Professor Steven Skaggs work is included in recent book
Hite Graphic Design Professor Steven Skaggs is one of 15 calligraphers whose work is included in Manuale Calligraphicum, a tribute to the late Hermann Zapf. The preeminent type designer of the twentieth century, Zapf taught summer courses in calligraphy and type design for nine years at RIT (Skaggs studied there in 1980 and 1981). For Manuale Calligraphicum, 15 of Zapf's former students were asked to submit a calligraphed alphabet or quotation in the manner of Zapf’s Pen and Graver of 1950. In an edition of 325 copies published by the Rochester Institute of Technology on handmade paper, hand printed and bound, the book was released in October and is already out of stock.
For his text, Professor Skaggs chose a quote he heard from Hermann Zapf during his first summer course in 1980. Standing before an enormous type specimen book in RIT’s Cary Library Special Collections, Zapf pointed to work of 18th century master Giambattista Bodoni, and said “We are, each of us, brothers and sisters in this art - ink is our lifeblood.” Skaggs jotted the line down in his journal that evening. He thought of the quote when invited by David Pankow, Librarian Emeritus of the Cary Library and director of the tribute project.