Micrographia (Small Writing}

MicroGraphia (small writing) can be found on stamps (manuscript cancels), covers, postcards, and album pages.

https://blogs.loc.gov/international...h-tradition/ ... irrelevant aside ... MicroGraphia has been described as the only indigenous Jewish art form

https://goscf.com/t/12021 ... a hat-tip to our own thread: Manuscript penmanship on covers and stamps.

I often find remarkably legible MicroGraphic penmanship on postcards.

Here's an example to get us started.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

The big picture of the little writing:


Using the stamp as a reference object for the comparatively large return address:


A sample of the even smaller main text:


And, oh yeah, its a postcard ... of the Capuchin monastery in Stuhlingen, a town in the Waldshut district of Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. It is situated on the border with Switzerland.

Some of my Volapük postcards have very small writing on them. Here's one:

Q/ Does the address include "Volapukist" as an occupational title? Honorarium?

Q/ Or does it signal the postman that he need not report the coded message to the palace or to the police?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volap%C3%BCk

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

He/she speaks/reads Volapuk!

Okay, but why would you note such a thing in the address?

I've never written "English-speaker" or "Hebrew-speaker" as part of the address of a post card in either language.

So, You're thinking Honorarium?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Interesting question.

The addresses on a lot of my Volapük cards, especially those sent to or from German-speaking countries, include some sort of title, either in Volapük or German, in addition to the usual Mr./Mrs./Miss or even a very German "Herr Professor Doktor" ("Söle plofed dokel Siegfried Lederer"). 19th-century Germans loved their titles! So, for example:

Söle Franz Havelka, vpan
(To Mr. Franz Havelka, Volapükist)
[Suriname to Austrian Bohemia]

Söle Teichmüller, Studel lektinava
(To Mr. Teichmüller, Student of Electrical Engineering)
[Russia to Germany]

Söle Aug. Ritter, Calal potäma
(To Mr. August Ritter, Postmaster)
[Brazil to Switzerland]

Söle ledivik Klöckl Oswald, potacalan l.r.
(To the Honorable Mr. Oswald Klöckl, Imperial Royal Postal Official)
[local mail within Graz, Austria]

Söle palestimöl Klöckl Oswald, k. k. Postbeamter
(To the Esteemed Mr. Oswald Klöckl, [in German:] Imperial Royal Postal Official)
[Bavaria to Austria]

Mr Kniele Rupert, Wundarzt ecc
(Mr. Rupert Kniele, [in German:] Surgeon, ?etc.)
[Ottoman Empire to Württemberg]

Ali Söl Keil Wilh. plofed vpa.
(To Mr. Wilhelm Keil, Professor of Volapük)
[Germany to France]

Vomül Rehbock Charlotte, jiprofesan [sic] vpa.
(Miss Charlotte Rehbock, [Female] Professor of Volapük)
[local mail within Hannover, Germany]

Söle Bayer, stud. git., sekretel vpakluba in Kopenhagen
(To Mr. Bayer, Student of Law, Secretary of the Volapük Society in Copenhagen)
[Germany to Denmark]

Söle l. J. Bayer, Redakel cifik 'Timapenäda vpk plo Dän e Norgän'
(To the Honorable Mr. J. Bayer, Editor-in-Chief of the "Volapük Periodical for Denmark and Norway")
[Germany to Denmark]

Söle Nehls Ferd. sen., senatän volapüka in New Braunfels, Texas, U.S. Nordamerika
(To Mr. Ferdinand Nehls, Sr., Volapük Senator in New Braunfels, Texas, U.S.A.)
[Austria to U.S.A.]

Another example of MicroGraphia:




Suggested Cross post from
https://goscf.com/t/66250

I just got another Volapük postcard today, featuring another fine example of micrographia. Ms. Enderneyt certainly wanted to get the most out of her four kopeks!

Good ole Mr. Wilson, my 8th Grade US History teacher. He let each student take his tests with the aid of one 3x5" index card of "cheat notes," with as much history that could be crammed onto both its sides being legal. Back then I had already started using a Rapidograph with India ink to make stamp album pages (and still do, in some cases). Using abbreviations, I think I got most of the section we were being tested on onto that little card. Needless to say, I was acing all these tests and I remember Mr. W. doing a face palm when he saw my little helper LOL.











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I'm fairly adept at tiny writing myself. Lists in my pocket notebook often have 1 mm lower case and 2 mm capitals, and those are written with garden variety ballpoints that I pick up at work. I can write even smaller with a good pen and the desire to do so.

I haven't used my Rapidographs in years. It was always such a challenge to keep the finest tips from clogging up.

I have always preferred the .5 mm mechanical pencils. Bought my first one in 1965 and I still have it.

They are perfect for making tiny notes on my album pages.