This is a collection of books and pamphlets (approx. 300 items) on handwriting and calligraphy. It was assembled by Tom Gourdie (1913-2005) who spent most of his working life as an art teacher in Fife. He was an internationally renowned expert on handwriting. Gourdie introduced the italic script to schools in Britain and throughout Europe. He also wrote a number of books on the subject too. The collection includes Gourdie's own books as well as French, Dutch, Danish, American and Australian works on the subject. The collection complements Tom Gourdie's papers in the archive and manuscript collections.

Organisation

The books have been catalogued individually and have the shelfmark 'Gourdie.'.

Acquisition

The books were part of a donation of Gourdie's correspondence and papers to the Library in 2006 and 2007.

Related collections

The manuscripts are held at Acc.9136 and Acc.12817.