Nancy Leavitt

About the Artist

An internationally recognized lettering and book artist, Nancy Ruth Leavitt has created over 120 contemporary illuminated manuscript books and over 25 editions and collaborative books filled with lettering, poetry, and colorful painting. Her work encompasses the multi-disciplinary studies of art, literature, and history. She received degrees in both biology and art and studied lettering and bookbinding in the United States and Great Britain.

As Calligraphy Correspondent for the national chapter of the Guild of Book Workers she wrote over 25 articles and reviews about the book arts. Nancy has received several Good Idea Grants from the Maine Arts Commission for research into her craft including the production of writing quills in a project entitled 'Cutting a Thousand Quills' and for 'A Legacy of Lettering, a calligraphic history of the Guild of Book Workers', presented in New York City at the 100th anniversary of the Guild of Book Workers in 2006. She received First Prize in the Writing Beyond Words Conference in Guildford, CT for her work 'The Book of Rocks'. In 2002 she received the Stephen Harvard Award for book design from the Baxter Society. Nancy is a 2016 recipient of the Maryann Hartman Award, given annually to Maine Women for their "work achievement, spirit, and zest for life".

Nancy's work may be found in many prestigious public and private collections including:
Arizona State University, Special Collections, Tempe, AZ
Auckland City Libraries, Auckland, NZ
Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Bainbridge, WA
Beinecke Library American Literature Collection, New Haven, CT
Boston Athenaeum, Boston, MA
Bowdoin College Special Collections, Brunswick, ME
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Dartmouth College Rare Book Collection, Hanover, NH
Hatcher Graduate Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Jack Ginsberg Collection of Artist’s Books in South Africa
Jocelyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE
John M. Olin Library, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Kohler Art Library, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Maine Women Writers Collection, University of New England, Portland, ME
Nancy Bloch Collection at Smith College, Northampton, MA
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC
University of Western Michigan, Kalamazoo, MI
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
Tate Gallery Library, London
UCLA History and Special Collections for the Sciences, Los Angeles, CA
University of Arizona Special Collections, Tucson Phoenix Public Library, Phoenix, AZ
University of Maine Special Collections Orono, ME
University of Washington, Special Collections, Seattle, WA
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Wellesley College Special Collections, Wellesley, MA