Hand: Hand 3 (Recipe 3), Wellcome 46

Name

Hand 3 (Recipe 3)

Manuscript

Wellcome 46

Script

Unspecified

Scribe

Unspecified

Date

Saec. x/xi

Place

Unknown

Stokes, English Vernacular Script, ca 990–ca 1035, Vol. 2 (PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2006)

This scribe used a larger, thicker pen than the second scribe did, and wrote a more laterally extended and slightly backward-leaning hand. Ascenders are longer than minims and have wedges, but descenders are very short. Minims have prominent approach-strokes and small feet. The top of a is flat, and the left side usually very convex but sometimes more vertical and with a small horn. Much the same range of forms was used for æ, the hook of which is round and usually extends above cue-height in a low ligature with following letters. Although the body of c is essentially round, the hook usually joins slightly below the tip of the lower curve. The back of d is short, somewhat rounded, and essentially bilinear. Round e was used throughout, the hook and tongue like those of æ, but the hook sometimes meets below the tip of the lower curve like those of c. Low e ligatures are found with following letters including a. The tongue of f can be short or quite long, and the hook branches from well below cue-height. The top of g is short and slightly concave up; the mid-section hangs from the left, swings to the right, then curves around in a closed loop which can be short and wide or can be tall and narrow. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are all somewhat angular, and the hook of r also branches from below cue-height. Tall s is normal, the letter standing on the base-line and formed of three distinct strokes: one from base-line to cue-height, one from cue-height to ascender-height, and a third for the hook. Low s is also found at the ends of words. The scribe only used þ, avoiding ð entirely. Straight-limbed undotted y was used, both branches hooked left and the tail straight. The top of 7 is wide and horizontal, and the down-stroke vertical and starting slightly above cue-height.