Famous First Words
We’ve asked Antiquary Anne to render some of the best-known first lines in literature in calligraphy. Coming up are the usual suspects: Moby Dick, Anna Karenina, The Great Gatsby, The Hobbit. Do you have any requests?
Not a first line, but a passage from the first page of The Age of Innocence, commissioned for Noel.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
May 16th, 2014 at 07:48
Jaws by Peter Benchley. The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty.
May 16th, 2014 at 11:30
“The great fish moved silently through the night water, propelled by short sweeps of its crescent tail.” Jaws can be included.
“Like the brief doomed flare of exploding suns that registers dimly on blind men’s eyes, the beginning of the horror passed almost unnoticed; in the shriek of what followed, in fact, was forgotten and perhaps not connected to the horror at all.” We veto The Exorcist. The prose is scarier than the demon.
May 16th, 2014 at 12:26
However, we should include the classic bad beginning by Bulwer-Lytton:
“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.”
May 17th, 2014 at 20:42
Wonder how “If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born…” will look in maarte script.
May 17th, 2014 at 23:07
Juan: It wouldn’t work. We think it would have to be a childish scrawl, or American Typewriter with some stuck or jumpy keys, or letters cut out of magazines. We might also try writing it backwards.
May 20th, 2014 at 18:16
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.
Letter L looks pretty in calligraphy.
May 20th, 2014 at 19:28
The first line of the ‘200 Cigarettes’ novel version goes something like:
“It’s new year’s eve in New York City and everybody wants to get laid.”
(And this line delivered! The book was a very quick and very fun read. Still haven’t seen the movie though.)