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THE HISTORY OF GRAPHOLOGY

For centuries people have realised that handwriting and personality are linked. Back in 500 BC Confucius warned: “Beware of a man whose writing sways like a reed in the wind”.

Yet it wasn’t until the 17th century in Italy that handwriting began to be analysed seriously and methodically. In 1622, the first known book on the subject was published, titled “How to recognise from a letter the nature and quality of a writer’, by Camillo Baldi (1550 –1637) a professor at the University of Bologna where graphology is still taught today.

The actual word ‘graphology’, derived from the Greek terms for writing and study, was coined in the 19th century by Abbé Jean-Hippolyte Michon (1806-1881) a priest and archaeologist. Michon first used the word in 1871 in his publication: Le Journal des Autographes.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF GRAPHOLOGY

Other key figures in the development of graphology include Dr Ludwig Klages (1872-1956), who wrote the famous text on handwriting analysis’ Handschrift und Charakter’ (Writing and Personality) in 1930. One of his pupils, the eminent graphologist Dr Eric Singer (1896-1969) taught in England and produced influential works such as ‘The Graphologist’s Alphabet’.

However, it was a student of Singer, Francis Hilliger, who established graphology as a profession in the UK. In 1965 Hilliger set up his company ‘Handwriting Analysis Ltd’ for personnel selection, tuition, and expert witness work.

The British Institute of Graphologists

Eighteen years later, in 1983, Hilliger got together with around 150 graphologists to discuss the future of their profession. Following this meeting in central London, he founded the British Institute of Graphologists and launched the first edition of our journal The Graphologist. Hilliger devised the meticulous and detailed system of graphology which clarified the process of handwriting analysis and is the basis of the Institute’s Diploma (M. B.I.G.) first awarded in 1990.