The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1908-11-20

feats of Penmanship
1 Kings Biography on Grain
OF Wheat


The feat Of writing the Lords
Prayer upon a space which six
9ence would cover Is SO familiar as 10
ease TO be wonderful. but one can
aOt resist a tribute OF genuine aston
.shment 10 a man who can write the
whole Of our national anthem along
he thin edge OF an ordinary visiting
,ard. and who has actually penned BIZ
0graphies OF King Edward and several
members OF his family upon a tiny
grain OF wheat Such a microscopic
'calligraphist" Is NJ J. Sofer. French
gentleman. who. we should say. could
safely challenge the world 10 rivalry
n his own field OF penmanship.
Perhaps more wonderful still are
he portraits OF celebrities which NJ.
Sofer produces out OF their biOg-
raphies. His presentment Of the Car.
Tor instance. is not only a clever like
ness. but every stroke in II is a part
II the continuous life OF the Russian
Emperor. in letters so minute that 10
he unaidcd eye they seem part OF an
ordinary pen line. while the artist is
Al present engaged on a similar pic
ure Of King Edward which will be
made up OF his biography. containing
~ 600 letters.
There has probably never been a
time when this art Of minute penman-
ship has not exercised its Vaccinations.
In CicerO's time. about 1000 years ago.
the whole OF HOmer's ~Iliad" was cop
led so microscOpically that II was
placed in a nut shell. and few CEN
urys later an artist wrote a short
poem and enclosed II in a hollow grain
u corn. while still another penman in
these lOng-cone DAYS actually wrote
verse Of Homer on grain Of millet.
Pedotti. a fourteenth century ltal-
an. performed the most astounding
feats with his pen He wrote a poem
u loo lines on a space no larger than
his little finger nail. made an elabO-
rate landscape sketch. including a
shepherd and a drove Of sheep. which
grain Of corn completely covered:
and penned a long treatise on poetry
in such minute letters that the manu-
script had the appearance OF a close
series Of perfectly straight lines;
while h. dedicated 10 Urban VI. his
tory Of the Papacy. which took the
form Of an excellent likeness Of the
Pope In whose honor 10 was written.
Urban was incredulous when he was
assured by the artist that the portrait
was composed Of more than 1900
words in the form Of a consecutive
history. and exclaimed. as well as he
might. Why. this is nothing less than
a miracle"
But Italy has no monopoly Of these
minute calligraphists. Many centurys
age. Peter Bales. an English Chancery
clerk. We learn from the Harlaian
manuscripts Transcribed the whole Of
the Bible in such small compass that
he was able 10 inclose il in a walnut
The mt holdeth the book we are
told: there are as many leaves in
his little book as the great Bible and
he had written as much in one Of his
little leaves as a great leaf Of the BIZ
bic And. not 20 be Ourdone by Peter
Bales. another Englishman. Of the |
seventeenth century. one Henry Ma
son. copied the whole of Paradise |
Lost" and enclosed his manuscript ia
a hens egg
As We have seen. NJ Softer IS By no
means the first pen artist who has
made portrait the medium OF a long
narrative. At the British Museum
there IS 20 be seen an excellent like |
ness a Queen Anne. little larger than |
half a sheet ~ note paper. every deli |
cate line Of which is made up Of words |
and sentences. the entire narrative 1
being sufficient TO fiji a small volume: |
and az St Johns College. oxford. |
there is a head ~ the martyred King |
Charles l.. which. although 10 all ap- |
pearance a delicate engraving. is sim |
larly composed. With the help Of a
microscope you can read in the lines |
81 the face and the run the whole OF |
the Psalms. the Lords Prayer and the |
Greed.