English Paleography

Examples for the study of English handwriting from the 16th through the 18th centuries.

The Beinecke’s early modern British holdings offer a wealth of examples for the study of English handwriting from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Drawing on commonplace books, letters, legal documents, drafts of speeches, poetry, and other genres, the English Paleography collection highlights both representative and idiosyncratic examples of English handwriting over the early modern period. Initially devised as a teaching resource for the study of paleography, the collection also illustrates the temptation inherent in paleographical research, as one is drawn into the fascinations of early modern English documents.

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Early Modern at the Beinecke blog

Paleographical Commons on the Beinecke Flickr Laboratory