With the introduction of the printing press, the selection of a style of type depended upon the same conditions as in the case of the execution of manuscripts. Square or block letters were cast for Biblical and other important works; in the various countries different models for letters were often followed; one form was preferred at one time, another at another; however, the style selected by the Ashkenazim prevailed and maintained its preeminence over all the others. Books of a secondary character, works which accompanied another text, such as commentaries and the like, were printed in the cursive; and here a style of type became popular which very closely resembled the Hispano-African cursive. (The development could be compared to that of Italic script for the Latin alphabet.) Since the script occurs oftenest in commentaries on the Bible and the Talmud by Rashi, it has become known as the Rashi script. For the printing of Yiddish (Judeo-German) texts, a further development of the Ashkenazi alphabet, called "Weiber-Deutsch," was created.
Until shortly before modern times, the handwriting of Sephardic Jews for Hebrew and Ladino was closely based on Rashi script. Modern Israeli cursive, which is essentially nineteenth century Ashkenazic handwriting, is more distantly related, but is still recognisably closer to Rashi script than to the square type.
![The complete Hebrew alphabet in Rashi script [right to left].](http://www.jgames.co.uk/title/Image:Rashiscript.PNG)
