"Handwriting" redirects here. For scripts for writing down notes by hand, see "Cursive". For the indie rock band see Cursive (band. Cursive is any style of handwriting that is designed for writing down notes and

Two styles of printing

Penmanship or handwriting is the art of writing with the hand and a writing instrument. A writing implement or writing instrument is an object used to produce Writing. Styles of handwriting are also called hands or scripts.

History

Ancient Roman handwriting styles included Roman cursive, and the more calligraphic rustic capitals and square capitals, the latter of which forms the basis for modern capital letters and was used in stone inscriptions. Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC Roman cursive (or Latin cursive) is a form of Handwriting (or a script) used in Ancient Rome and to some extent into the Middle Ages Rustic capitals (in Latin capitalis rustica) is an ancient Roman calligraphic script Roman square capitals, also called inscriptional capitals, elegant capitals and quadrata, are an ancient Roman form of writing and With the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Middle Ages, new scripts developed from the old Roman ones, such as uncial and later blackletter. Uncial is a Majuscule script commonly used from the 3rd to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek Scribes From the 8th century to the Blackletter, also known as Gothic script or Gothic minuscule, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 The Carolingian period saw the development of Carolingian minuscule, the basis for modern lower case letters, and the era saw a vast improvement in the quality of penmanship. Charlemagne (ˈʃɑrlɨmeɪn Carolus Magnus or Karolus Magnus meaning Charles the Great) (747 – 28 January 814 was King of the Franks from 768 to his Carolingian or Caroline minuscule is a script developed as a writing standard in Europe so that the Roman alphabet could be easily recognized

Carolingian script was more easily readable and led to the creation of new manuscripts. The period is often described as a Carolingian Renaissance. The Carolingian Renaissance was a period of intellectual and cultural revival occurring in the late eighth and ninth centuries with the peak of the activities The 15th century Renaissance saw a return to the square capitals of the classical period and the minuscule of the Carolingian period, from which modern Roman-based scripts developed. The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in part because printing replaced most formal communications, handwriting became cramped, small, and difficult to read. Printing is a process for reproducing text and image typically with ink on Paper using a printing press The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries saw another revival of clean formalized handwriting. In the early twenty-first century, with the increasing popularity of electronic communication, some note a decline in the quality of penmanship similar to that brought on by the advent of printing. In the present time, handwriting tends to be a mixture of cursive and printing; some consider this as evidence of the decline of handwriting. For the indie rock band see Cursive (band. Cursive is any style of handwriting that is designed for writing down notes and

Letter written in England in 1894, showing a handwriting style of the period. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland

Forgery of a person's handwriting is a frequent occurrence and commonly appears in the legal court system. Signatures etc are analyzed by a questioned document examiner. Questioned document examination (QDE is the forensic discipline pertaining to documents that are (or may be in dispute in a court of law

Books used in North America

Platt Rogers Spencer is known as the "Father of American Penmanship. Platt Rogers Spencer (also Platt R Spencer) was born in East Fishkill New York on November 7, 1800 and died in Geneva Ohio on " His writing system was first published in 1848, in his book Spencer and Rice's System of Business and Ladies' Penmanship. The most popular Spencerian manual was The Spencerian Key to Practical Penmanship, published by his sons in 1866. Year 1866 ( MDCCCLXVI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common This "Spencerian Method" was taught in schools until the late 1890s. Spencerian Script is a script style that flourished in the United States from 1850 to 1895

George A. Gaskell (1845-1886), a student of Spencer, authored two popular books on penmanship, Gaskell's Complete Compendium of Elegant Writing and The Penman's Hand-Book (1883). Year 1845 ( MDCCCXLV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 1886 ( MDCCCLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common

Starting at the beginning of the 20th century, Zaner-Bloser Script and the Palmer Method, introduced by Charles Paxton Zaner (15 February 1864 - 1 December 1918) and Elmer Ward Bloser (6 November 1865 - 1929) of the Zanerian Business College and A. N. Palmer in his Palmer's Guide to Business Writing, published in 1894, became the dominant copybooks in North America. The Palmer Method of Penmanship instruction was developed and promoted by Austin Palmer in the early 1900s Charles Paxton Zaner ( February 15, 1864 - December 1, 1918) was an American Calligrapher, pen artist and teacher of penmanship Events 590 - Khosrau II is crowned as king of Persia 1637 - Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor Year 1864 ( MDCCCLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Events 800 - Charlemagne judges the accusations against Pope Leo III in the Vatican Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 355 - Roman Emperor Constantius II promotes his cousin Julian to the rank of Caesar, entrusting him with Year 1865 ( MDCCCLXV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year A business college is a school that provides education above the high school level but could not be compared to that of a regular University or College. Austin Norman Palmer ( December 22, 1860 &ndash November 16, 1927) innovated the field of Penmanship with the development of the Year 1894 ( MDCCCXCIV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The A. N. Palmer Company finally folded in the early 1980s — Zaner-Bloser continues, and accounts for roughly 40% of handwriting textbook sales in the USA.

New scripts include D'Nealian Script and Getty-Dubay — both published in 1976. D'Nealian is a style of writing and Teaching Cursive and print (block Handwriting for English (and perhaps other languages written with the Getty-Dubay is a modern version of Italic script developed in 1976 by Barbara Getty and Inga Dubay and published by Portland State University to ease the transition D'Nealian (named after its inventor, Donald Neal Thurber) uses a slanted, serifed manuscript form followed by an entirely joined and looped cursive of the typical American variety. Getty-Dubay (named after its inventors, Barbara Getty and Inga Dubay) uses a slightly slanted, optionally serifed Italic manuscript followed by a partially joined, unlooped Italic cursive with letter-forms similar to those of Italic manuscript. D'Nealian accounts for 40% of American handwriting textbook sales; Getty-Dubay, which accounted for less than 1% of American handwriting textbook sales in 1995, by 2003 had come to account for 7% of American handwriting textbook sales, and has reportedly continued this growth.

The remainder of the American handwriting textbook scene comprises more than 200 published textbook curricula, all differing from these and from each other in often confusing ways: particularly as regards cursive. (E. g. , the cursive capital "T" of the Harcourt-Brace handwriting program closely resembles the cursive capital "F" of most other American handwriting programs and in fact looks much more like their "F" than it looks like the "T" of those other cursive programs. )

See also

• Calligraphy — the art of writing itself, generally more concerned with aesthetics for decorative effect than normal handwriting. Calligraphy (from Greek kallos "beauty" + graphẽ "writing" is the art of writing (Mediavilla 1996 17
• Regional handwriting variation
• Palaeography — the study of script. Although people in many parts of the world share common alphabets and numeral systems (variations on the Latin Writing System are used throughout Europe the Americas Australia and much Palaeography, palæography ( British) or paleography ( American) (from the Greek grc παλαιός palaiós,
• Letterer - Comic book lettering
• Diplomatics — forensic palaeography (seeks the provenance of written documents)
• Sütterlin — German cursive writing, used from 1915 to 1941. A letterer is a member of a team of Comic book creators responsible for drawing the Comic book 's text Diplomatics is Forensic Palaeography. Specifically diplomatics is a branch of study that seeks clues as to the Provenance of written documents especially Sütterlinschrift (Sütterlin script or Sütterlin for short is the last widely used form of the old German blackletter handwriting ("Spitzschrift"
• Cursive — any style of handwriting in which all the letters in a word are connected. For the indie rock band see Cursive (band. Cursive is any style of handwriting that is designed for writing down notes and
• Graphology — the study and analysis of handwriting especially in relation to human psychology. Graphology is the study and analysis of Handwriting especially in relation to human Psychology. Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and
• Right-handedness
• Left-handedness
• Ambidexterity

External links

• Lessons in Calligraphy and Penmanship
• An Elegant Hand: The Golden Age of American Penmanship and Calligraphy by William E. Someone who is right-handed will prefer to use this hand for everyday activities such as writing, maintaining personal hygiene, Cooking and so forth Ambidexterity is the state of being equally adept in the use of both right and left Appendages (such as the Hands) Henning, ed. by Paul Melzer
• The Golden Age of American penmanship, including scans of the January 1932 issue of Austin Norman Palmer's American Penman
• Improving handwriting
• Several scripts
• Exercises and examples of French cursive penmanship
• The Handwriting Is on the Wall; Researchers See a Downside as Keyboards Replace Pens in Schools Article in Washington Post. Austin Norman Palmer ( December 22, 1860 &ndash November 16, 1927) innovated the field of Penmanship with the development of the