What Style Used During Elizabethan (I) Days?

[BookCat]

Lately, I've been searching for a nice Complete Works of Shakespeare to replace one I don't like. Along the way, I came across pictures of the First Folio and Elizabethan writing.

 

Does anyone know what type of script was used by those who were literate (but not scribes)? Was it italic? The f form of s is fascinating, but it is easy to see how a stretched drop s could look like an f.

 

If anyone can throw any light on the calligraphy of the period or link information, I'd be very interested.

[domnortheast]

Me too!

[Beechwood]

Example attached

[BookCat]

What is it? To me it looks like a cross between gothic and italic, but I'm no expert.

[domnortheast]

Example attached

Hi Beechwood,

Do you have a link to a high resolution version?

 

Edit: It looks like Secretary Hand to me.

http://rycote.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/Palaeography-Guide-alphabet#lcf

 

But likewise, I am no expert either.

Edited February 8, 2015 by Stanley Howler

[Yaakova]

Secretary or Chancery Hand perchance.

[domnortheast]

I think the lettering for Chancery Hand is a bit different:

 

 

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography/pdf/doc_10.pdf

 

Good luck reading the entire works of Shakespeare in Secretary or Chancery Hands Bookcat

 

 

[Randal6393]

Elizabeth I : Her Life in Letters by Felix Pryor, University of California Press, Berkeley & Los Angeles, 2003. Full of examples of the predominate hands used in Queen Elizabeth I's time. Elizabeth wrote in an Italic hand, with some additions from Secretary. The documents reproduced in the book show the diversity of gothic Secretary aka Batarde writings.

 

The Italic hand, at this time, was thought of as a ladie's hand in England. The formal man's hand was Batarde, or Secretary, and ranged from calligraphic to scribble, as is the case with most handwriting.

 

Enjoy,

[BookCat]

That's interesting, Randal, especially as Yaakova sees Secretary Hand in the example above.

 

I have an historian friend who told me that there's a theory that Elizabeth I was in fact male. Apparently, there is some evidence (which she didn't elaborate upon) that Elizabeth died as a child while staying 'in the country'. To avoid problems, she was replaced with a village boy who looked very much like her. Maybe this explains why she never married or had children and always wore heavy make up (to cover stubble). If Secretary Hand was written mostly by men, this would explain why it appears in her writing (with some attempt at italic, perhaps?).

 

 

Good luck reading the entire works of Shakespeare in Secretary or Chancery Hands Bookcat

 

 

I've found an old book an fleabay printed in Collins Clear Press. There are pictures of the inside and the font looks really clear, and MODERN No way could I read Secretary! I just 'wondered into' strange side alleys when looking for recommendations and watching youtube vids.

[dms525]

I agree with Randal's assessment. Elizabeth's own hand was Italic, and she had had formal instruction in it by a writing master. Shakespeare's hand was Secretary. Gothic Bâtarde coexisted, and the script shown looks closest to that, to my eye. Keep in mind that writers in that time had as much individuality in their penmanship as we do now ... maybe more.

 

David