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The Greeks were the first to invent
some form of alphabet, which the Romans later modified. It is
from the Roman form that the English alphabet, the one used
today, was developed. The Russian and Chinese alphabets come from
other sources and use a different format. Just as in present times,
majority of people can write, similarly, there was a time when
majority could not write. There was probably not much need years
back and the few people who could write, the scribes, were
only employed by the rich and powerful men. The scribes had to write
as their masters dictated and the need to write rapidly so as to not
miss out anything, helped to make the angular, separate letters
of the Roman alphabet more curved, like the letters we use. The
material used for the messages and letters were made of parchment,
written with quill pens and these too were developed by the Roman
scribes.
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The next group of people to begin
writing was the Christian monks, who felt the need of
making books of the Gospels. All the text was
hand-written and illustrations painted. The font they used was
called the Gothic or black letter script. With the
passing of time, handwriting too went through changes - the
letters became more fluid and compressed and new styles were
invented. For instance, the Italian scribes at the Papal
Chancery in Rome invented what was known as the italic -
an oval, graceful, sloping method of writing. Today, we tend to
use this style for emphasizing a particular word or point.
Another highly impressive style is
called Copperplate - this was quite popular in the 19th
century and was started when handwriting manuals were engraved
on copper plates. The engraver, in an attempt to display his/her
skill, |
Gothic or black letter script |
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would write with swirling, complex
curves and this enhanced the beauty of the writing
considerably. There are a number of fonts used today and each
one portrays a different mood or gives extra meaning to the
text.
It is definitely a wise decision to
improve one's handwriting skills because along with good text,
the way the material is presented speaks a lot about the
author's credibility. |
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