Mass-printed books with handwritten text
May 31, 2020 12:52 PM   Subscribe

What are some examples of mass-printed books with handwritten text, similar to The Moosewood Cookbook (sample page) and Math for Smarty Pants (sample page)?

I'm aware of this similar question from 11 years ago, but mine is a bit broader in scope.

A mix of handwriting and type is fine, as in my second example, as long as the handwritten text is a significant fraction and not just a little bit of decoration.
posted by aws17576 to Media & Arts (31 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Do graphic novels or things that are similar to graphic novels count? I'm thinking of Larry Gonick's Cartoon History series, where at least the early ones have handwritten text, though the later ones appear to use a handwriting font.
posted by moonmilk at 1:00 PM on May 31, 2020


Most of Nick Bantock's series use this (Griffin & Sabine, etc.)
posted by cobaltnine at 1:15 PM on May 31, 2020


Math for Smarty Pants was part of a series called Brown Paper Books.
posted by Flannery Culp at 1:21 PM on May 31, 2020


Raleigh Briggs does this -- nice handy pretty little books.

I'm pretty sure there's an abstract algebra text written out in calligraphy by a student or collegue of Lloyd Reynolds.

Forrest Mims, at least some of them
posted by clew at 1:22 PM on May 31, 2020 [1 favorite]


(oh, I see the previous ask was about Mims.)
posted by clew at 1:24 PM on May 31, 2020


Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book.
posted by brianogilvie at 1:26 PM on May 31, 2020 [3 favorites]


All or almost all of William Blake's works published in his lifetime were hand written and etched by Blake (in mirror image!) on copper plates with illustrations, from which the books were then printed, colored and bound by the poet himself — which he then tried to sell on the street with few takers!
posted by jamjam at 1:53 PM on May 31, 2020 [4 favorites]


I have a paperback copy of Alice's Adventures Underground that is a facsimile of Lewis Carrols' original handwritten version.

The Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream cookbook is a little similar to that Math one - the headers are all handwritten, but the text is mostly type, so it might not be enough to count.
posted by Caravantea at 1:56 PM on May 31, 2020 [1 favorite]


The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady - video here of someone flicking through the pages.
posted by penguin pie at 2:02 PM on May 31, 2020 [1 favorite]


Alfred Wainwright's books on the English Lake District were all published from his manuscripts - sketches and hand-written notes and all.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 2:02 PM on May 31, 2020 [3 favorites]


Codex Seraphinianus?

(Thanks for reminding me how much I love Math for Smarty Pants, off to find my copy!)
posted by sillysally at 2:15 PM on May 31, 2020 [2 favorites]


Sun, Wind, and Light: Architectural Design Strategies. does this. It's great for rules of thumb thinking, scheming and sketching when you're designing around buildings and lack historic data.
posted by unearthed at 2:17 PM on May 31, 2020


The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse has the appearance of being written in calligraphy.
posted by BibiRose at 2:41 PM on May 31, 2020 [1 favorite]


Sark's books are handwritten in bright colors.
posted by LaBellaStella at 2:51 PM on May 31, 2020 [6 favorites]


Nomadic Furniture and I think Living on the Earth. It was a popular style in for craft, cooking and lifestyle books in the 1970's.
posted by Botanizer at 3:27 PM on May 31, 2020


The Gnome Book by Wil Huygen (illustrated by Rien Poortvliet). I loved this book as a kid; apparently it’s been re-released.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 4:48 PM on May 31, 2020 [2 favorites]


Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book by Terry Jones
posted by runincircles at 4:51 PM on May 31, 2020


A FORTRAN Coloring Book launched a whole genre of hand-written programming books.
posted by scruss at 5:36 PM on May 31, 2020


My favorite example of this kind of book is this particular edition of Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi. I think the handwritten text adds a great deal to an already great work.
posted by Dr. Wu at 6:25 PM on May 31, 2020


Whitman Illuminated: Song of Myself, hand lettered by Allen Crawford (aka Lord Whimsy of the Affected Provincial's Companion), takes this to a whole nother level.
posted by Text TK at 7:01 PM on May 31, 2020


Tom Robbins published the last chapter of Still Life with Woodpecker in longhand to spite his typewriter.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 7:34 PM on May 31, 2020


The Babysitters Club books all have sections that are handwritten.
posted by Gray Duck at 7:58 PM on May 31, 2020


As a kid I had what might have been an early edition of Elmer and the Dragon that I remember having pages of handwritten text. I feel like it might have been typeset using a font that looked like writing though.
posted by klanawa at 8:35 PM on May 31, 2020


Einstein for Beginners, I believe, though it’s been decades.
posted by mumkin at 10:42 PM on May 31, 2020




I swear the 80s printed versions of "Flowers for Algernon" started out with a few handwritten pages, but I can't find evidence online and the modern versions don't seem to do this.
posted by mmoncur at 4:01 AM on June 1, 2020


Tangent: boy, that Brown School Paperback Series was a set of fantastic books. I had most of them as a kid.
posted by wittgenstein at 8:23 AM on June 1, 2020


The manual for HOL: Human Occupied Landfill, a completely unplayable send-up/satire of role-playing games by Daniel Thorn, Todd Shaughnessy, and Chris Elliott. And it's supplement, Buttery W HOL esomeness.
posted by Boxenmacher at 8:26 AM on June 1, 2020 [1 favorite]


Cometbus Omnibus, or individual issues of the zine are generally heavily printed if not mass printed.
posted by kensington314 at 10:26 PM on June 1, 2020 [1 favorite]


A lot of semi-indy tabletop RPGs are done in that style. HōL comes to mind.
posted by porpoise at 9:47 AM on June 2, 2020




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