Learn Paleography and Scripts
Selected web guides:
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Scripts from Brigham Young University has guides and tutorials to handwriting from a variety of historical time periods and places
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Paleography Toolkit from Notre Dame; focuses mostly on Western European historical scripts.
- Archives, museums, and organizations sometimes create aids to interpreting handwriting. Examples:
- Paleography: Reading Old Handwriting (British National Archives)
- Curso de Paleografico Latina de Hispanoamericana
Facsimiles (reproduced manuscripts):
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Facsimiles of manuscripts published as books are useful for practicing, especially if they include transcriptions. Search a library catalog by country and the term facsimile.
Representative manuals published as books:
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Palaeography for Historians
by
Call Number: Uris Library A.D. White Z106.5.G7 M37 2004 +ISBN: 9781860770722Publication Date: 2004A guide to understanding and translating Latin and medieval texts in England. -
English Handwriting, 1400-1650
Call Number: Uris Library Oversize Z115.E5 P74x 1992 ++ISBN: 0866980865Publication Date: 1992A practical handbook to reading documents. -
Manuel de Paleographie Francaise
Call Number: Uris Library A.D. White Z115.F7 B834 2016ISBN: 9782251693026Publication Date: 2016 -
古文書くずし字見わけかたの極意 / Komonjo kuzushiji miwakekata no gokui
Call Number: Kroch Library Asia PL528 .A28 2013Publication Date: 2013A manual on Japanese cursive writing.
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Arabic Manuscripts: A Vademecum for Readers
Publication Date: 2009Arranged alphabetically by subject and/or concept, the present handbook has been conceived, for convenience sake and quick reference, as an aid to researchers. A companion volume to The Arabic Manuscript Tradition(2001) and its Supplement (2008). -
Teach Yourself Palaeography
Call Number: on orderPublication Date: 2022Focused on Great Britain. Taking the form of a series of graded exercises in transcription, it works backwards in time from the modern handwriting of the nineteenth century in easy stages to the 'court hands' of the medieval period. -
Read Cursive Fast
Call Number: Olin Library LB1590 .G52 2020Publication Date: 2020This carefully paced manual includes step-by-step instruction along with fun practice reading passages and historical documents that systematically teach you to read cursive.
