Few of my Road To Nara’s oldest family members might remember that I loved Mahatma Gandhi’s popular book ‘My Experiments with Truth‘, and that at a given period of my school life, I kept reading that book for several years at least once a year. And there was this one paragraph that got stuck with me which talked about a person’s handwriting. Mahatma’s handwriting wasn’t good itself or so he thought. And he believed that good handwriting is a necessary part of education, and that bad handwriting is a sign of an imperfect education
I still write on paper. Be it writing for the blog, research papers, grant applications or short/long essays. Everything. I find this process the best starting way for my stories to reach from where I can build on them while typing on my computer.
And it was this thought of knowing how famous author’s handwriting was when there were no screens. At a time when humans worked with higher concentration and deeper focus. And somewhere it understandably came out as a revelation for longhand writings in previous century was beautiful to look at. Not sure I could read anybody’s hand but the lines on paper had something about them. It was art. It was romance.
Sharing some of those pages I could find on internet and well for anyone in future who would like to see them closely.
Also Read: My Teaching Days and Falling in Love with a Border Village
1. Fyodor Dostoevsky’s manuscript draft of The Brothers Karamazov
2. Even in his final hours, the night before he died, C.S. Lewis took time to write a letter to a child
“Dear Philip, to begin with, may I congratulate you on writing such a remarkably good letter; I certainly could not have written it at your age. And to go on with, thank you for telling me that you like my books, a thing an author is always pleased to hear. It is a funny thing that all the children who have written to me see at once who Aslan is, and grown ups never do!”
3. J. R. R. Tolkien’s letter from Aragorn to Sam Gamgee,
in which the King of Gondor informs the hobbit of his future visit and expresses his desire to “greet all his friends.”
This handwritten letter, penned in Sindarin Tengwar, was created as an epilogue to The Lord of the Rings but was not included in the published edition.
4. Having a bad day?
Imagine being the editor who opened the mailbox to find this manuscript revised by James Joyce.
Leonardo da Vinci—the legendary left handed polymath
5. Leonardo da Vinci—the legendary left handed polymath—famously used mirror writing, where words appear reversed. To this day, his decision to use this method remains a topic of debate among experts:
• Many suggest that it prevented smudging, common for left-handed writers
• Some propose it as a form of reinforcement learning
• Others argue it hindered idea theft
Ernest Hemingway’s reading list for a young writer
6. Ernest Hemingway’s reading list for a young writer
Friedrich Nietzsche announces the title of his new book (Thus Spoke Zarathustra)
7. Friedrich Nietzsche announces the title of his new book (Thus Spoke Zarathustra) in a letter to Heinrich Köselitz.
This could be the first example of handwriting attributed to Italy’s ‘national poet’ and the father of modern Italian
8. In 2022, esteemed scholar Virgiliano Rodolfo Signorini urged caution regarding a potentially groundbreaking discovery: a 1295 parchment possibly bearing Dante Alighieri’s signature.
This could be the first example of handwriting attributed to Italy’s ‘national poet’ and the father of modern Italian.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
9. F. Scott Fitzgerald conjugates “to Cocktail,” the Ultimate Jazz-Age Verb, in a 1928 letter to Blanche Knopf.
Charles Dickens’s handwritten manuscript of Oliver Twist
10. Charles Dickens’s handwritten manuscript of Oliver Twist
Oscar Wilde’s edits to The Picture of Dorian Gray
11. Oscar Wilde’s edits to The Picture of Dorian Gray
A 1974 copy of The Gulag Archipelago
12. A 1974 copy of The Gulag Archipelago with a magnificent inscription by Nobel prize–winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Mark Twain writing a letter to Walt Whitman
13. In May 1889, as Walt Whitman was approaching his seventieth birthday, Mark Twain wrote a letter of congratulations to “the father of free verse.”
William Shakespeare’s six surviving signatures
14. William Shakespeare’s six surviving signatures are all from legal documents
War and Peace handwritten by Leo Tolstoy
George Orwell’s 1984 manuscript
16. George Orwell’s 1984 manuscript
“The three slogans of the Party:
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength”
Carl Jung’s 1938 letter about Abraham Lincoln
18. A page of Franz Kafka’s diaries
Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time manuscript
Edgar Allan Poe’s Letter
20. This Edgar Allan Poe’s letter pleading for $40 from a Philadelphia editor was sold 173 years later for $125,000.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s handwritten manuscript of Sherlock Holmes
Herman Melville
22. Herman Melville declines to write encyclopedia entries: “I am unpracticed in a kind of writing that exacts so much heedfulness” (December 11, 1887)
Draft page of Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, 1967
Autograph letter signed by Alexandre Dumas
The handwriting of Miguel de Cervantes in a letter written by him to Archbishop of Toledo, 1616
Narayan Tushar Kaudinya’s Writing and Travel Sketch
And finally, yours truly’s hand written pages and well, even though I think i have forgotten how to sketch but think I should keep doing it.
What do you think of these Author’s handwritings and also, please SHARE about your writing process and what has worked for you? Do you still write on Paper?
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Thanks John
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🙏❤️
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Treasures 🌺
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It is. Thank you.
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the authors’ handwriting samples are fascinating! it is not surprising to me that highly creative people would have very individualistic handwriting.
your sketches are perfect, just what is needed. please do continue the sketching because it is truly good & adds interest to what you write. i like it a lot🙏🏼❤️🙏🏼
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I would like to continue sketching. Yes it’s a fascinating treasure trove, soon to be missed I imagine in another 25 years to come. Digital lifespan is flying.
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the sketching would also include those that are for you alone. not all must be seen by others. sometimes the rare treasure that comes through you is for you alone: an additional way to explore the unknown, & to be surprised by what is discovered. each of us adds a few bits to the human creative mixture because the urge to share overcomes shyness. like the stories that want to be heard. not all images are to be shared widely. some, as i mentioned, are for your own growth & discovery. 🙏🏼🕉️🙏🏼🔱❤️🔱
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Thank you for the kindest words and advice. I completely agree.
Well it’s quite natural, many of ones best works of art and writings are never shared or even talked about.
You know at one point in time Yog and various other branches of our Ancient sciences were kept hidden/Secretive/Gupt until many faded. In these times I feel it works both ways.
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I so very much enjoyed this long and enlightening display of famous authors’ handwriting, Narayan. Your unique look into their hands and ways will stay with this writer for a long time. Much appreciated.
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Thanks much Dear Jet. Lovely to have your words here after a long time. Even I was away.
Also Merry Christmas and a blessed coming new year to you.
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These are quite fascinating. One can deduce a great deal from a person’s handwriting. But my goodness, I wouldn’t want to have to edit some of these scripts! I find it sad that I cannot seem to read a book these days that does not contain a multitude of errors, spelling, grammar and just plain poor editing. So much for modern wizardry, I seldom write longhand now as my fingers are arthritic which turns bad writing illegible. I often can’t understand my own notes! I do like your writing and travel sketch. Best wishes to you Narayan.❤️
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Thanks Caro. Lovely to know so much that’s going on with you with just with this handwriting post. And o yes, it is such pain to go through multitudes of errors, it’s deep meditation that this generation is not gonna go for.
Merry Christmas and a blessed coming new year to you, Caro. Thanks for being around.
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Marvelous. Thank you for sharing these wonderful details. Gives all bloggers a sense of worth.
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Thanks Gerry. Lovely to have your words. Yes it’s great to have these treasures as an archive for whoever might want to have a look in the future.
Merry Christmas and a blessed coming new year to you.
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How interesting to see the handwriting of these brilliant writers. Some are very neat, while others are a disorganized mess. Thanks for sharing these. Maggie
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Yes Maggie, they are a great treasure to have seriously. Thank you and hoping you are enjoying Christmas and New Year time.
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Fascinating—the kind of thing I didn’t know I cared about, but now I do! Thank you!
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Ha ha, yes seems its done and dusted, the time of writing with hand, but actually it is fascinating, for me too, to compile this was in itself time beautifully spent. It lol go in the archive! Thanks Ann
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Nice to connect with you, Narayan. Cheers, Annie
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Fascinating share! Thank you. Like fingerprints, handwriting is unique to each writer, and you’ve highlighted some brilliant ones.
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Thank you, dear Michelle. Yes, this one shall go in history for any lover of fonts and handwritings.
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Absolutely, yes! ✍🏼 You’re very welcome, Narayan.
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Wow! It is a magnificent collection of some of the most excellent writers in human history. Thank you for sharing this treasure with us; I shall save it! Have a delightful and leisurely season.🤗🤙💖✌
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Thank you much for this delightful comment. Yes my aim was to compile these treasures for whoever wants to go back in history when may be in future writing with hand might completely go obsolete.
Thank you again.
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This is such a lovely compilation, Narayan! Loved seeing these samples, and your sketch is very nice too. I love writing with a good fountain pen, but unfortunately – despite many good resolutions – I do most of my writing nowadays on my mobile.
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I loved writing with a fountain pen too, Harini, It has its charm and its presence, but somehow the way I live, fountain pens could not stay with me for long so I moved to really good looking and smooth ball pens that allowed me to sketch more freely.
Thank you for writing, hope you are healthy and enjoying this year transition, Harini.
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I would not like to be James Joyce’s editor!
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Seems Majority of modern day editor’s will go on leave looking at his draft.
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My fascination with handwriting borders on the obsessive, which makes this post one of my most favourites here. This is one to save. Thank you!
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It was mine too, once upon a time. Obsessive about writing meticulously beautiful looking but then slowly writing fasts and notes on field made it how it is.
Thanks for the being here and now around. Welcome.
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Mine gets a little rough for my taste too if I’m out of practice, which, given our lives in the modern world, is quite threatening!
Thank you!
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A virtual treasure chest of glimpses into the soul lives of many interesting personalities you have collected here! I especially delight in the ones who cannot stop themselves from adding illustrations, Proust and Dostoevsky for example. I studied homeopathy once for a few years and found that my old notebooks were filled with colored imaginations about various plants and emotional traits. I discovered early, in school years, the making class notes was a very boring and counterproductive activity, drawing my attention into too factual a realm. But soon as I began freely doodling and drawing simple reactions to ideas, I was freed, and let myself add to the lectures and absorbed things much more richly.
I will remember your Gandhi book with the intrihuing title, when I have time some day to explore it. 🙂
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Hi Rob, let me write/reply to you on the comment where it shows your name.
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PS I do not know why the previous comment lists me as ‘Anonymous’. WP has changed and it was once quite easy to maintain one’s identity across sessions and browsing. But I am Rob Stolzy from Skirmishes With Reality.
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Hi Rob, it was delightful for myself to see some illustrations of the pages of some of these writers. We could see and sense something more within their personality. And i truly understand it as I myself love to sketch.
Thank you for your beautiful comment. And please find Gandhi’s book, it will be a good short addition for you and children to read for future.
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Excellent
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Thanks michael and welcome
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Handwriting is such an interesting artform and analyzing it is even more interesting. My father used to enjoy analyzing people’s handwriting. I have learned to do it also on a small scale.
I cannot imagine an editor or publisher getting some of the chicken scratch you have shown us above! It is amazing that any of the books in the past came through with any great accuracy!
I enjoyed your post.
Dwight
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Seriously, it’s otherworldly now as we speak and write on our keyboards.
Thank you Dwight.
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It really is. We live in the Digital Revolution Age!
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What a wonderful and interesting share!
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It is Vanya, thank you much.
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The first letter looks too confusing. I could only say they last signature of Shakespeare can be made out as his name. I guess forgets could get away with things on his signature.
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You are right Sharon. Thank you.
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Thank you very much for showing your collection. Very much appreciated!
I wrote all the books I had written on the computer. But I write two diaries by hand, one ‘normal’ diary and one diary about the books I read. Actually, I love writing by hand, especially with my favourite fountain pen.
Wishing you a wonderful New Year
Klausbernd 🙂
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Thanks much, dear Klausbernd.
And it’s luxury to think of, having a fountain pen and two beautiful, productive diaries to write on to. Thanks.
And wishes for the coming New Year.
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I just see it as one of my daily joys.
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Thank you for pointing me here — Mark Twain’s message is beautiful~ Here’s something beautiful I’ve had for a long time but I can’t read it. It’s a printing plate with Goethe’s handwriting and signature.
I very seldom write by hand on paper. I type around 100 wpm so I can think and write at the same time. AND I’m a little dyslexic so writing by hand can feel like walking in a minefield of error in which b, 6 and g can take each others places without my knowing it.
As for your sketching? Absolutely! Keep doing it. I believe that drawing opens and confirms important spiritual pathways in our minds that keeps us awake in the world. I love your drawing.
https://marthakennedy.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/goethes-handwriting.jpg
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Interesting post. Tolstoy’s War and Peace looks to be the most challenging.
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Yes, on their own time and space. A true treasure. Thank you.
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It’s always a pleasure to read your thoughts, dear Narayan. And now your script and travel sketch. A lovely share!
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Dear Crystal, thank you.
And wishes for the coming New Year.
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These are very valuable! Well shared
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Absolutely Priti, found them priceless treasure trove for the future generation to think about. Thanks for writing.
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Yes 👍
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Wings of history. Fascinating!
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Thanks Anna, yes Wings of History is a lovely title.
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Fascinating. Sometimes I cannot read my own handwriting. So I most often print. Or type.
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Haha, that’s true Carl. Also, i guess today as every second counts, i feel typing is well alright if not way better than longhand writing.
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Believe me when I say it’s a good thing they don’t teach cursive to school children much. If you tried to read the cursive of my high school students you would conclude there were 58 letters in the alphabet not 26.
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Keyboards and a choice of fonts set me free from a lifetime of illegible writing, detentions, and the pointless task of writing lines, as a punishment.
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I got so caught up in reading these! Absolutely engrossing, Narayan.
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Hey Mitch, yes its fascinating to see and spend time analysing there words and design.
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So many of these handwritings seem to me to have similarity with the others, and with your own.
In my own creative life, I wrote everything longhand first, until the quieter keyboards of laptops came along and I realized that I could channel the Muse just as effectively that way.
Since being relegated to the gypsy life I’ve written five thousand pages of poetry and prose, and made tens of thousands of posts across half a dozen websites ~ all using one thumb on a 5 1/2″ screen’s touch keyboard.
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Ana, my dear friend and Sis, hope you have entered in 2025 with a smile and excitement.
You pointed it out right, there are similarities yes, somehow I still try to write longhand but it seems better to type and then retype as drafts. Also i have this feeling which is creeping up that people are not going to read rather hear audio and watch videos, so its better to type I guess in these times to save little time everytime.
You have lived a marathon life as a writer!
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🙋🌹
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What a brilliant article about handwritings by acclaimed personalities. I appreciate your efforts in sharing it with us. Please allow me to save few of them for my references. Wish you a happy new year. Be safe
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Thanks for writing Vishnupriya, these writings and images are for everyone to see and use, feel free.
Wishing you a changemaker of a year for you too.
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Thank you for this very fascinating post. I found it difficult to decipher many of them 🙂 J R R Tolkien’s writing looked beautiful. I write on paper my daily activities and later type on Word Document to post in Slice of Life. I cannot think of not writing on paper 🙂 We wish you and your family good health and happiness in this year.
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Thank you for writing Lakshmi Ji. I am with you when I hear I cannot think of not writing on paper. I too have to write on paper.
Happy new year to you and wishes for the family for good health.
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These quotes do inspire me to actually read more non fiction books on their lives. Thanks for sharing.
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I nearly always write by hand first, though scribble might be a better descriptionI have lots of note books and always have one with me, whether I’m in my garden or sitting in a coffee shop. I think it’s good to have time away from screens and I love the feel of opening to a fresh paper page. The only problem is trying to read my own writing when I come to type it.
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All are fascinating. Thank you. I was struck by Hemingway’s penmanship. He reportedly had a mood disorder. His text trails unusually/consistently downward, and his signature oppositely upward. Bi-polar penmanship?
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Amazing diagnosis dear Cindy, I will say I could not decipher how you did and I found it absolutely on point. It could be bi-polar penmanship as he himself admitted after his years serving in the war. Lovely to have your views here.
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I salute you for building such a fascinating collection of handwriting samples. The search must have been exhausting. The thing I gladly take away from this is that perhaps my own handwriting–which I’ve always considered to be wretched–may not be so bad after all. [smile] Thank you for this post!
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Pleasure dear writer, I hope if you are reading this comment, kindly let me know as I cannot decipher the name as WP shows is as ‘Someone’.
And your words made me smile too. Its of course lovely to have an archive of legendary handwritings in your backyard to come back to for some reason or the other.
Thanks again.
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Thanks for sharing this interesting post with us. I have read most of the authors here and it was great to see what their handwriting looked like!! ✨☁️
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Thank you so much, dear Jahnavi. Yes looking at these pages transported me too. I’ll tell you how little part it is to mere share it. Researching and then going through understanding some of them was such a beautiful evening.
Thanks again for your kind comment, Jahnavi.
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I had no idea that it would be so fascinating – I was drawn to try to decipher the words in all of them! What wonderful gems of writing of drafts of such famous pieces!
Yes, I write on paper all the time for myself – I write my prayers, my thoughts, my journaling, my planning – I write to think
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Thanks Dawn, yes it’s archiving at its best it seems. I too write on paper first before and if it ever goes to the keyboard. Thank you.
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What treasures! I greatly enjoy reading these letters from writers I am so familiar with. I’ve been writing letters my entire life, not as much now but I have several close friends across the States whom letters have faithfully been shared. Handwritten letters are timeless, thoughtful and far better than an email.
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Fascinating and entertaining!– thanks for sharing!! 👍
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Thank you for coming over Mark and your comments 🙏
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Pingback: Pen and Power: Iconic Letters That Made History Before The Digital Age - History Collection
Thanks for sharing.
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Enthralling. Researching the WWI experiences of young people who had participated in pre war internationalist diplomacy,* I read Alexander Haig’s wartime correspondence. The legendary ‘icicle’ always wrote so neatly, until April 6th, 1918, and the brutal Spring Offensive. Wild, horrified, barely legible.
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Thank You, Esther for such a lovely comment and adding more value to this post. Thank you again.
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