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 ...

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 st ...

, 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. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

. 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 assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

, "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 Chancery may refer to: Offices and administration * Court of Chancery, the chief court of equity in England and Wales until 1873 ** Equity (law), also called chancery, the body of jurisprudence originating in the Court of Chancery ** Courts of e ...

. 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