At the end of the 19th century, the aesthetics and philosophy of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement appealed to many calligraphers, including Englishmen Edward Johnston and Eric Gill. Johnston was introduced to 10th-century manuscripts and based his own calligraphy on them. Johnston and his students redefined, revived and popularised English broad-pen calligraphy

At about the same time as Johnston, Austrian Rudolf Larisch was teaching lettering at the Vienna School of Art. He published six  books on lettering that greatly influenced German-speaking calligraphers. Because German-speaking countries had not abandoned the Gothic hand in printing, Gothic also had a powerful effect on their styles. Rudolf Koch was a friend and younger contemporary of Larisch. Koch's books, type designs, and teaching made him one of the most influential calligraphers of the 20th century in northern Europe and later in the U.S. Larisch and Koch taught and inspired many European calligraphers, notably Friedrich Neugebauer, Karlgeorg Hoefer, and Hermann Zapf.