File under 'Well, that's interesting', or 'Who knew?'

[ParramattaPaul]

Out of curiosity I started reading The Lost Art of  Handwriting.  It offers little sidebar comments of interesting factoids.  This one surprised me: Melvil Dewey, the inventor of the Dewey Decimal System also created a script for librarians to use, the Dewey Library Hand.

 

Library Hand, the Fastidiously Neat Penmanship Style Made for Card Catalogs - Atlas Obscura

[inkstainedruth]

That's very cool!  Thanks for posting the link.

The hand itself reminds me a bit of Carolingian minuscule, a hand designed for legibility in the educaional reforms instituted by Charlemagne.  According to one hit on Google, it was designed to make (St?) Jerome's Vulgate edition of the Bible readable thoughout various places in Europe by those educated enough to be able to read Latin.

Education was important to the Emperor, who learned to read and write as an adult (so was poor at it) but he recognized literacy's importance.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[ParramattaPaul]

3 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

he recognized literacy's importance.

 

'To be able to read is to be able to learn.  To be able to learn is to be able to know.  To know is to have power.'  So said P.R. Stemple, an associate of mine.