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  • Mother Jones

    A BRIEF HISTORY OF HANDWRITING

    by Madison Pauly Aug 21, 2016 3 minutes

    3200 B.C.: With stylus and clay tablets, ancient Mesopotamians create abstract symbols to represent syllables of their spoken language.

    600s: Quill pens and parchment paper take hold in Europe. Drippy ink discourages pen lifting, hence cursive.

    1440s: Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press forces scribes to pivot to teaching penmanship.

    c. 1712: A popular copybook by George Bickham teaches farmers and merchants to write in a “round” hand. Gentlemen of the era employ an italic

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