Notes on the Hieratic Writing

1. The first line of the letter (the salutation) is written vertically, whereas the rest of the letter is written horizontally.  At this period the normal way of writing Hieratic was in horizontal lines, whereas a couple of centuries earlier the norm was to write in columns.  Practice letters which the apprentice scribes wrote were still written entirely in columns at this time, so perhaps writing in columns was seen as more "correct" or "formal," leading the scribe here to write the opening vertically and then reverting to "normal" horizontal writing for the body of the letter.
2. The writing of the word bAk (servant) is much more detailed at the beginning of the letter, where it is written as    In the body of the letter it is abbreviated to a single ligature  combining the two signs.  The division of the two signs in the ligature is indicated here:   This seems to be standard practice since it is also seen in student practice letters from this period, and is not simply because the first line is written vertically and the rest is written horizontally.
3. The writing of the words pw n, in the several paces where they occur, appears rather strange.  The hieratic writing  would appear to correspond to the hieroglyphic  whereas it is intended to be read as  , which we would expect to be written