Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1884-04-18
Authors Manuscripts.

sey's bonnet.
Authors Manuscripts.
IRREGULARITIES OF PENMANsHIP OF SOME
i CELEBRATED WRITERS.
! Mrs. Louise Chandler Moulton's manu-
script is JOY to the soul of editor and
compositor, written in clear, unshaded,
perfectly legible hand, punctuated, CAPT
talized and Photographed with the utmost
exactness. She sometimes tells with glee
and pardonable pride how, when she was
less known to fame than now, her health
was proposed by George William Curtis
at New Y York press dinner, as the con-
tributor who furnished perfect copy.
By means of fac smile reproductions,
everybody is familiar with the small, ele:-
CANT chirography of Longfellow, and
Whittier's rather scrawly, unshaded
hand. The manuscript of the former was
neat and precise, that of the latter sug.
|
was a certain resemblance between the
writing of Whittier and that of Emerson,
but the latter was smaller ard mo re COM
pact in character.
DR.. Holmes manuscript, trig and tidy
as its author, is in a small, running hand,
which gives one the Impression OF having
been written with great ease and raptdi-
ty.
Mrs. May L.. Booth, editor of Harper 8
Bazaar, writes in uneven, easy characters,
not difficult to read, although her copy is
less legibe than her letters. Mrs. Julia
Ward Howe's literary work goes to the
printer wholly unshaded and with sepa-
rate letters often crushed and twisted out
of shape, yet offering no special difficulty
ty to the com positor. Mrs, Celia Thaxter
writes an odd, back handed chirography.
with margin on the left, but running
sharply to the edge Of the paper on the
right.
Mrs. Lucy Stone Blackwell puts her
editorials for the Woman s Journal on the
backs of circulars or any scrap OF paper
that comes to hand, in stiff, school girl
ish character, awkward and uniformed,
with frequent erasures and numerous par
agraph marks. Col. T. W. Higginson 8
contributions to the same paper are sent
in on thin brown manila paper, in care
less, nervous, compact hand, with mod
crate number of emendations.
Miss Fletcher, author of Kismet and
other novels. produces MS. which has
the clearness and sharpness of an en-
graved page, with an elegant. somewhat
affected style of chirography.
George Parson Lathrop's MS. is in
nervous, jerky characters, with few era
sures and an exactness of punctuation
and printers marks, which probably re-
suits from his editorial experience.
W. D. Howell's handwriting IS rather
clear, very irregular, and decidedly
cramped.
Henry James writes very black, heavy
hand, which has much the appearance of
having been written with quill. 1t is
rather blind, the final Us and g's running
off into funny wig.les and quavers.
Nora Perry is fond of violet Ink, and
writes scrawling, graceful hand, which,
in moments of haste, melts away into in
tricacies of illegibility. 1t is true that it
can BE- deciphered; sbut it much endangers
the eternal welfare of the compositor.
Jean Ingelow's copy is scrawled upon
unruled paper In the most loose and I'M
formed Of handwritings, yet with nothing
angular about the characters, which,
moreover, are easily read.
The manuscript of VIM. Lloyd Garri-
son is rare, because he had horror of au-
tograph collectors, and took particular
pains to have his copy returned to him.
The example before me covers four sheets
of ruled paper, closely written in purple
Ink, in precise, old fashioned hand, ex-
actly correct in punctuation, photography,
capitalization and paragraphing; indeed
save for its being written on both sides of
the leaf, it is what printer would call
an ideal piece Of copy.
Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney scrawls in a
light, scraggly, Italian hand all over her
sheet, not easy to read and not very pretty
to see.
Julia Hawthorne writes hand in which
the letters are all we'll formed, but which
are 80 small that one almost needs mi
croscope to make them out.
Mr.. T. B. Aldrich, who himself writes
a fine looking page. but in chirography
in which the characters are so hastily
made as to have the appearance of being
but half formed, expresses hearty dislike
for manuscript in the type writer, yet
Mark Twain's copy is in this form. His
penmanship is clear and business. like, but
he dictates nowadays to a stenographer
who prints the result upon type writer
as aforesaid. One Of the oldest looking of
manuscripts which one sees now is that of
William Winter. The first glance at his
copy gives the impression that it is writ
ten in Japanese character, so strange and
is written on small sheet and is liked by
the compositor.
Miss Louisa Alcott cultivates swing.
ing, back-hand penmanshlp. the lines far
apart and easily read. Lucy Larcom's
hand is cramped and old fashioned, like
that of a very old lady; and the same is
true to less degree of Elizabeth Stuart
Phelps.-Boston Letter to Philadelphia
Press.
TENNYsoN IN A Cooked HAT.-In the
House of Lords, yesterday, Baron Tenny-