Round Hand Script

round hand script, in calligraphy, the dominant style among 18th-century English writing masters, whose copybooks were splendidly printed from models engraved on metal. The alphabet was fundamentally uncomplicated; letters sloped 35 to 40 degrees to the right, and thick lines were produced on the downstrokes of capitals and minuscules through pressure applied on a flexible, edged (i.e., not pointed) nib. Hairlines were made by using the corner of the nib and were nearly invisible in manuscripts. Associated with round hand was the luxuriant flourishing referred to as “command of hand.”

Copperplate is sometimes erroneously applied to this and any other florid writing style; rather, copperplate is a 19th-century term that was applied to writing made with a flexible, pointed metal pen. In appearance copperplate script differs from round hand in the gradual swelling of the broad strokes on curved forms and the narrowness of the backstrokes of b, e, and o.