Lloyd Reynolds

Portland, Oregon

Qui Bien Aime a Tard Oublie

The foules hir roundel, from The Parlement of Foules by Geoffrey Chaucer, the Skeat edition. Written out by Lloyd J. Reynolds, with his chop (unfinished) in the Secretary hand, a current-cursive Black Letter script from the fourteenth century. Dimensions 37 x 23 centimeters. Created 1965. Lent by the Eric V. Hauser Library, Reed College.

---

Lloyd Reynolds was born in 1902, and studied at Oregon State University and the University of Oregon. He tried and left commercial advertising, and in 1929 he joined the Reed College faculty. Reed College hired Reynolds as an Instructor to teach creative writing, English, and then art history and the graphic arts. He retired as a full professor in Art in 1969, but continued to teach workshops and classes. Reynolds learned calligraphy through personal research, and his informal calligraphy classes in the 1940s led to for-credit classes being offered at Reed starting in 1949. Calligraphy stretched to include book design, typography, and printmaking with woodcuts. Reynold’s classes were always informative and effective, but more importantly, he taught a philosophy of life, a history of whatever subject was under study, and the movement and excitement of things: he pushed students to extend themselves and to see beneath the surface. He corresponded and sought support from Arnold Bank and Alfred Fairbank. He inspired and generously shared his knowledge — a man in love with letters and literacy who left a legacy of beauty and passionately dedicated students, teachers, and friends, and is the author of Italic lettering and Handwriting. Awarded a doctorate of humane letters by Reed in 1972 and many other honors and certificates, Reynolds received the unusual honor of being named Calligrapher Laureate of Oregon by Governor Tom McCall in 1972, the first such recognition of a calligrapher by a state. Also a recipient of the Governor’s Award for the Arts in early 1978, Reynolds died in October of 1978.