Handbook for translators of Spanish historical ... - University Library

HANDBOOK FOR TRANSLATORS OF SPANISH HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS
Deciphering letters and words, which are obscure because
of the obsolete type of handwriting or because of
personal characteristics of the writer, constitutes the
most serious problem in the reading of manuscripts. In
the solution of this problem, the comparison of letters
and words within the manuscript is the readiest method.
UsTially, the reader can recognize a few words even in the
most baffling of manuscripts. The words and letters that
can be read may then be used as standards of comparison.
Known letters can be placed by the side of unknown characters,
mentally, or by actual transcription, to aid in identification.
Likewise entire words may be similarly used.
This method may be applied to Spanish historical documents
of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which
are generally clearly legible, when the writer had a handwriting
difficult to read.
Spanish historical documents of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries may be read by using as standards of
comparison any printed facsimiles of original manuscripts
and their transcription.!''' In certain cases, individual
letters may be identified by comparison with standards of
different types of letters used in those centuries, such as
the tabulated lists presented with this study. 18 These
lists also may be used, of course, in identifying letters
for the eighteenth and nineteenth century. In using these
lists as standards of comparison, allowance should be made
for the differences given by different writers to letters
of the same fundamental type.
Further aid in reading manuscripts may be obtained by
noting individual characteristics of handwriting. One of
the first peculiarities to be noted is that of size. At a
glance the reader can tell whether the writer of a manuscript
used large, medium, or small handwriting. Then
the general slant, to the left or to the right, should be
ascertained. General proportion of letters as related to
one another within a word is a characteristic that often
leads to identification of difficult words. The shape of
each letter is, of course, the best method for reading isolated
words, since letters once identified may be used as
standards of comparison. Distinctive initial or final pen
Such as those to be found in, J. Muno z y Eivero , Manual
de paleograffa diplomdit ica espanola; and, J. Munc^z y
Eivero, Paleograffa popular; and Agustm Millares Carlo,
Paleograf fa espanola. Vol. II.
18 See Appendix C. -16-