« Reply #6 on: Thursday 13 September 12 19:41 BST (UK) »
May I add this one? that I just found while looking at a question in this forum:
Early Modern Handwriting: Alphabetshttp://www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc/alphabets.html"The links to individual letter-forms contain illustrations drawn from the manuscripts collected on this site, and present roughly chronological accounts of the letters as they appear in English documents between 1500 and 1700."
Click on each upper-case or lower-case letter, in the boxes on the left and right, to see several examples of each, excerpted from actual documents. I found it very useful.
edit -- oops, I see that site is in berlin-bob's thread -- but the link above goes directly to the page for accessing samples, so I'll leave this post, as the site and that page deserve special mention for their usefulness, I think.
HILL, HOARE, BOND, SIBLY, Cornwall (Devon); DENNIS, PAGE, WHITBREAD, Essex; BARNARD, CASTLE, PONTON, Wiltshire; SANKEY, HORNE, YOUNG, Kent; COWDELL, Bermondsey; COOPER, SMITH, FALLOWELL, WILLEY, Notts; CAMPION, CARTER, CRADDOCK, KENNY, Northants; LITTLER, CORNER, Leicestershire; RUSHLAND, Lincolnshire; MORRISON, Ireland; COLLINS, ?; ... MONCK?