This little problem has been puzzling me for some time. It’s from an account book compiled in 1597, and it’s a double disaster–an illegible name and a deletion. Get your eyes in, there is some serious glory to be won here!

Professor Stephen Orgel of Stanford owns an edition of Horace with annotations that will require a skilled eye to decode… two sample images below. Roll up, roll up!

Why can’t people learn to sign their names more clearly? It’s the second line of this inscription which is causing headaches…

Can anyone read this? Just the signature, not the rest!

Marie Léger-St-Jean has come across three instances of illegible annotation, in the course of curating her Penny Bloods project (www.english.cam.ac.uk/pop/). Post any replies, please!