Manuscript, The House of David, his inheritance: a book of sample scripts, written by Edward Johnston, London, 1914.

Manuscript, 36 numbered pages, written in black and red ink on parchment.
Collation: Parchment, ff. i (parchment; unnumbered) + 18 (parchment; paginated) + i (parchment; unnumbered).
Decoration: Title-page in red and black, written within a border of alphabets and words; red and black ink is used decoratively throughout.
Colophon on p. 31, following a list of contents: 'E. J[ohnston], the Writer: I record with regret erasures occurring on pp. 17.23.27.31./ these pp. should have been rewritten but I promised/ to finish the book by Lady day. (Note: the roughness/ of the vellum in other places is due to the manner of preparing it). The caps on pp. 11.12. are not quite happy/ but as to a word here and there the Writer nearly is./ Finished 24 Mar. 1914 A.D. in nomine E.J.'.
Binding: Orange-red calf with 2 rectangles outlined in thin gold rule on both covers, one forming a centre panel, the other close to the edges of the book; a double rule on the inside covers. Signed C. & C. McLeish.
Bound into the volume are set calligraphic pieces by Johnston: "Will make you broaches", from Romance by Robert Louis Stevenson (p. 33), and "The wilderness, and the solitary place" (p. 35), both written for Cockerell on a visit to Ditchling, 3 Feb. 1921. Also bound in are 2 letters from Johnston to Cockerell, 23 Jan. 1903-17 Feb. 1938, additional examples of Johnston's script, and photographs, at the beginning and end of the volume.

Written by Edward Johnston for Sydney Cockerell, finished writing on 24 March 1914 (colophon and Cockerell inscription on f. i 'Sydney Cockerell/ Cambridge/ Lady Day 1914). Presented by Sydney Cockerell to the Museum in 1959 (bookplate recording this on f. i).

Edward Johnston abandoned a medical career and with the encouragement of Lethaby, Cockerell and Bridges, devoted himself to calligraphy; from 1899 to 1912 he taught at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, and from 1901 also at the Royal College of Art. He designed block letters based on classical Roman Capital proportions for London Electric Railways (commissioned by Frank Pick) in 1916. Johnston was president of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, 1933-1936. He was awarded an OBE in 1939.

MSL/1959/4391