Court Hand

Gallery
1

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my . . .

awareness.

I can’t read this stuff!

Scottish legal documents from the 1500’s written in Court Hand.

“What if,” I mused, "I made a font of these characters and used it on documents I knew exactly what they said. Would that help me get acquainted with these odd forms and be able to decipher them at some future date?
CourtHand-01.jpg
With the advent of Font Creator V7 at hand that added hinting, I gave it another shot. Not perfect yet, (no font ever is) but here it is:
CourtHand-1500.otf (37.6 KB)
CourtHand-02.JPG

2

I need a lot more than a hint to be able to read it.

3

Court hand is the demented granduncle of Edwardian script and blackletter. It’s not technically legible by anyone.

4

AMEN brother Vanisaac!

5

My daughter showed me a website where we can download a pdf of a book written in 1867 on how to read this:

http://archive.org/details/courthandrestore00wrigrich
CourtHandRestored.jpg