The Lost Art of Handwriting

Lesley Smith's book Handwritten: Remarkable People on the Page (2024) collects handwritten documents from notable historical figures drawn from the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford's collection, some dating back to the second century BCE. In her introductory essay, Smith argues that Walter Benjamin was right about the importance of new reproduction technology but wrong about its effects, since originals have become more precious rather than obsolete. The collection is grouped into categories such as Poets and Novelists, Reformers, and Spies and Detectives, and includes a Jane Austen notebook begun around age 11.