Best Of MetaFilter

Snotolf [Cyclopterus lumpus] MPM.HB.03961

Rumple has posted Antwerp's Plantin-Moretus Museum collection of 14,000 woodblock prints, now online as Public Domain / CC 0 high resolution TIFF images with tags and search capabilities. We stan the lumpy grumpy fish.

Monotype print using a selfmade gelli by aab_art via r/printmaking on reddit

Monotypes are "undergoing a revival of sorts thanks to the Gel Plate which has made it very easy for the beginner (like me!) to make their own prints and papers." Art_Pot posted Monoprinting with the Gel Plate with a pile of getting-started links and some examples. Nice!

Photo by whitewall

An interesting discussion on the origins of some printed mystery notations in a 1966 Penguin book: "The bottom of page 33—and only page 33 – in my 1966 Penguin edition of Saul Bellow’s “Seize the Day” has “T—S.T.D.—B” written on the bottom left, opposite the page number. What does it stand for?"

Seb Lester calligraphy

Lovely ink links recently on Mefi:

Penmenship isn't dead: the vibrant art of well-crafted written forms introduces two talented young penmen

Chinese calligraphy and painting manual from 1633 now online, in full offers a view of "the earliest and the most beautiful example of multicolor printing anywhere in the world"

How the ballpoint pen killed cursive looks at the surprisingly complicated influence of the biro

I should be able to read that discusses Copperplate, a beautiful and elaborate script that in its time was considered a basic penmanship style

And in Ask Me: "What are some good resources for a southpaw to improve his handwriting that don't involve the kind of cursive I was (not) taught as a child?" and "What's the best non-bulky fountain pen you've used?"