leo academyBeta
Handbook

Letter s · secretary hand

Looped long s

Unit 2very common

Long s with a clear loop at the head, the stroke returning down alongside the stem.

Model letter

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

In practice lines

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

“Admission,”
“discovered)”
“worse”
“desire,”
“translated”
“such”
“wish”
“likewise”

Practice lines drawn in period hands

Don’t confuse it with

Practise this letter Unit 2 · Meet the long s
Coming soon

Other forms of s

long ssplit long ssigma stailed sigma sfigure-8 selongated round s
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).