Spencerian Handwriting: The Complete Collection of Theory and Practical Workbooks for Perfect Cursive and Hand Lettering
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THE FIRST ALL-IN-ONE EDITION OF P.R. SPENCER'S CLASSIC ...)
THE FIRST ALL-IN-ONE EDITION OF P.R. SPENCER'S CLASSIC PENMANSHIP PRIMER INCLUDING STEP-BY-STEP LESSONS AND PAGES FOR PRACTICING
Easy to understand yet challenging to perfect, the Spencerian system was the standard for all personal and business correspondence in the 1800s. While modern students are barely taught cursive, for more than a century schoolchildren were dutifully drilled in intricate penmanship using this original primer.
Now you can follow the step-by-step instructions and practice on the included workbook pages to learn:
• The seven Spencerian principles
• Proper pen positioning
• Finger and arm movement
• Heights and widths of letters
• Spacing between letters and words
• Optional shading effects
With Spencerian Handwriting, you can add a personal touch to all your handwritten letters and notes reminiscent of simpler, more elegant times.
Spencerian Penmanship (Theory Book plus five copybooks)
(In the mid-1800's, the Spencerian form of penmanship beca...)
In the mid-1800's, the Spencerian form of penmanship became a standard. An elegant handwriting was much prized. Today, in our computer age, a fine, beautiful, and legible handwriting brings a warm personal touch to our correspondence. These books, 5 copybooks and a theory book (available separately or as a set), may be used to introduce cursive writing to second or third graders or to improve the handwriting of older students or adults.
Platt Rogers Spencer was an American calligrapher and penmanship teacher. He is remembered for designing the first copybooks for school use in 1848.
Background
Platt was born on November 7, 1800 at East Fishkill, Dutchess County, New York, United States, the youngest of the eleven children of Caleb and Jerusha (Covell) Spencer. His father, a farmer and a soldier in the Revolution, was of Rhode Island stock; his mother was a native of Chatham, Massachussets, on Cape Cod. The Spencers moved, when Platt was about three years old, to the vicinity of Wappingers Falls and thence to Windham, Green County, where after a few years the father died.
Footloose and hopeful, however poor, the family set out for the West and on December 5, 1810, after a wagon jaunt of fifty-one days, pulled up at Jefferson, Ashtabula County, Ohio.
Education
From earliest childhood he had a Chinese reverence for calligraphy, which, growing to a master passion, became his mission and his livelihood and made his name familiar, like Noah Webster's and Lindley Murray's, in the schoolrooms of his country.
As a small boy he studied and often criticized severely the handwriting of the notices posted on the village bulletin-board and practised his own chirography on sandbeds, snowbanks, and other available surfaces, for paper was scarce and expensive in the back settlements. In later years he enjoyed telling the story, half humorous and half pathetic, of his first piece of writing paper.
Career
After a little experience as clerk in a store and supercargo on a lake vessel, Spencer entered on his life-work as a teacher of penmanship. He conducted his own school in a log-house on his farm at Geneva, Ohio.
In 1848 he first issued copy-slips with printed instructions; copy-books followed about 1855; and soon a whole series of textbooks began to appear. His five grown sons and a favorite nephew became his chief disciples, and continued and spread his work. Spencer was married in 1828 to Persis Duty, by whom he had six sons and five daughters. Despite his devotion to his profession, he took great delight in his family life and had several avocations.
For a time he lived in Oberlin in order to enjoy congenial society. He was treasurer of his county for twelve years and secretary, from its founding in 1838, of its historical society. His wife's death in 1862 was a great affliction to him, and he survived her by less than two years. He died at his home at Geneva, Ohio.
Achievements
Platt Rogers Spencer was well-known as the teacher in New York, where he founded the Spencer Seminary. He also traveled around the country teaching in various academies and business colleges.
Spencer had the honor of having an elementary school named after him. In 1937, the East Geneva Rural School in Geneva changed its name to Platt R. Spencer School.
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THE FIRST ALL-IN-ONE EDITION OF P.R. SPENCER'S CLASSIC ...)
Politics
He engaged actively in anti-slavery movements and was an advocate of universal liberty.
Personality
His innocent, winning manner, the skill and enthusiasm of his teaching, and the conviction with which he preached the moral, esthetic, and pecuniary benefits of the gospel of penmanship made him irresistible.
In Ohio around 1832 he was able to withdraw from alcohol, becoming a total abstainer. He advocated abstaining from alcohol for the remainder of his life.
Interests
He was instrumental in collecting the early history of Ashtabula County, and was deeply interested in American history.
Connections
He was married to Persis Warren Duty Spencer with whom he had five children.
