为使学习英文书法的朋友们能够在学习字体本身的同时，更好的了解各种字体背后的历史、文化、人物，雨泣英文书法学校（RPS）一直将文化课视为字体学习中非常重要的部分，除了在课堂上开设直播课程扩充知识之外，还设立了自己的字幕组，将原版著作呈现给所有中国的英文书法爱好者们。第一期则是对老马生平的译文。
The following biography is used with permission from Michael Sull ‘s Spencerian Script and Ornamental Penmanship, Volume I.
Louis Madarasz(1860-1910)
下列传记来自麦克•苏尔所著《斯宾塞体和装饰书法第一卷》，已获授权。
The man who, above all others, is universally regarded as the most highly skilled ornamental penman that ever lived, Louis Madarasz, was born in San Antonia, Texas on January 20, 1859. He obtained a copy of Gaskell’s Compendium of Penmanship when he was in his teens. Studying the text by himself, he achieved a degree of skill in ornamental writing that was remarkable for one so young. Such self-discipline and persistence were instrumental in Madarasz’s desire to master the art of penmanship.
路易斯.马达拉斯(Louis Madarasz)，1859年1月20日出生于得克萨斯州圣安东尼奥，是公认的有史以来装饰书法技艺最高超的书法家。他（马达拉斯）在少年时代得到了一本加斯凯尔所著的书法纲领。仅靠自学，年纪轻轻便已在装饰书法上技艺卓群，实为令人惊叹。自律和毅力是帮助马德拉斯掌握书法艺术的关键。
In the late 1870’s he enrolled as a student at the Rochester Business University in Rochester, New York. While attending this institution, his facility with the pen earned him a reputation throughout the state. During the years that followed, Madarasz took on penmanship positions at a number of institutions. His wanderings eventually led him to Manchester, New Hampshire the location of Gaskell’s Penmanship School. Besides being an accomplished master penman, Gaskell was also a businessman who recognized advertising opportunities. Madarasz, whose fame as a penman was fairly widespread by this time, also recognized the opportunity to further his own skills by being associated with Gaskell. It was a good association for both men, and soon the famous signature of Madarasz appeared on the advertisements for Gaskell’s Compendium. Madarasz stayed with Gaskell for several years, learning much about advertising and the business of mail order.
在十九世纪七十年代后期，他成为了位于纽约州罗切斯特市的罗切斯特商业大学里的一名学生。在此就读期间，他的书写技术使他在州内名声大噪，紧接着后来的几年里他也在许多机构中担任英文书写的相关职务。终于，他来到了新罕布什尔州的曼彻斯特市——加斯凯尔英文书法学校的所在地。加斯盖尔（Gaskell）不仅是一位优秀的书法家，也是一位善于营销自己的成功商人。虽然马达拉斯（Madarasz）的书法已广受好评，但他同样意识到，和加斯盖尔的合作能有助于进一步加强自己的营销技能。于二者而言，这次合作大有裨益，不久以后，在宣传《加斯盖尔书法概略》的广告便见到了马达拉斯的标志性签名。他们合作的几年中，马达拉斯对广告和邮购业务的内容也收获颇多。
As time went by, Madarasz again moved from one institution and town to another. He seemed to have a restless spirit in this regard, and seldom stayed anywhere longer than a few years. He worked in Sterling, Illinois; Jersey City, New Jersey; and Poughkeepsie, New York. Regarding his social interests, he enjoyed chess and other board games, and was quite skilled at playing them. He also enjoyed the theater, not only as a spectator, but also as an actor. He once studied under a professional thespian and even had a part in a stage performance. This interest was, however, only temporary in the penmnan’s life and he soon went back to his love and profession of penmanship with greater zeal than ever before.
随着时间的流逝，马达拉工作的机构和地点屡次更换，他似乎有一种不安分的精神，很少在一个地方停留超过几年。他曾经在伊利诺斯州的斯特林、新泽西州的泽西市、纽约州的波基普西工作过。至于他的社交兴趣，他喜欢玩国际象棋等棋类游戏，且棋艺堪称精湛。不仅如此，他还很享受待在剧院里的时光——不仅爱看，也很爱演。他曾经受专业戏剧演员指导，甚至登台饰演过一个角色。但对于这位英文书法家来说，表演这一兴趣在他的一生中只是暂时的，很快，他便带着更为高涨的热情回到自己的英文书法工作中去了。
Over the years, Madarasz never tired of traveling, working and teaching. He had incredible energy to devote to penmanship, and the quality of his work never faltered. His speed of execution was reputed to be faster than any penman, before or since. His style was unique, a dramatic, rather heavily shaded variety of ornamental writing. It has been said that Madarasz’s penmanship style was copied by more penmen than that of any other. In 1908-1909, Madarasz involved himself in a most ambitious project to earn money. He purchased large, new scrapbooks of two hundred pages each. He then filled each page of the books with his own penmanship. To do this he copied his own business letters, correspondence, writing lessons and display writing and pasted them, one by one, upon each page. He advertised them as the Madarasz Scrapbooks, and sold them for $45; $25 to be paid as a deposit, and then $5 per month on the balance. In all he sold perhaps a dozen such books. Only one of these is known to be in existence today, and much of it has been reproduced in Volume Two of this text.
多年来，马达拉斯旅行、工作、教书，乐此不疲。他在书法上倾注了无穷的精力，作品质量始终如一。他的创作速度称得上前无古人后无来者，在书法家中首屈一指。他的字体风格独特、夸张，十分强调粗重的阴影。据说模仿他书法风格的书法家比模仿其他人的都要多。1908到1909年，马达拉斯投身于一项雄心勃勃的赚钱项目。他购买了许多两百页左右的崭新大开本剪贴簿，在每一页都贴上了自己的作品。为此，他抄写了自己之前的商务信件、通信、书法课程和展览用的书法作品，一一粘贴在每一页上，并以“马达拉斯剪贴簿”的名义进行宣传，每本售卖45美元，其中25美元为定金，剩余的部分以每个月5美元补齐。他一共售出了十几本这样的书，但已知留存的仅有一本，其中大部分的内容再版于本书的第二卷中。
The last years of Madarasz’s life were spent in a business association in Goldfield, Nevada. It was there that health problems began to plague the penman. After a severe bout with pneumonia, Madarasz became diabetic and never regained his formally healthy physique. Quoting from The Secret Of The Skill Of Madarasz, a book published by the Zaner-Bloser Company in 1911 as a tribute to the great penman: “He passed away quietly on December 23, 1910, having on the day he was stricken written a Christmas greeting in that beatiful clean cut style of penmanship which has been copied by so many thousand aspirants during the past thirty years. At his request his body was cremated. His ashes rest in the beautiful Columbarium at French Pond, Long Island. His epitaph reads:
“In memory of a brave and gentlemen whose love of Truth and justice made him an Inspiration to all who knew him. He put his house in order, his work was done.”
马达拉斯在去世前的几年里一直就职于内华达州福德堡的一家商会，也是在那里，他开始饱受健康问题的困扰。在经历了一场严重的肺炎后，马达拉斯患上了糖尿病，身体状况大不如前。为致敬这位伟大的书法家，Zaner-Bloser公司于1911年出版了《马达拉斯技法的秘密》（The Secret Of The Skill Of Madarasz）一书，书中这样写道：“1910年12月23日，他安详地去世了。去世当天，他还在用他那在过去30年里被数千仰慕者所模仿的优雅字体传递着圣诞祝福。依照马德拉斯的意愿，他的遗体进行了火化，骨灰安放在长岛鲜潭路一个漂亮的骨灰堂里。他的墓志铭写到：
“纪念一位勇敢的绅士，他对真理和正义的热爱鼓舞了身边所有的人。他已了却世间繁芜事，从此长眠于斯。
One of the earliest known specimens from Madarasz
The Ornamental Penmanship of Louis Madarasz
The Offhand Flourishing of Louis Madarasz
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翻译：aldehyde 驳古 雒谨 拾壹
甜甜啵啵奶盖盖
未央liu Yulia 猫咪不睡觉 Zumi
校对：柚子 莉莉白
编辑：Yuki
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