# WANTED: Older book entitled Handwriting Analysis or... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-older-book-entitled-handwriting-analysis-or/350354 "2006-03-29T03:54:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-older-book-entitled-handwriting-analysis-or/350354/1 "2006-03-29T03:54:40Z")
or perhaps just _Graphology_… A friend recalls reading this book when she was 16 in 1993. It was by a male author in a red hardcover binding, she wasn’t sure about a dust jacket, and the writing style seems to her to be anywhere from 1960-1970s, maybe as early as the 1940s. Analyses included the positioning of words on a page, margins, signs of homosexuality, evidences of personality inclinations towards the explorative, analytical, or engineering. Does this ring a bell to anyone? She really wants to find this. I’ve searched the Library of Congress, Amazon & [Half.com](http://Half.com) sites & have a few leads, but nothing solid yet. ---
**Author:** ![La\_Llorona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@La\_Llorona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/La_Llorona)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-older-book-entitled-handwriting-analysis-or/350354/2 "2006-03-29T04:40:22Z")
Was it a relatively slim volume that had a section with analysis of handwriting specimens from famous people? One of the famous people was Ingrid Bergman, I think; I believe the author had each person write out the same sample paragraph. If yes, then I have read it but can’t tell you the title or anything more about it…sorry. Maybe the Ingrid Bergman bit will aid someone else in remembering? ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-older-book-entitled-handwriting-analysis-or/350354/3 "2006-03-29T06:26:42Z")
> [@La Llorona](#): > > Was it a relatively slim volume that had a section with analysis of handwriting specimens from famous people? One of the famous people was Ingrid Bergman, I think; I believe the author had each person write out the same sample paragraph. If yes, then I have read it but can’t tell you the title or anything more about it…sorry. Maybe the Ingrid Bergman bit will aid someone else in remembering? My friend thinks that may be it! The book was indeed slimmer & smaller than most standard HB books. If I remember correctly, I’m pretty sure there were samples from famous people in the back of the book. However, when we googled Ingrid Bergman with Handwriting Analysis, we came up with HANDWRITING ANALYSIS: Putting It to Work for You ([http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0809235668/104-5768459-4998351?v=glance&n=283155](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0809235668/104-5768459-4998351?v=glance&n=283155)) which definitely is not the one. It’s too large, too recent & has a woman as the main author. If you can think of any other details, please post here. Thanks for the help. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-older-book-entitled-handwriting-analysis-or/350354/4 "2006-03-29T07:43:21Z")
> [@La Llorona](#): > > Was it a relatively slim volume that had a section with analysis of handwriting specimens from famous people? One of the famous people was Ingrid Bergman, I think; I believe the author had each person write out the same sample paragraph. If yes, then I have read it but can’t tell you the title or anything more about it…sorry. Maybe the Ingrid Bergman bit will aid someone else in remembering? Could the phrase “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” been what was written by the different celebrities? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-older-book-entitled-handwriting-analysis-or/350354/5 "2006-03-29T09:58:03Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > or perhaps just _Graphology_ Since our purpose here is “fighting ignorance…”, it should be pointed out that Graphology is a pseudoscience, and has been shown to fail when tested in scientific, double-blind studies. ---
**Author:** ![La\_Llorona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@La\_Llorona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/La_Llorona)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-older-book-entitled-handwriting-analysis-or/350354/6 "2006-03-29T15:09:29Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Could the phrase “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” been what was written by the different celebrities? I don’t remember what it was, but it certainly wasn’t “the quick brown fox.” Definitely a paragraph, with 2-4 sentences or more, and I seem to think it was of the author’s own invention rather than a standard typist’s exercise (although I could be wrong). ---
**Author:** ![La\_Llorona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@La\_Llorona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/La_Llorona)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-older-book-entitled-handwriting-analysis-or/350354/7 "2006-03-29T15:27:48Z")
Looking at that Amazon link, **FriarTed** , that seems not to be the one. However, if you do the “look inside this book” schtick, the author, Andrea McNichol, states how grateful she is to be able to have the use of the handwriting collections of several authors, one of whom is Klara G. Roman, who published [Handwriting: A Key to Personality](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374502722/sr=8-1/qid=1143645196/ref=sr_1_1/102-3873397-6796167?%5Fencoding=UTF8#citebody) in 1952. Could be? Klara’s female, obviously, but it may have been published as K.G. Roman at one time, which is at the very least gender-ambiguous. Title sounds appropriately vague. 1952 seems a bit early, but upon Googling, there seem to have been printings until at least 1977, which is certainly late enough.