Martin Billingsley (1591–1622) was an English writing-master, a successor in giving advice on handwriting to

Peter Bales Peter Bales (1547–1610?) was an English calligrapher and one of the inventors of shorthand writing. He was born in London in 1547, and is described by Anthony Wood as a "most dexterous person in his profession, to the great wonder of scholars an ...

Life and works

He was born in 1591, and was residing in London, in Bush Lane, near

London Stone London Stone is a historic landmark housed at 111 Cannon Street in the City of London. It is an irregular block of oolitic limestone measuring 53 × 43 × 30 cm (21 × 17 × 12"), the remnant of a once much larger object that had stood f ...

, in 1618, when he dedicated his first short work, ''The Pens Excellencie, or the Secretarys Delight'', to

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

. From its dedication he was Prince's writing master. In 1637, Billingsley's ''A Coppie Booke, containing Varieties of Examples of all the most curious Hands written'', was published in its second edition. It refers to a previous work, ''The Pens Transcendency'', and lists other works which may have been Billingsley's. The number of hands set out by Billingsley in examples was six, with some additional subdivisions. The six were the

Secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

, "the usuall hand of England"; the Bastard Secretary, or Text; the Roman; the Italian; the Court (used in the courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas); and the Chancery. The Roman hand, Billingsley said, was the hand "usually taught to women".

References

External links

''The Pen's Excellencie'' online.
;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Billingsley, Martin 1591 births 1622 deaths English calligraphers