{{Short description|Legible handwriting style}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
A '''book hand''' was any of several stylized handwriting scripts used during ancient and medieval times.<ref name="Dillon-2002">{{Cite book |last=Dillon |first=Emma |title=Medieval Music-Making and the Roman de Fauvel |date=2002-10-07 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-81371-6 |pages=25 |language=en}}</ref> It was intended for legibility and often used in transcribing official documents (prior to the development of printing and similar technologies).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Black |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=61wNf7ZJhkcC |title=Benedetto Accolti and the Florentine Renaissance |date=2002-08-08 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-52227-4 |pages=130–133 |language=en}}</ref>
In contrast to book hand's library or liturgical use cases, court hand developed as its cursive counterpart for business and departmental record keeping throughout the 12th to 17th centuries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barrett |first=John |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Discovering_Old_Handwriting/S51lvgAACAAJ?hl=en |title=Discovering Old Handwriting |date=2008-03-04 |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=978-0-7478-0268-6 |language=en}}</ref>
In palaeography and calligraphy, the term ''hand'' is still used to refer to a named style of writing, such as the chancery hand.<ref name="Dillon-2002" />
==See also== {{portal|Writing}} * Block letters * Court hand * History of writing * Secretary hand
== References == {{Reflist}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Book Hand}} Category:Tudor England Category:Blackletter Category:Medieval scripts Category:Writing Category:Palaeography {{writingsystem-stub}}