Is there interference?
A common problem in reading the handwriting of any age is interference, where the writer forms letters with elaborate strokes of the pen and these partially obscure lines of text above or below.

For example, in the three lines from a document shown below, the surname in the middle line (Phin) is difficult to read, because your view of the word is being obscured by descending letters (L and s) in the word Lindsay in the line above and by the capital C in the word Cleppon in the line below.

If this hasn't solved the problem try another option:

Capital Letters
Superscript Marks
Double Letters
Ligatured Letters
Idiosyncratic Letters
Bad Writing

Return to the Problem Letters page.