This tutorial illustrates the
process whereby someone's handwriting deteriorated after they had left
the watchful eye of a writing master. Different scripts (Italic and Secretary
Hand) become mixed up and the writing becomes untidy and idiosyncratic.
The documents are taken from the Dunlop of Garnkirk papers, held by the
Mitchell Library in Glasgow (Mitchell Library reference DC14/2) and are
reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Mitchell Library.
They are all written by William Dunlop, a young man from a merchant family
in Lanarkshire, who was sent to northern Europe to acquire a business
education in the 1680s.
Letter 1
Letter 2
Letter 3
Letter 4
Letter 5
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