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Handbook

Letter r · secretary hand

Twin-stem r

Also called bucket r, w-like r, secretary r

Unit 3very common

Written like a 2 whose end is brought up and looped forward as a link; the two uprights make it look like a w or a v.

Model letter

McKerrow (1927), fig. 22, no. 1 · public domain
McKerrow (1927), fig. 22, no. 2 · public domain
McKerrow (1927), fig. 22, no. 3 · public domain

Write it

Watch the quill write the twin-stem r, trace it stroke by stroke, then copy it.

In practice lines

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

“other”
“distruccon”
“letter”
“world.”
“word”
“great”
“trade”
“Baronett”

Practice lines drawn in period hands

Don’t confuse it with

Create a free Leo accountTaught in unit 3. Create a free account to unlock units 3–5.
Write itWatch, trace and copy

Other forms of r

2-shaped rv-like ritalic repsilon rzed rsquiggle r (raised)
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).