Handwriting in the modern age, but not that modern

August 25, 2010 12:24 AM

Is there a website or websites with lots of examples of handwriting? Mostly interested in handwriting before ubiquity of word processors, so up to 1960, say, and starting from the 18th century. Interested in penmanship of people who wrote daily, so journals, letters, as well as business forms, etc. Interested in mostly English (language) examples, but other languages using a Roman alphabet also a bonus.
posted by Busoni to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

Best answer: Letters of note, while not about handwriting specifically but has lots of hand written letter examples.
posted by Wantok at 1:17 AM on August 25, 2010 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I run Letters of Note (thanks Wantok) and would just to add that in the coming weeks, all being well, you will be able to view the letters by type, e.g. handwritten / typewritten.

Also, Busoni, I would recommend taking a look at auction websites; there are many thousands of handwritten documents to peruse, from all era. An example.
posted by Usher at 1:36 AM on August 25, 2010 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Good call, guys.

(Other suggestions still welcome)
posted by Busoni at 2:05 AM on August 25, 2010

Best answer: The British Library has an online gallery of scanned texts, some of which are handwritten. Here's Charles Dickens, William Blake.
posted by freya_lamb at 2:32 AM on August 25, 2010

Best answer: I posted this to the blue a few weeks ago.
posted by Sara C. at 6:05 AM on August 25, 2010

It is often convenient to approach these searches via Google Images:

cursive note

handwritten

handwritten document

old handwritten

handwritten note

handwritten letter

etc.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 6:34 AM on August 25, 2010

No, thank YOU Usher. It's a fantastic site.
posted by Wantok at 11:30 PM on August 25, 2010