Bales, Peter

Peter Bales, also called Peter Balesius, (born 1547, London, Eng.—died 1610) devised one of the earliest forms of shorthand, published in his book Arte of Brachygraphie (1590).

A highly skilled copyist, Bales gained fame for his microscopic writing, producing a Bible about the size of a walnut. He inscribed a number of texts within a circumference about that of a penny, mounted this example of dexterous penmanship on a ring, and presented it to Queen Elizabeth I, who greatly admired it. His skill in imitating handwriting was used for secret state purposes by Elizabeth’s principal secretary, Sir Francis Walsingham, and helped uncover Anthony Babington’s plot to assassinate the queen. He headed a penmanship school in 1590, when he published Writing Schoolemaster, in Three Parts.