Shodo Daiten: Grand Comprehensive Calligraphic Dictionary

An exhaustive compilation of calligraphic styles of Chinese characters published in South Korea. Presents examples of hundreds of characters used in China, Korea and Japan and the many ways that the characters are written. There are examples of characters in ancient forms, more modern typographic forms and cursive (handwritten) styles. An example shown is of 74 ways to write the character "yama" or "mountain." The standard character is shown, with stroke order annotations, plus sometimes dozens of ways the character can be written. Other pages show standard characters next to angular forms used for name seals or artistic functions. Indices are given in Chinese characters and Korean (hangul). There are scans of examples of writing including ancient and modern Chinese characters. A final 100 pages in hangul give a brief exposition about painting classic Asian flowers--bamboo, plum, orchids and grass. The book comes from the library of a Japanese language professor and artist. It is a uniquely invaluable reference for writing and reading Chinese characters used in Japan, Korea and China.