Secretary: Letter Forms

Shortcuts to Letter Forms, Ligatures.


Letter Forms: Variant and New Letters

The most striking new form is the 'back to front' e.
This can be disconcerting when it is used after an n or m minim: the tendency is to count the upswing before the e as an extra minim. This word reads dome.
This scribe uses two forms of g, the Secretary form with the horns and the Gothic bookhand form, apparently randomly.
There are now three forms of s, two short and one long. The new version has a lower closed loop and a top open one. It looks like an open padlock.
And three forms of r. The down- and upstrokes of the second one are separated, making it look almost like a v. Version 3 has a longer descender, which will become pronounced in other versions of Secretary. The 2-shaped r following curved and bowed letters has however disappeared from this hand.

This scribe prefers the vernacular English letter þ, though on occasion he alternates it with th
He only uses y once on this page, in the word matrimoyne, 'matrimony'.

Do not mix up:

s
b
v
r
b
w
ll

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© MEG TWYCROSS 1999