This dictionary was originally inspired by John Carter’s ABC for Book Collectors (first published in 1952). What he had done for books it seemed reasonable to do for manuscripts. Not, however, that the audience would be the same, for it is not necessarily collectors who handle manuscripts most. Almost everyone has been using, writing, annotating, or signing documents of one kind or another, whether letters, shopping lists, or tax forms, for most of their lives. Those with special interests in the field, who produce or handle them almost every day, range from writers and amateur genealogists to academics, archivists, historians, lawyers, postal workers, accountants, and, in effect, a host.
