There's so much info and resources on calligraphy. Typography has been been largely influenced by it in countless ways. You gotta start somewhere:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calligraphy

My final year dissertation "The Nine Qualities" from university discusses nine essential characteristics of calligraphy on three different levels of understanding; role of calligraphy in different cultures, etc.

If you are interested, I can mail you the document as a PDF.

Greetings,
s.

I would like the PDF, Samann! You can find my e-mail via my Typophile profile (click on my name to the left of this message).

I've put the dissertation online at:

http://www.saman.rahmanian.at/ninequalities_72dpi_medium.pdf

Feedback much appreciated!

The Nine Qualities project culminated in an installation with nine interactive applications (exhibited in London in 2004).

If there is someone who would like the CD-Rom with all nine applications, please contact me directly, to have that arranged.

Greetings,
s.

oh, by the way - if you open the PDF in Acrobat Reader, make sure you view it in two-page layout mode..

Greetings,
s.

Dissertation by Keith Tam, "Calligraphic tendencies in the development
of sanserif types in the twentieth century" :
www.typeculture.com/academic_resource/articles_essays/pdfs/tc_article_16.pdf

Gray, Nicolete. 1982, Lettering As Drawing; Taplinger Publishing, New York.

Mediavilla, Claude. 1993, Calligraphie; Imprimerie Nationale, Paris.

Neuenschwander, Brody. http://www.bnart.be.

Prestianni John (edited by). 2001, Calligraphic type Design in The Digital
Age: An exhibition in honor of the contributions of Hermann & Gurund Zapf;
Gingko Press, Corte Madera.

Toots, Villu. 2002, Writing In The History Of Estonian Culture: from the
earliest monuments to the 1940s; Eesti Ents�klopeediakirjastus, Tallinn.

Best,
AS

hey
jason: thanks but i've already searched wikipedia... i need more of its significance, emotional/spiritual/inspirational aspect of calligraphy...
samann and alessandro: thanks guys... havent had time to look into the site yet but really appreciate your help...

Law Yi Hua, are you boy or girl ?
What does you name mean ?
You are welcome, it is nice to help with that 'few',
since I spent already 5 years studying/working on/with type &
calligraphy. And, helping you, I am helping myself, too.
You could write on your research essay till you get in old age.
http://www.typophile.com/forums/messages/30/62649.jpg

I am a boy of 28 pt.
Best regards from funny sunny Rome,
AS

hey !
u're from rome? it's in italy isnt it? sigh i've always wanted to go there... one of the best places to study art and design...
haha i'm 101% a girl... it's a chinese name... suppose you have to get used to the culture to differentiate girls and guys..."law" is my family name, "yi" means cheerful and "hua" means magnificent... *grin* at least that's what the book says... anyway, i'm 20, a Malaysian and currently studying graphic design...
unfortunately i cant write till i get old... haha it's due end of this year...uni assignment...

Huau, nice name your parents dropped on you.
I hope it is not that heavy !
Yes, I am in Roma, I dress with white linen
and bay leaves on my head.
Good luck for your studies,
are you gonna be a Lawyer ?

cYIao,
AS

:-)

http://www.wordsforpeace.org/

http://www.thomasingmire.com

http://www.scriptsf.com/

AS

lawyer? haha been hearing that joke since i was young... no, a graphic designer or one day an art director would be ideal...
so what do u do for a living?

Chanced on this while browsing Amazon, might be useful

Handwritten: Expressive Lettering in the Digital Age
by Steven Heller and Mirko Ilic

The price might be steep for a student: USD 29.70. After shipping charges to Malaysia, price around USD 41.70