The Missing Ink

When London columnist and arts critic Philip Hensher realized that he had no idea what a close friend's handwriting looked like, he felt as though something was missing from their friendship; having abandoned pen and paper for keyboards, we have also given up one essential way by which we come to recognize and know another person.

Hensher - also the author of the Man Booker Prize finalist The Northern Clemency - considers the history of handwriting, its role in novels like those of Charles Dickens, and the claims that penmanship can reveal personality. But more than that, this is a celebration of the treasured pen, the handwritten love note, the postcard sent home, and daily diary entries.