphabet is the serif version of the "National Parks" style from last week. Still a popular (if not exactly fashionable) typeface, Cooper Black, is derived from it. It is written with a Speedball D oval nib that reduces the contrast between thick and thin strokes, which also rounds off the stroke ends and shapes the serifs. 

Cooper Black was the alphabet of choice for 
candy wrappers and much, much more.  

I love writing these letters. The serifs look like plump little feet or baked potatoes or--in self-reference--little Tootsie Rolls. 

There is a nice graphic detail in the 2004 movie "Napoleon Dynamite," where the hero's nerdiness is summed up in his hand-made T shirt slogan made up of iron-on Cooper letters 

My daily alphabets blog offered six versions of this style to
copy in 2013.  Do a search on "coopy calligraphy" or go to 
 my blog for these dates: June 2, June 25, November 12,
November 20, November 23, November 27.