Funny that you say the second half of the 19th century is easier to read--it just looks like parallel lines to me, no matter how neatly it's written. The handwriting of the early 19th century and earlier is easier for me to read because it looks more like handwriting styles of today. But--you do have to start with what you know and move to what you don't, so there's sort of no way to avoid it. :)
The dictionary is such a great idea, Blanka. I am going to start one. There a periods of weeks to months, sometimes, that I go without doing any archival reading and I get rusty.
Rose, with regard to the "parallel lines": I too find very slanted handwriting to be difficult to read. I sometimes copy the image of the writing into Microsoft Paint or Photoshop and skew it back 30, 40 or even 50 degrees, and it becomes easier to read.
Funny that you say the second half of the 19th century is easier to read--it just looks like parallel lines to me, no matter how neatly it's written. The handwriting of the early 19th century and earlier is easier for me to read because it looks more like handwriting styles of today. But--you do have to start with what you know and move to what you don't, so there's sort of no way to avoid it. :)
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree with all your advice, though!
The dictionary is such a great idea, Blanka. I am going to start one. There a periods of weeks to months, sometimes, that I go without doing any archival reading and I get rusty.
ReplyDeleteRose, with regard to the "parallel lines": I too find very slanted handwriting to be difficult to read. I sometimes copy the image of the writing into Microsoft Paint or Photoshop and skew it back 30, 40 or even 50 degrees, and it becomes easier to read.
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea. Will have to give that a try.
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