R. P. Hale is a sixth-generation master calligrapher and illustrator, fifth-generation musician and third-generation wood engraver, printer and gilder who works in over 40 historic and contemporary styles. He took received his degree at University of Arizona, Tucson, and taught courses there in scientific illustration and technical photography for six years. Teaching early music and harpsichord, clavichord and hammer dulcimer at St. Paul's School in Concord, he also has conducted intensive research in the Hispanic and pre-Hispanic music of Mexico and Central America. He has taught wood engraving, printing, marbling, and calligraphy as well as music and traditional dance, at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, and Pinewoods Camp in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Currently he works with museums as a re-enactor and was recently cited by the Smithsonian Institution as one of this country's premier harpsichord/dulcimer makers.