Handwriting and Character

While poking through a stack of books this weekend after brunch, I found this little beauty. From 1923, it matches up every possible human emotion with its appropriate handwriting sample and analyzes the penmanship of historic figures: Napoleon, Elizabeth l, William Penn, the like... 

My choice chapters: 

1. Samples of Sensuousness 

2. Samples of the Magnanimous 

3. Special study of the Capital "M"

4. Determination in Horizontal Strokes

5. This Writer is a Sexual Voluptuary

It's written in a lyrical way, the kind of writing that was acceptable before we tore up the English language with commas and contractions and the overuse of appropriate pronouns. It is one of the most romantic things I've ever read, probably because it's one of the most oddly fascinating. But perhaps the most peculiar is the Copyright: All rights reserved, including that of the translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian. Because clearly, those Scandinavians sure are lax in the area of literary propriety...

The unfortunate fact: We have no use for this book in modern society. Our every correspondence is no longer entirely dependent on penmanship and we have almost no need for it. I can go days without writing more than a few sentences at a time by hand, and when I do, it's almost always for pleasure rather than necessity. When did free-hand writing become a simply a hobby? It's heartbreaking. 

A resolution: This week, I will buy a nice pen and scrawl on paper. Trees be damned! 

Enthralling.