1 Hour Basic Tutorial: Step 1

What Secretary Hand looks like

Look at the example below. It is from a testament of 1564.

text from a testament written in 1564

The writing looks odd because many of the letters are in their Secretary Hand forms (e.g. a, b, c, d, e, g, h, k, r, s, and t). Other problems are Latin numerals, archaic letters (the yogh and the thorn), Scots vernacular words, phonetic spelling, abbreviations, and interchangeable letters (at this time the letters u, v and w were variations of the same letter, as were the letters i and j). Do not spend time reading the example. Go on to the second example and then to the rest of the tutorial.

Now look at the second example. It is from a testament of 1722.

text from a testament written in 1722

Some letters are recognisably Secretary Hand, but the writing is not as neat as the previous example. Many letters are cursive (either untidy versions of Secretary Hand, Italic, and other writing styles, or forms of the writer's own invention). Other problems include elaborate letters which interfere with other letters or make several words look like one continuous word. Do not spend time reading the example. Go on to the rest of the tutorial.

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