From Goose Quills to Steel Nibs

Why Round Hand Is Not Cursive

You might have heard of cursive handwriting and thought that the founding fathers used it to write the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. Well, I can certainly tell you that what they were writing in was not cursive, because the style was a little different compared to what we know as cursive today. Yes, the letters are still connected, but what makes it different is the fact that it took much longer to write it all out. Keep in mind that these men were writing with goose feathers, which meant writing while dipping the feather in ink. Then you had to deal with the fact that sometimes there were ink blobs while writing. 

Anyway, you might be wondering why the Declaration of Independence is not cursive, since if you look at it, the letters are connected like cursive, but what makes it different is how each letter was written. To better understand this, it might help to know that this form of writing is called Engrosser's script, which is a form of English Round Hand. Now, to write this script, each letter was formed using a series of different strokes, meaning you would lift the pen per stroke. Also, there were thin and thick strokes added.

The Running Hand

Now, you might be asking yourself, why would anyone sit down having perfect Round Hand script, if it took so long to write it? Well, anyone who learned to write in the 1700 would have learned this method, but then would write in what is called a running hand. But still not like how we learned cursive. There were still a good number of pen lifts, but this was much faster than sitting down and doing every individual stroke. This rigorous form was really only used for important documents, not everyday handwriting. 

A lot of people seem to think that everyone back in the old days had good handwriting. Well, that's not true, if you go back and look at archives from that time, you will see that not everyone had legible handwriting. It was also not easy to write with a goose quill, since the hand-cut nibs would wear out pretty fast. Anyway, a lot of people might be confused with the Round Hand because there are so many different styles of it. For example, the Italian Hand, which was used by authors like Jane Austen, since the strokes didn't make much of a variation between think and thin strokes.

The Steal Nib

By the time the 1800s hit, people began to experiment with the steel nib since it became a pain to constantly be cutting quills by hand. As much as writing with a quill worked, it made more sense to have a writing tool that could last much longer. Also, something you could write using fewer dips of the pen. Another thing to think about was that once the steel nib was invented, you no longer had to worry about it falling apart the same way, since goose feathers were very delicate and just weren't strong. The only thing was, you still had to dip the pen, but at the end of the day it was still a good replacement. Although most peoples where still writing with quills because steel nibs were very expensive, and as great as they were, most couldn't afford them.

It wasn't until 1822 that a man by the name of John Mitchell began manufacturing with machines by punching steel nibs in sheets that it became affordable for many. Before that, all steel nibs would have been crafted by hand, but when the use of punching steel nibs into large sheets of steel came along, you could make hundreds of thousands of nibs at once. It was wonderful, because now anyone could write with a pen that could last them so much longer. No more cutting goose quills. 

The only problem with these early steel nibs is that they lacked flexibility. As much as they were convenient, a lot of classical writers still preferred quills, because they weren't stiff. It wasn't until 1831 that Joseph Gillott came up with a new design for the steel nib. He was the one who invented the metal nib as we know it today, simply putting a split in the middle to allow more flexibility. By 1842, his factory alone was selling many of these pens. So the next time you decide to write with a dip pen, you can now think about how these two men changed and revolutionized pens.