PREFACE TO THE FIRST ENGLISH EDITION

In August 1993, encouraged by Silvio Lena and Francesco Merletti, I began my translation, using the fourth Italian edition of 1986, fully intending to complete it before the end of 1994. In the event I did far less than I had planned. My ambition would have been realized except for the fact that I found myself lacking in an appreciation of the work of Moretti, and in turn that of Torbidoni and Zanin. This was a concern, particularly with respect to an accurate translation of graphological terminology. I quickly became aware that some concepts are specific to this school of graphology, and indeed some terms derive from Italian dialect. The onus of introducing an entire school to an English-speaking public was such that I needed to be sure of my ground.

In 1990 Paul Ferguson presented a substantial English translation of Moretti’s terminology, published by Scriptor Books. It may be noticed that some terms proposed by Paul have been adopted, others have been changed as a result of my investigations. My thanks go to Paul for the support he has provided.

Assistance was also soon available in the form of a French translation, produced by Roma Lavoie and Jean-Charles Gille-Maisani, whose Preface has been reproduced above. This text was consulted continually, and translated in parallel, to check that the spirit of my translation was in line with the original. I knew that Professor Gille had painstakingly ensured that his work was faithful to the ideas of Torbidoni and Zanin. In fact Gille was aware of my endeavour and sympathetically, but critically, examined my first draft of the glossary, a collaboration that could not continue due to his death in 1995. My concern for accuracy started with the glossary and I owe my thanks to numerous people who inspected the various versions. Significantly these include Father Torbidoni himself.

Through the quarterly periodical Scrittura, the Moretti Graphological Institute has encouraged graphologists from other nations to translate terms and concepts. In the journal I was able to inspect French, Spanish, and German translations of signs; these were useful in ensuring that any concepts, new to English, were consistent with established norms.

With the terminology of this glossary agreed and in place, the task of translating the remaining 400 pages seemed relatively straightforward. However, through a combination of circumstances that ended in a long period of poor health, I decided in 2006 to hand over the task to Michael Coultas, who had translated Nicole Boille’s Il gesto grafico gesto creativo (1998) under the title Graphic Gesture Creative Gesture for Scriptor Books (2004). My thanks go to CHAPTER ONE Michael for his three years of hard labour, without which this book could never have been published, and it is only right that his name appears on the title page. All handwriting specimens are those used in the original Italian text. It could be argued that specimens written in English would have been more appropriate for this English language edition; this may be the case, but for reasons of posterity and a desire to be faithful to the original they have not been changed. The French preface highlighted three delicate problems associated with translating Moretti’s signs which were resolved as follows:

  1. When Moretti’s concept corresponds exactly with French graphology, the term developed by Crépieux-Jamin was imposed.
  2. When Moretti’s concept corresponds approximately with French graphology, the term developed by Crépieux-Jamin was avoided, and a new word was adopted to highlight differences.
  3. When Moretti’s concept differs completely from French graphology, a new term was introduced, generally based on the Italian designation.

On the whole, these guidelines have been followed in the English edition. However, the reader must appreciate that Anglo-Saxon graphology, like the English language itself, is the result of many influences and is brimming with synonyms. I would particularly draw the reader’s attention to the policies adopted for the following signs. Firstly the Italian word filiforme has been translated as light since it does not correspond to the English word filiform which means thread-like handwriting. Indeed the word thready has been used for slanciata when filiform could have been employed. Secondly the Italian word spadiforme has been translated as spadiform, a word not hitherto used in English graphology, although the concept is not new to us. Thirdly several signs are called ricci in Italian. These signs were first translated as flourishes by Serge Hughes in the 1963 translation of Moretti’s The Handwriting of the Saints. This was repeatedly used in other translations, and is somewhat misleading since it is suggestive of large, elaborate movement. The term free stroke (or stroke of ...) has been used instead. Fourthly the Italian word calibro refers to the height of letters in the middle zone. Since there is no single word to describe this in English, the word calibre has been adopted. (Americans may wish to use caliber!).

NIGEL BRADLEY, Harrow, 2010