Alphabet Charts
Examples of the 4 Main Scripts
Below are sample alphabets of the four major scripts used in early modern English-language documents.
To learn more about these scripts, visit the Handwriting History section under Techniques and Tools.
Secretary Hand
Pay particular attention to the lowercase c, e, h, r, s, u/v, w, and x.
Court Hand
![English Court Hand](https://brightspotcdn.byu.edu/dims4/default/657e843/2147483647/strip/true/crop/965x632+0+0/resize/840x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbrigham-young-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8b%2F23%2F8ca1e91141c8a50fbf4d130b2389%2Fcourt-hand-plate-2.png)
Italic Hand
!["Italique Hande", a page from a copy of A booke containing diuers sortes of hands... by Jehan de Beau-Chesne and John Baildon (1570), from the 1602 edition, with practice letters written on it](https://brightspotcdn.byu.edu/dims4/default/78b063a/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2720x2029+0+0/resize/840x627!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbrigham-young-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F63%2F2e%2F182f8d5849f6954b4239ed89a5b9%2Fenglish-italic-hand.jpg)
English Round Hand
- Court Hand: "Court Hand Plate 2," 1867, in Andrew Wright, Court-hand restored; or, The student's assistant, in reading old deeds, charters, records, etc., (J. C. Hotten, London: 1867), p22; Digital Image, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/: accessed 8 April 2024). This image is in the public domain.
- Secretary Hand: Jehan de Beau-Chesne and John Baildon, Secretary hand, 1570, Print, Digital Image, Wikimedia Commons (https://en.wikipedia.org : accessed 8 April 2023). This image is in the public domain.
- Italic Hand: Jehan de Beau-Chesne and John Baildon, Beauchesne Italique Hande, 1570, Print, Digital Image, Wikimedia Commons (https://en.wikipedia.org : accessed 8 April 2023). This image is in the public domain.
- Round Hand: George Bickham, English round hand script, 1743, in George Bickman, The Universal Penman, ed. Philip Hofer (London: 1743); Digital Image, Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/: accessed 8 April 2024). This image is in the public domain.