• Handwriting in America: A Cultural History - (Book - Amazon.com) : It's so common to think of individual handwriting as distinctive that it's a surprise to learn that the notion of unique handwriting was unthinkable in America's colonial past. People learned a particular script, such as Court Hand or Round Hand, that reflected their gender, occupation, and status in life. A history of handwriting might seem like an obscure, academic subject, but this entertaining book smashes that assumption.
  This book may also be available from Amazon.co.uk (United Kingdom) and Amazon.ca (Canada). Click on links to check for availability. -

• How to Read Old Documents - (Book - Amazon.com) : When this book was written, over one hundred years ago, interest in the transcription of ancient documents was confined to a small group of professional scholars and a few amateur antiquaries. The rapid growth of interest in local and family history, matched by a comparable increase in the amount of documentation available, created a demand for this comprehensive book. Starting from basic facts and methodology for the beginner, the author takes her reader through the variants and styles of handwriting, and abbreviations and contractions used, period by period.
  Also available from Amazon.co.uk (United Kingdom) and Amazon.ca (Canada) -

• Palaeography for Family and Local Historians - (Book - Amazon.co.uk) : To assist genealogists and others decipher documents of interest for historical or family information, a British genealogist who is an authority in Latin and the study of early handwriting, provides commentary on and tips for transcribing texts from the 1400s to 1700s. Based on some fifty facsimile reproductions of documents of graduated difficulty, culled from many useful sources, it provides transcripts, and translations where appropriate, together with advice on methods of transcribing.
  This book is also available from Amazon.com (United States) and Amazon.ca (Canada). Click on links for details. -

• Reading Early American Handwriting - (Book - Genealogical.com) : This book is designed to teach you how to read and understand the handwriting found in documents commonly used in genealogical research. It explains techniques for reading early American documents, provides samples of alphabets and letter forms, and defines terms and abbreviations commonly used in early American documents such as wills, deeds, and church records. Furthermore, it presents numerous examples of early American records for the reader to work with, for it is the author's contention that by studying and transcribing each of these documents--letter-by-letter, word-by-word--readers will become proficient in reading and understanding early American handwriting. -

• Reading Tudor and Stuart Handwriting - (Book - Amazon.co.uk) : A fully revised and extended second edition of this essential volume which is the most straightforward and accessible introduction to a vital skill. It covers the full range of practical questions and problems encountered in documents of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, plus examples and full transcripts.
  This book is also available from Amazon.com (United States) -

• Understanding Colonial Handwriting - (Book - Amazon.com) : In genealogical research it is all very well to locate original records, but to read them correctly is another matter altogether. Few people know this better than Harriet Stryker-Rodda who, after years of experience searching through colonial records, has developed a simple technique for reading colonial handwriting. In this handy little book, Mrs. Stryker-Rodda presents examples of colonial letter forms and script, showing the letter forms in the process of development and marking the ways in which they differ from later letter forms. She also provides a comparison of English and American handwriting. -

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