Richard Lipton worked as a calligrapher in the 1970’s, creating a calligraphy business in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His study of calligraphy led him to read The Universal Penman, by George Bickham, written in the 18th century.
George Bickham had been an engraver who was known for his skill. In 1733 he brought together twenty five calligraphers to contribute designs to his book. This work was not only influential in the 18th century, but served as Lipton’s inspiration for most of his designs—culminating in his design of the Bickham Script design in 1996-97. Lipton was mesmerized by what he called the ‘drama’ of Bickham’s lettering.
This ‘drama’ Lipton refers to is the combination of letter and symbol variations based on the context and location of each letter. With the advent of OpenType®, each letter now has twenty versions. Emphasis on repeated letters is a hallmark of this typeface. The capital letters have variants too, showing elegance and luxury for titles and signatures.
Lipton attributes the popularity of the Bickham Script design to the OpenType technology that allows the variations in style and lettering to combine automatically. These unique combinations were conscious choices in the design, but the use of the script is simple.
