A look at Dickens's handwriting

Because it's National Handwriting Day, I thought I'd share a couple of samples of Dickens's handwriting here! First up: the beginning of Great Expectations, demonstrating that even the greatest of the greats had frequent scratchouts and rewritings.

And here's a picture of Dickens's signature with its famous flourish. At the Dickens Fellowship Conference last summer, we had a whole session on that flourish, its meanings, and how it changed over the years. 

 

(Images courtesy of The Wire and My Strength and My Song, respectively.)

 

Comments

[Marian]

Love how the "E" and the "x" are combined in Great Expectations! His writing is almost like printing...it looks like he wrote pretty quickly.

Looking at authors' handwriting always makes me appreciate keyboards, but it's nice to have that extra insight on their personalities or habits. :)

[Teodoro Rodríguez]

En mi experiencia, escribir a mano alzada (caligrafía palmer) permite penzar las cosas con visión más amplia y ponderada.