THE PEN

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The BLACKLETTER or GOTHIC style of lettering was derived from Carolingian miniscule and was designed by German printers. Used in early printing it is not as readable as the Italic hand and was eventually superseded in England and France by the Copperplate style. A cursive version of Gothic, known as 'Running Secretary Hand' was widely used by educated people as handwriting - Shakespeare being among those who used it.

The Blackletter style is characterised by densely packed, angular letterforms, which are difficult to read in large pieces of text.