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Handwriting

Researcher
Reading Objects in Special Collections - Introduction
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Brotherton Collection Safe TRA Westminster 1480 final leaves
Reading objects in Special Collections - the importance of structure and materials
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Letter illustrated with various pen and ink sketches.
Reading Objects in Special Collections - handwriting
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Books on shelf
Reading Objects in Special Collections - Context
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Strong Room for. 4to 1488 AVI armorial bookplate of J Henryson Caird
Importance of provenance
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Leeds Student 24th November 1980
Reading Objects in Special Collections - Content
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Special Collections holds many thousands of handwritten objects. These are found thoughout collections and can be written in different languages and in varied styles of script. The language or style of script may depend on the period in which the object was written, but can also reveal the function  of the object.

Although most material in Special Collections is in English,  manuscripts from early and medieval periods are in Latin, while documents dating  from high and later medieval periods might be written in Old and Middle English,  or in other Old European vernaculars. 

Researchers can tell a lot about the status of writers from their style of  handwriting. Different styles can convey whether someone was well-born and educated; or if they worked for a living. Handwriting may also tell us about the circumstances of a document's production. Handwriting that looks rushed might imply a document produced under pressured  circumstances, or suggest that the text was only meant to be read by the writer.