A BRIEF HISTORY OF HANDWRITING
3200 B.C.: With stylus and clay tablets, ancient Mesopotamians create abstract symbols to represent syllables of their spoken language.
600s: Quill pens and parchment paper take hold in Europe. Drippy ink discourages pen lifting, hence cursive.
1440s: Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press forces scribes to pivot to teaching penmanship.
c. 1712: A popular copybook by George Bickham teaches farmers and merchants to write in a “round” hand. Gentlemen of the era employ an italic
