CatalogueAnnie has posted a useful link: Palaeography: reading old handwriting 1500 — 1800: a practical online tutorial."

Court of Chancery: extract from Alexander Selkirk's deposition to the Examiners' Office, dated 1712.
Here is one of a number of "practice documents" posted on the site. Hey, good luck, eh?
Scribbled at February 28, 2005 12:30 AM AST | Permanent link to this post | More? c18th, writingTrackBack URL for this entry:
http://webteam.unb.ca/mt/asdf23wer234msadf.cgi/1420
Wow! that's a fantastic link. As a UCL student, I feel I really should've been informed anyway, but it's been all silent on the Euston front (hawhaw).
Scribbled by rob at February 28, 2005 12:54 PM | PermalinkThere's a similar tutorial here: http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc/
Happy deciphering!
Scribbled by zipzap at February 28, 2005 2:06 PM | PermalinkReminds me of my days in the dusty backrooms doing genealogy. Especially entertaining are the many documents on which the writing goes in two directions, one perpendicular to the other, to save paper. They had the mistaken idea that both were readable. I love your blog.
Scribbled by Melinama at March 1, 2005 10:52 AM | PermalinkAnd there's this too, which has both medieval and early modern sections:
http://paleo.anglo-norman.org/
Great links!
Scribbled by mj at March 1, 2005 8:33 PM | Permalink