paleography

n. The study and analysis of ancient writing, including the identification of origin, period, and the formation of individual characters. The study of handwriting.

Notes

Paleography includes the study of writing in both inscriptions and manuscripts.

Citations

Duranti 1998, p. 37–38 The publication of [Dom Jean Mabillon's De Re Diplomatic Libri Vl in 1681] marks the birth date of diplomatics and paleography. . . . However, the science which studies ancient scripts3 did not yet have a name; the term paleography was coined by another Benedictine, Dom Bernardo de Monffauçon, who published Palaeographia graeca, sive de ortu et progressu literarum in 1708, but the systematic study of types of script was initiated by Mabillon.