leo academyBeta
Handbook

Letter b · secretary hand

Looped b

Also called spurred b

Unit 7common

A looped ascender whose bowl is closed by bringing the stroke back to the stem; no forward link. Often a small foot to the left.

Model letter

McKerrow (1927), fig. 22, no. 1 · public domain

In practice lines

Examples of this form are on their way

Don’t confuse it with

Create a free Leo accountTaught in unit 7. Standard members get the whole course.
Coming soon

Other forms of b

b crossed by its approachopen-bowl b
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).