Nancy Ruth Leavitt’s interest in the hand lettered book developed as a result of her studies in lettering and bookbinding in the United States and Great Britain. Since 1985 she has created over eighty contemporary illuminated manuscript books filled with lettering, poetry, and colorful painting. As Calligraphy Correspondent for the national chapter of the Guild of Book Workers, she writes about lettering and book arts.
Her work is represented in public and private collections including the Houghton Library at Harvard, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Poetry Collection at the University of Western Michigan, Kalamazoo, and the Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. Nancy received the 2002 Stephen Harvard Award for book design from the Baxter Society. She has received several Good Idea Grants from the Maine Arts Commission for research into her craft including a project entitled “Cutting a Thousand Quills." She holds degrees in both biology and art. In her spare time she gardens and sings.
“A book is a song, governed by the same design elements and principles as music. Making a book is like singing with the hands.”