SOURCE: "Scribing-out Inscape," in The Times Literary Supplement, No. 4222, March 2, 1984, p. 214.

In the following essay, a review of two books—one a selection from Gill's writing, another a collection of his engravings—Redgrove faults Gill for his tendency to overanalyze, but praises the simple beauty of his artwork.

In his Autobiography Eric Gill tells us about his sensations as he watched Edward Johnston, his calligraphy teacher, for the first time. When he

saw the writing that came as he wrote, I had that thrill and tremble of the heart which otherwise I can only remember having had when first I touched her body or saw her hair down for the first time .. . or when I first heard the plain-chant of the Church . . . or first saw the North Transept of Chartres from the little alley between the houses .. . I was struck as by lightning, as by a sort of...