The initial attribute indicates whether this is the first hand of the document. The medium attribute describes the writing medium, e.g., pencil, or the tint or type of ink, e.g., brown. The resp attribute contains an ID reference to an element containing the name of the editor or transcriber responsible for identifying the hand. The characteristics of the hand, particularly those related to the quality of the writing, such as shaky, thick, etc. may be described within the content of the hand element.
The model of this element is based on the handNote element of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI).
<elementSpec ident="hand" module="MEI.header">
<desc xml:lang="en">Defines a distinct scribe or handwriting style.</desc>
<classes>
<memberOf key="att.common"/>
<memberOf key="att.bibl"/>
<memberOf key="att.evidence"/>
<memberOf key="att.lang"/>
<memberOf key="att.medium"/>
</classes>
<content>
<rng:zeroOrMore>
</rng:zeroOrMore>
</content>
<attList>
<attDef ident="initial" usage="opt">
<desc xml:lang="en">Marks this hand as the first one of the document.</desc>
</attDef>
</attList>
<remarks xml:lang="en">
<p>The <att>initial</att> attribute indicates whether this is the first hand of the
document. The <att>medium</att> attribute describes the writing medium,
<abbr>e.g.</abbr>,
<val>pencil</val>, or the tint or type of ink,
<abbr>e.g.</abbr>,
<val>brown</val>.
The <att>resp</att> attribute contains an ID reference to an element containing the name of
the editor or transcriber responsible for identifying the hand. The characteristics
of the
hand, particularly those related to the quality of the writing, such as
<val>shaky</val>,
<val>thick</val>, etc. may be described within the content of the <gi scheme="MEI">hand</gi>
element.</p>
<p>The model of this element is based on the <ref target="https://tei-c.org/release/doc/tei-p5-doc/en/html/ref-handNote.html">handNote</ref> element of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI).</p>
</remarks>
</elementSpec>