Jake Weidmann found his true calling when he learned there were only nine master penmen in the world. Now a master penman with the International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting (IAMPETH), he is best known for his combination of artwork and script calligraphy. In Sea of Script Weidmann returned to a script style developed in 1840 by Platt Rogers Spencer. Spencer created the first American style of penmanship: ergonomic, simple, and based on the natural movement of the hand. It was a style theologically informed, as Spencer reasoned that the forms and movements of nature made by the Creator—organic forms and the movement of water—could be imitated. In Sea of Script, Weidmann pens a friend’s poem in rhythmic and crescendoed script.

—Lil Copan