Elizabethan Handwriting, 1500-1650 A guide to the Reading of Documents and Manuscripts

by Giles E. Dawson

Genres: Nonfiction, Renaissance, Reference, History

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1966

Reviews

[Redsteve]

This book was more specific and detailed than I had expected. The author is writing for scholars reading manuscripts from this period written in the Secretary hand. Other than the occasional (brief) digression, he doesn't deal with the Italian (Italic) hand or the earlier 'Court' or 'Book' hands. While he does discuss the evolution and usage of the Secretary hand, his focus is training paleographers to read documents written in this period. With no standards of spelling, frequent use of abbreviations, and irregular linking words (or breaking up a single word), the Secretary hand can be REALLY difficult to read. The second half of the book is plates and transcripts of assorted letters, legal documents, excerpts, poems, and records from the period (all in Secretary hand) with translations and notes. This is not an easy book, although it is interesting if you're fascinated by the evolution of language and writing, but much of it is so highly specialized that it doesn't do much for the non-paleographer. low-ish 3 stars.