Allison Meier writes at Hyperallergic on a speech, recently digitized by the British Library, that proves to be the only example of Shakespeare’s handwriting other than a few signatures. The excerpt comes from Sir Thomas More, a play written in collaboration, wherein the title character asks for sympathy for migrants, driven from their homes and countries.
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The reference to “the only example of Shakespeare’s handwriting†is based on the assumption that the so-called “Hand D†sections of the manuscript play Sir Thomas More have been proven to be in Shakespeare’s own hand. There are two problems with that assumption: 1) there is no reliable control sample of Shakespeare’s handwriting with which to make a valid comparison; and 2) there are features in the Hand D pages that are consistent with scribal transcription. Therefore, there can be no certainty that the Hand D pages are either authorial or in Shakespeare’s hand. Claims that Hand D is a dramatic composition in Shakespeare’s handwriting are instead unsupported assertions. My research paper on this subject (“Hand D and Shakespeare’s Unorthodox Literary Paper Trailâ€) was published earlier this month by the University of Florence’s Journal of Early Modern Studies (JEMS 5) and is accessible online.
Diana Price
Author: Shakespeare’s Unorthodox Biography
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