NEWS RELEASES
Line Dancing - But not as we know it!
10th October 2007
Line dancing has taken over Horsham Museum. But instead of leather chaps it involves a leather apron, instead of a Stetson it uses a trilby, instead of jangling spurs it involves cut steel nibs. For Line Dancing is the title to a stunning exhibition of one man’s forgotten talents. William Albery the famous historian, saddler and champion bugle player of Horsham was also a celebrated calligrapher in the days when fine writing was taught by rote. Now for the first time Horsham Museum is celebrating this aspect of a multi faceted character.
William Albery was taught how to write in an age when fine penmanship was used to promote and advertise wares, when fine penmanship was used to celebrate key events and civic awards and when scrolls were issued on the minimum of pretext. In the 1880s Albery, who had been taught penmanship at Collyer’s school in the days before it became a Grammar school, loved the pen nib, using it to flow the ink freely across the page in dramatic swirls and curls. He also, just as dancers do today, loved the challenge of producing the same step or the same length line in an intricate pattern that achieves eye watering precision. Not only did Albery like using the nib but Horsham townsfolk also admired his skill for he was asked on a number of occasions to produce highly ornate declarations, for example, for the Horsham Horticultural Society. There on 5ft lengths of paper he would decorate and “line dance” in distinctive brown inks producing a work that mirrors the finest etchers, a skill he later picked up.
By 1910 Albery’s interest in calligraphy changed as he took on the new role of town historian, producing two monumental books, Parliamentary History of Horsham and the Millennium. But he didn’t lose his talents for he used his skills to produce original title pages for his books. Examples of his designs, his advertising and his promotional work will be on display in this small but perfectly formed celebration of a largely forgotten and unappreciated Victorian craft and art form.
Line Dancing: the Calligraphy of William Albery runs from the 12th October 2007 to January 2008.
For further information please contact Jeremy Knight, Curator.
For digital examples of William Albery’s work please contact Horsham Museum.
Horsham Museum
9 Causeway, Horsham,
West Sussex RH12 1HE
Tel: (01403) 254959
Fax: (01403) 282594
Email: museum@horsham.gov.uk
Web: http://www.horshammuseum.org/