The history of handwriting is a small subject on its surface, yet it rumbles deeply with psychological and cultural undercurrents. I return to the topic here, this time with an eye toward the way Western and Eastern cultures diverged in their approaches to the written word.

If you picture the American foundational documents, originals of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, and look not to the earthshaking ideas they contained, but instead savor the way the texts themselves had been written down by hand, you will call to mind a beautiful, flowing, artful handwriting.

If handwriting of this era could be said to have a musical counterpart, the “gallant” styles of Hayden and Mozart would compare. And if the comparison were to be extended to men’s fashions, picture powdered wigs, trim waistcoats, and jackets ornamented with a long row of supernumerary silver buttons meant for conspicuous display. In that era, elegance and ornamentation equaled virtue.

American handwriting styles simplified over time, though, evolving sharply in the direction of utility. By the early 19th century, the elaborate loops and flourishes largely disappeared along with private tutors and handwriting masters. Penmanship drills in the new, democratic primary schools favored a fluent, practical, unromantic style, friendly to the rise of commerce and best suited to the huge new volume of commercial correspondence. These new techniques saved writers from taking the time to lift the pen between letters. Time was money.

The change from art to industry reverberated psychologically, too. Instructional handbooks routinely found a moral lesson in learning to write in what one historian has........

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