Handwriting: the hand attribute and the hand element
For the elements which typically are used to encode handwritten parts of the text, the TEI provides a way of indicating the identity or nature of the handwriting in question. This is done through the hand attribute, which is available on add, addSpan, del, delSpan, and handShift.
The value of the hand attribute is an IDREF which points to a hand element in the TEI header. This hand element documents the salient facts about the handwriting in question. One hand element must appear for each handwriting being identified; these hand elements are grouped together within the handList element inside the profileDesc, right after the langUsage element.
It is important to understand that each hand element describes a set of characteristics associated with a given handwriting found in the text. The hand elements do not necessarily map onto individual scribes; you may wish to describe several distinct hands used by a single scribe (for instance, using different pens or written at different times), or you may wish to describe a single hand which you suspect may belong to several authors who cannot be distinguished from one another. The hand element represents the identification of meaningfully distinct handwritings in the text, however these may be determined.
Each distinct handwriting being identified can possess a number of different characteristics, which may each be documented using the various attributes of the hand element.
These characteristics include:
- a unique identifier for the specific handwriting in question, using the id attribute of hand. This enables each instance of the handwriting in question to be linked to a given hand element and explicitly associated with the set of characteristics identified below.
- an identification of the person responsible, using the scribe attribute. This attribute carries an identifier which can be used to point to information about the scribe (either stored elsewhere in the file, or in a separate database).
- an identification of the style of handwriting, using the style attribute. Values might include standard descriptive terms such as copperplate or carolingian, or might include locally defined terms if those are more appropriate. The controlled list of terms should be included in your local DTD or schema customization.
- an identification of the main language associated with this handwriting, using the mainLang attribute. The TEI gives examples using terms like Latin or English but it would be preferable to use the same set of language identifiers that you use to document the languages in your document (using the langUsage element in the TEI Header), since this is the method used in P5 and will also provide more consistency.
- a description of the ink typically used in this handwriting, using the ink attribute. This might be used most frequently to describe the color of the ink, but it could also be used to describe the texture (grainy) or even conceivably some distinctive chemical characteristics if these are known and are significant. It may also be used to indicate (somewhat counterintuitively) that the writing is not in ink at all: for instance, it might be in watercolor, or pencil, or ballpoint pen. Values for this attribute should be determined for the project and constrained through the schema customization.
- a description of the kind or quality of writing, using the character attribute. This description might cover characteristics such as the angularity, neatness, national character, or other facts of interest.
- an indication of whether this is the first, or the main hand in which the document is written, using the first attribute. The values for this attribute are true or false.
- an indication of who is responsible for identifying the handwriting, using the resp attribute. The value of this attribute should point to a listing of editorial personnel somewhere in the document.
For most projects dealing with printed books, most of these provisions go well beyond what is necessary, and we do not recommend that you use these features unless you can identify a clear need to do so. For any handwriting, though, you will need to use the id and scribe attributes.
Examples
Example 1.
In the following example, the addition is in Eleanor Davies’ handwriting; the handList element in the teiHeader lists all the people whose handwriting appears in the text (including one other person who is unidentified).
<teiHeader>...<profileDesc><langUsage>...</langUsage> <handlist><hand id="unknown.zzx"> <p> <hand id="EDavies.new"></p> </handlist></profileDesc>...</teiHeader> <p>...</p> <p>...And such passages <add hand="EDavies.new">By</add>or straits, setting forth his prerogative...</p>