Handwriting Of The Famous

[Warnerbaw]

Hello!

I am not entirely sure if this is the proper location to place this topic, but I will forge ahead. I haven't seen a topic like this before, so I thought it would be fun for people to post pictures of famous people's handwriting.

 

For starters, there is the scrawl of Sigmund Freud. I can barely make out individual letters, haha

 

 

Ronald Reagan. Again, not the best, but a vast improvement over our esteemed psychoanalyst.

 

http://images.psacard.com/s3/cu-psa/autographfacts/ronald-reagan-handwritten-letter-2197.jpg?h=1000

 

John Steinbeck. His complete lack of slant is impressive.

 

 

J.R.R. Tolkien. His handwriting is my favorite out of the bunch, but if he used this script it must have taken him quite a while to compose letters and of course, his masterpieces.

 

 

Whose handwriting do you like?

Edited March 27, 2017 by Warnerbaw

[carlos.q]

Freud used a very pretty blue ink.

[linearM]

This is sort of related to your topic. There is another post looking at books with either real letters or letters as a topic. Several of the books based on the Smithsonian's collection relate to letters written by artists. I have two of the books mentioned and it is fun seeing the handwriting of Georgia O'Keeffe, Alfred Stieglitz, and others. The post can be found here:https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/318561-books-that-include-snail-mail/.

Edited March 27, 2017 by linearM

[Warnerbaw]

Freud used a very pretty blue ink.

 

It is indeed! I've spent a decent amount of time trying to find the ink closest to the one in his letter haha! Tsuki-Yo seems the most akin, but I am not entirely sure.

[Warnerbaw]

This is sort of related to your topic. There is another post looking at books with either real letters or letters as a topic. Several of the books based on the Smithsonian's collection relate to letters written by artists. I have two of the books mentioned and it is fun seeing the handwriting of Georgia O'Keeffe, Alfred Stieglitz, and others. The post can be found here:https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/318561-books-that-include-snail-mail/.

 

Thank you!

[heathydraws]

I enjoy looking at Freud's the most even though I can't read a word of it. Hahah

[LizEF]

It is indeed! I've spent a decent amount of time trying to find the ink closest to the one in his letter haha! Tsuki-Yo seems the most akin, but I am not entirely sure.

 

It looks a lot like De Atramentis Steel Blue (on my monitor). And is it me, or was he using a stub nib - sure looks like it to me.

[katerchen]

Do you happen to have a better resolution of Freud's?

 

It's actually not that terrible to read *if* you know German ... your brain will fill in a lot, using the surrounding context.

[dayrow]

The British Library has a number of scanned manuscripts, drafts, and letters available in their Romantics and Victorians Collection. You'll find Jane Austen, the Brontës, Dickens, Byron, the Wordsworths, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, George Eliot, Florence Nightingale, Lewis Carroll (in a meticulously printed hand!), Oscar Wilde, Christina Rossetti, Blake, Trollope, Keats (and his brother), Robbie Burns, Tennyson, and others. Many manuscripts (given only in part) are of famous works, like "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways," Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby, Middlemarch and Mill on the Floss, "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "Ode on a Grecian Urn", and on and on.

 

It's interesting to take the jump from there to their 20th Century Collection, which among many typewritten manuscripts has handwriting from E.M. Forster, W.H. Auden, J.G. Ballard, Virginia Woolf, Ted Hughes, and plenty more.

 

You'll find some real scrawls in both collections, but the scratch does seem to pick up in the 1900s. This is probably in part because most manuscripts would then have been typed; it was about this time that an author's hand became more private.

 

Then there is the doctor's hand that belonged to Agatha Christie, even in communication! (Very much a typist.)

 

Here's one that I like: Tove Jansson, who is said to have devoted a great deal of her life to personally answering children's letters. And while we're thinking of women who wrote mostly in Swedish, and mostly for children: If you ever read Pippi Longstocking as a child, you might be interested to know that Astrid Lindgren drafted it and all her other books in shorthand. (A Swede may be able to supply the name of the shorthand system, but it was related to Gabelsberger. In the "Collection Notes" on that linked page, it is mentioned that Lindgren's shorthand is "rather unreadable.")

Edited March 28, 2017 by dayrow

[Warnerbaw]

I enjoy looking at Freud's the most even though I can't read a word of it. Hahah

 

It is difficult haha, I feel bad for his grandson who had to read Freud's letter!

Edited March 28, 2017 by Warnerbaw

[Warnerbaw]

 

It looks a lot like De Atramentis Steel Blue (on my monitor). And is it me, or was he using a stub nib - sure looks like it to me.

 

Steel Blue does look similar, well done! And I believe he either wrote the letter with a flex nib or with a dip pen, not entirely sure. But it certainly did give some character to his writing

[Warnerbaw]

Do you happen to have a better resolution of Freud's?

 

It's actually not that terrible to read *if* you know German ... your brain will fill in a lot, using the surrounding context.

 

I don't have a higher resolution, sorry

[Warnerbaw]

The British Library has a number of scanned manuscripts, drafts, and letters available in their Romantics and Victorians Collection. You'll find Jane Austen, the Brontës, Dickens, Byron, the Wordsworths, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, George Eliot, Florence Nightingale, Lewis Carroll (in a meticulously printed hand!), Oscar Wilde, Christina Rossetti, Blake, Trollope, Keats (and his brother), Robbie Burns, Tennyson, and others. Many manuscripts (given only in part) are of famous works, like "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways," Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby, Middlemarch and Mill on the Floss, "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "Ode on a Grecian Urn", and on and on.

 

It's interesting to take the jump from there to their 20th Century Collection, which among many typewritten manuscripts has handwriting from E.M. Forster, W.H. Auden, J.G. Ballard, Virginia Woolf, Ted Hughes, and plenty more.

 

You'll find some real scrawls in both collections, but the scratch does seem to pick up in the 1900s. This is probably in part because most manuscripts would then have been typed; it was about this time that an author's hand became more private.

 

Then there is the doctor's hand that belonged to Agatha Christie, even in communication! (Very much a typist.)

 

Here's one that I like: Tove Jansson, who is said to have devoted a great deal of her life to personally answering children's letters. And while we're thinking of women who wrote mostly in Swedish, and mostly for children: If you ever read Pippi Longstocking as a child, you might be interested to know that Astrid Lindgren drafted it and all her other books in shorthand. (A Swede may be able to supply the name of the shorthand system, but it was related to Gabelsberger. In the "Collection Notes" on that linked page, it is mentioned that Lindgren's shorthand is "rather unreadable.")

 

Thank you for this! I do like Tove's handwriting as well! It looks somewhat like Lovecraft's to me. I also like Ted Hugh's even though it is arguably worse than Freuds

[Randal6393]

One of my more enjoyable books is Sheila Lowe's Handwriting of the Famous and Infamous. Fairly controversial writing, as the author analyses the letters for clues to the personality of the writer. It is great to see the handwriting of such people as Jane Austen, Albert Einstein, Ted Bundy, George Custer, and so on.

 

Oh, and welcome to FPN, Warnerbaw. Hope you enjoy your time here.

 

Enjoy,

[Warnerbaw]

One of my more enjoyable books is Sheila Lowe's Handwriting of the Famous and Infamous. Fairly controversial writing, as the author analyses the letters for clues to the personality of the writer. It is great to see the handwriting of such people as Jane Austen, Albert Einstein, Ted Bundy, George Custer, and so on.

 

Oh, and welcome to FPN, Warnerbaw. Hope you enjoy your time here.

 

Enjoy,

 

Thank you for both the book recommendation (I will have to buy it!) and the welcome! By the way, Happy Birthday!

Edited March 30, 2017 by Warnerbaw

[Bookman]

I like these.

 

 

F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alexander Graham Bell

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arthur Conan Doyle

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oliver Hardy

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Keats

 

 

 

 

 

I find Ernest Hemingway's slanted scrawl mesmerizing.

 

Edited March 30, 2017 by Bookman

[Warnerbaw]

I like these.

 

 

F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alexander Graham Bell

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arthur Conan Doyle

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oliver Hardy

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Keats

 

 

 

 

 

I find Ernest Hemingway's slanted scrawl mesmerizing.

 

 

Those are very nice! Thank you!