I am attempting to locate information regarding non-business, casual correspondence, and every-day writing styles. The sort of writing that would have been used for today's Post-It notes, grocery lists, and short letters to a close acquaintance.
So far popular hand progression is along the lines of: Spencarian(~1850-1925), Palmer method(~1894-1950), Zaner-Bloser(~1904-), Round Hand (England c. 17thC), Secretary (~1500-1600), Copperplate/English round(~1500-1800s), then D'Nealian cursive(~1978-).
I cannot find any record or mention of say, how to print legibly when writing home to your parents. I also have a hard time believing that someone would write a grocery list in Spencarian script.
What I am trying to find is what did the common person use to communicate while the upper society was using those calligraphic hands? In what hand did people write quick notes to themselves when style wasn't such a matter?
I am focusing on dates which are just before, and following, the distribution of the printed page, since literacy would no longer be reserved for royalty, and secular, persons. Any information between the years 1400 - 1900 would be helpful.
Thanks!
(*This had been previously submitted to /r/calligraphy with recommendations to submit here.)
[Edit1: I received a PM which pointed me towards: "The Universal Penman". c1743. George Bickham. Which looks fantastic for the mid 1700s reference!)
Notarial hands, the most common examples we have from the fifteenth century of people "just writing" were what is now called a late Gothic cursive. In terms of the ductus, the way the letters are formed, this script is directly related to the stately and highly stylized book hands of the day, but deviates substantially in appearance due to the speed of writing. This sort of script is also usually abbreviated in the extreme.
The best summary of Gothic scripts is the Derolez book found in our list of books on paleography.
Here is a great (and fairly neat) example, which also will allow you to practice reading the script!