A script or handwriting script is a formal, generic style of handwriting (as opposed to personal handwriting), within a writing system. A hand may be a synonym or a variation, a subset of script.
There is a variety of historical styles in manuscript documents, Some of them belonging to calligraphy, whereas some were set up for better readability, utility or teaching (teaching script). see History of the Latin script.
Palaeography (UK) or paleography (US) (ultimately from Ancient Greek: παλαιός, palaiós, 'old', and γράφειν, gráphein, 'to write') is the study and academic discipline of historical writing systems. It encompasses the historicity of manuscripts and texts, subsuming deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, as well as the analysis of historic penmanship, handwriting scripts, signification, and printed media.
It is primarily concerned with the forms, processes, and relationships of writing and printing systems as evident in a text, document, or manuscript — analysis of the substantive textual content of documents is a secondary function. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating manuscripts, and the cultural and technical context of writing systems, including the methods by which texts (such as manuscripts, books, codices, tracts, and monographs) were produced, and the history of scriptoria. Palaeography as a discipline is important for understanding, authenticating, and dating historical texts; however, in the absence of additional evidence, it is difficult to use palaeographic means alone to pinpoint exact dates of such texts.
Handwriting is the personal and unique style of writing with a writing instrument, such as a pen or pencil in the hand. Handwriting includes both block and cursive styles and is separate from generic and formal handwriting script/style, calligraphy or typeface. Because each person's handwriting is unique and different, it can be used to verify a document's writer. The deterioration of a person's handwriting is also a symptom or result of several different diseases. The inability to produce clear and coherent handwriting is also known as dysgraphia.
Spencerian script is a handwriting script style based on Copperplate script that was used in the United States from approximately 1850 to 1925, and was considered the American de facto standard writing style for business correspondence prior to the widespread adoption of the typewriter. Spencerian script, a form of cursive handwriting, was also widely integrated into the school system as an instructional method until the "simpler" Palmer Method replaced it. President James A. Garfield called the Spencerian script "the pride of our country and the model of our schools."
A book hand was any of several stylized handwriting scripts used during ancient and medieval times. It was intended for legibility and often used in transcribing official documents (prior to the development of printing and similar technologies).
In palaeography and calligraphy, the term hand is still used to refer to a named style of writing, such as the chancery hand.
Humanist minuscule, or white letter, is a handwriting script or style of script that was invented in secular circles in Italy, at the beginning of the fifteenth century. The new hand was based on Carolingian minuscule, which Renaissance humanists took to be ancient Roman:
The humanistic term litterae antiquae (the "ancient letters") applied to this hand was an inheritance from the fourteenth century, where the phrase had been opposed to litterae modernae ("modern letters"), or blackletter.