scrivener
Professional manuscript copier
A scrivener is a professional copyist or scribe—someone who writes documents for others.
Before typewriters and photocopiers, scriveners copied legal documents, letters, and manuscripts by hand.
The term now appears mainly in historical contexts or as an archaic alternative to notary: The scrivener prepared the deed of sale.
Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener" fixed the word in literary memory.
Creator of written works
- novelistWriter of prose narratives
- storytellerOne who recounts tales
- wordsmithSkilled prose artisan
- chroniclerWriter of historical accounts
Bartleby · Melville · prose · narrative · memoir · fiction · essayist · biographer
Feather used for writing
- parchmentTreated hide for manuscripts
- vellumPrepared calfskin for writing
- scriptoriumMonastery manuscript workshop
- copyistDocument duplicator by hand
calligraphy · inkwell · codex · folio · scroll · palimpsest · illuminated · penmanship
Office record-keeper
- copyistDocument duplicator by hand
- secretaryAdministrative office aide
- documentsFormal written records
- recordsStored data or albums
correspondence · filing · bookkeeping · registry · office · bureaucrat · assistant · paperwork
Document authentication official
- contractsEnforceable written agreements
- deedsActions or legal titles
- bondsTies that unite
- conveyancerProperty transfer legal specialist
affidavit · briefs · pleadings · depositions · wills · attorney · solicitor · paralegal
Creating technical blueprints
- outliningTracing outer contours
- compositionArranged elements forming whole
- formattingStructuring visual presentation
- chaptersMain divisions of text
author
Creator of written works
- novelistWriter of prose narratives
- storytellerOne who recounts tales
- wordsmithSkilled prose artisan
Bartleby · Melville · chronicler · prose · narrative · memoir · fiction · essayist · biographer · dramatist
quill
Feather used for writing
- parchmentTreated hide for manuscripts
- vellumPrepared calfskin for writing
- scriptoriumMonastery manuscript workshop
copyist · calligraphy · inkwell · codex · folio · scroll · palimpsest · illuminated · penmanship · papyrus
clerk
Office record-keeper
- copyistDocument duplicator by hand
- secretaryAdministrative office aide
- documentsFormal written records
records · correspondence · filing · bookkeeping · registry · office · bureaucrat · assistant · paperwork · ledger
notary
Document authentication official
conveyancer · affidavit · briefs · pleadings · depositions · wills · attorney · solicitor · paralegal · litigation
drafting
Creating technical blueprints
- outliningTracing outer contours
- compositionArranged elements forming whole
- formattingStructuring visual presentation
- job surnamesbaker, barber, butcher, butler, carpenter
- Old Jobsblacksmith, farrier, wheelwright, chandler, apothecary
- Old British Jobsblacksmith, cobbler, miller, thatcher, cooper
- scribescopyist, amanuensis, penman, calligrapher, transcriptionist
- Victorian Jobschimney sweep, milliner, housemaid, blacksmith, cobbler
- writersauthor, novelist, writer, poet, journalist
scrivenerprinting press
Mechanical text reproduction device
typesetter · printer · photocopier · word processor · automation