So sometimes you see this little line connecting from the top of an s or a c to a t in old writings. It makes little sense (to me) as to why they do it, because I write my S's and C's from the top to the bottom, so if there was any connecting stroke it would come from the bottom not the top.

The True Copie of a Letter from the Qveenes Maiestie:


Can anyone find the solution to the mystery?

I wish my penmanship looked like that...

I don't.

I saw the Operina, which made me fall in love with italic so much that I tried to learn it myself. Took me a while to figure out that it just wasn't going to happen.

Here is a page from the Operina for those who haven't seen it:



Looks beautiful, but probably a really big pain to master.

Ah, I found it.

In formal italic, the top part of an s or a c is written last. C is written in 2 strokes, first one going down and second one the line at the top. S is written with 3 strokes, first going down in the middle from top left to bottom right, then a horizontal line at the bottom, then lastly the final stroke at the top.