Now I Know My (19th Century) ABCs

Reading 19th century handwriting can be challenging, especially if you’re looking at a source like the codebooks, which has few contextual clues to help you out. To help you out, here is a collection of the various letter forms. Is there an example we’ve missed or you’re not sure about? Let us know in the comments!

(Exemplar letters are the initial ones unless otherwise indicated)

A

B

C

D

 

E

 

e

 

F

  

G

   

g

H

I

 

J

K

L

M

N

O

 

P

   

p

 

Q

    

R

   

r

 

S

   

s

 

ss

 

T

 

t

U

  

V

  

v

W

 

w

 

X

x

Y

 

y

Z

2

3

  

4

5

6

7

 

Thanks to the following Zooniverse users for bringing new examples to our attention!

crmiller211 (many times over)

4thebooks

birdie2u

absoluteforth

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