These are a few of my favorite books for studying Italic Hand. Of course, a must-have is “Foundations of Calligraphy” by Sheila Waters; “Contemporary Calligraphy” by Gillian Hazeldine has a wonderful chapter on Italic that shows basic forms and many modern variations; “More than fine writing: Irene Wellington, calligrapher (1904-84),” by Heather Child isn’t an instructional book, but showcases the brilliant work of Irene Wellington who was one of Edward Johnston’s students; “Art and Craft of Hand Lettering” by Annie Cicale has a great section on Italic with detailed instructions; “Masters of the Italic Letter: Twenty-Two Exemplars from the Sixteenth Century” by Kathryn A. Atkins isn’t an instructional book, but it is a must for those who love to study historic letterforms; and last but not least, the Speedball Textbook, which has a beautiful Italic exemplar by Julian Waters.

Most of these books are available at Paper & Ink Arts; a few are out of print, so you’ll have to check your favorite online resources for used books. In any calligraphy script, it’s so important to study from good exemplars so you will start off right rather than trying to correct bad letterforms later.