Are there any good textbooks about Forensic Document Examination?

There are a lot of textbooks about Forensic Document Examination, discussing both handwriting and non-handwriting. Most laboratories and private examiners have extensive collections and libraries. Additionally, if you are interested in some historical textbooks, please check out a great resource, the A.S.Q.D.E. Digital Library, with links to the following classic texts: 

  • Questioned Documents (1910), Albert S. Osborn
  • The Problem of Proof (1922), Albert S. Osborn
  • Ames on Forgery (1901), Daniel T. Ames
  • Disputed Handwriting (1894), William E. Hagan
  • Classification & Identification of Handwriting (1922), C.D. Lee, R.A. Abbey
  • The Early History of the Typewriter (1918), Charles Edward Weller

When it comes to recent publications, here are a few that I prefer, in no particular order:

FDE in the 21st Century

Jan Seaman Kelly and Miriam Angel (eds). Forensic Document Examination in the 21st Century (CRC Press, 2020) ISBN: 9780367251550

Disclosure: I am the author of Chapter 3 on ‘The Logical Approach to Evidence Evaluation’. Link to Taylor & Francis Group info, including chapter abstracts (click here).


Roy A. Huber and A.M. Headrick. Handwriting Identification: Facts and Fundamentals (CRC Press, 1999) ISBN: 9780849312854

Handwriting Identification: Facts and Fundamentals

Linton Mohammed. Forensic Examination of Signatures, 1st Edition (Academic Press, 2019). ISBN: 9780128130292

Disclosure: I am the co-author of Chapter 12 on ‘Conclusions; Testimony’.  


Michael P. Caligiuri and Linton A. Mohammed. The Neuroscience of Handwriting: Applications for Forensic Document Examination (CRC Press, 2012) ISBN: 9781439871409

Caliguiri and Mohammed text Neuroscience of Handwriting

Wilson Harrison text Suspect Documents

Wilson R. Harrison. Suspect Documents: Their Scientific Examination (New York: Frederick A Praeger, 1958) ISBN:9780882297590


Jan Seaman Kelly, Brian S. Lindblom, eds. Scientific Examination of Questioned Documents, Second Edition (CRC Press, 2006) ISBN: 9780849320446


David Ellen text Scientific Examination of Documents

David Ellen. Scientific Examination of Documents: Methods and Techniques, 3rd Edition (CRC Press, 1997) ISBN: 9780849339257