leo academyBeta
Handbook

Letter a · secretary hand

A with a tall back

Also called d-like a

Unit 4Mostly earlier handscommon

A closed bowl whose back stroke is drawn up well above x-height, then turned over or cut off.

Model letter

McKerrow (1927), fig. 22, no. 2 · public domain
McKerrow (1927), fig. 22, no. 4 · public domain

In practice lines

Every a below was checked by hand. They are not yet sorted by form, so some show another a.

“what”
“Hampton”
“may”
“any”
“cannot”
“articles”
“a”
“daughter”

Practice lines drawn in period hands

Don’t confuse it with

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Other forms of a

a with a looped backa with a long approach stroke2-shaped aroofed aopen aalpha arounded a
Model letters: R. B. McKerrow, An Introduction to Bibliography (1927); Jean de Beauchesne & John Baildon, A Booke Containing Divers Sortes of Hands (1570 and 1581); Giovambattista Palatino, Libro nel qual s’insegna a scrivere (1550); and manuscripts in the Folger Shakespeare Library; all public domain. They stand in until Leo’s own model letters are drawn. Secretary letters typeset in Joscelyn by Peter S. Baker (SIL Open Font License).