A Signature Style

September 23, 2008 9:25 PM

I want to be able to write an impressive signature, much in the style of some aristocratic 19th century English speaker. But I can't find any images collections with these kinds of signatures, in order look at them and get ideas or mimic them for my own signature. Surely the Hive-Mind knows if there's a source out there with this kind of info?
posted by archae to Writing & Language (8 answers total)

Response by poster: I of course meant an English writer above.
posted by archae at 9:26 PM on September 23, 2008

Part of what you need for an impressive signature is the writing tools and the know-how to use them. Along with looking up people's signatures and handwriting, I would go get a calligraphy kit (bookstore, art store, craft store - shop around for the lowest price before you buy) and spend some time fiddling. Obviously, your signature will look different when you use a ballpoint on a check or credit card receipt, but you need to develop the flow with a fountain point first.
posted by bettafish at 9:53 PM on September 23, 2008

Scroll down for a few decidedly un-aristocratic John Hancocks worth studying.
posted by roger ackroyd at 9:58 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

Ornamental penmanship
posted by milkrate at 10:07 PM on September 23, 2008

Lamy Safari is good, I loved it but Rotring Core has much better flow (but it looks like transformer toy, Safari looks stylish). Pick up good 25% cotton paper, too. Do you write in large script or smaller script or somewhere in the middle? With small script, you really want a fine nib. If you write for a while with a good fountain pen, stylish writing will come naturally, when you speak about 19th century aristocratic writers you have to keep in mind that they wrote literally shitloads of letters every week. And then signed them with a little flourish!
posted by rainy at 11:53 PM on September 23, 2008

Presumably you could find a picture of the signatures on the Declaration of Independence somewhere online.
posted by Class Goat at 12:10 AM on September 24, 2008

If you want a lot of facsimiles of famous people's signatures, all in one place, I suggest you look at a reference book like the Guinness Book of Autographs (which sounds incredibly cheesy but is actually quite useful). I don't know of any comprehensive online resource, but I do know of several autograph dealers who have scanned their stock and put it online, e.g. Julian Browning and John Wilson. Browse their stock under 'British History' or 'Military History' and you will find plenty of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century signatures to give you ideas. I particularly like Lord Nelson's handwriting, which is pretty impressive when you consider he had to train himself to write with his left hand after his right hand got shot away.
posted by verstegan at 3:12 AM on September 24, 2008

I'd just troll through dafont.com and check their newest scribbly fonts.
posted by chuckdarwin at 3:22 AM on September 24, 2008