Learning Spencerian ...

 

Okay, I admit it, I'm a pen and paper snob. I collect pens, dabble in calligraphy, and have recently begun to learn Spencerian script. What is it, you ask? Well, it's the method of handwriting most folks learned growing up in the latter half of the 19th century. 

Platt Rogers Spencer was a guy that grew up loving graceful lines and beautiful writing. As a child he drew letters on birch bark and in the sand at Lake Erie. He loved John Hancock's signature on the Declaration of Independence and in short, was destined for a career in penmanship. I wonder what he'd think of our handwriting today?

Mr. Spencer developed a system of handwriting that dominated schools for nearly a century and spent his life teaching it. He had five sons, and after he died, they and one other gentleman went on teaching and preparing publications that were used to do the same. They put together an instruction book to teach the theory of formatting letters from a few basic strokes and to teach the strokes, size, and spacing of each letter. Their belief was that if children had accurate images in their heads of how to make the letters, then their heads could direct their hands.

Spencerian writing is known for its beauty and one of the most beautiful styles ever known. It uses only seven basic strokes done at fifty-two-degree slant which helps when it comes to speed when writing. Mr. Spencer believed that once these basics are learned, writers could individualize their own styles, and especially when it came to flourishes of capital letters.

It's a shame cursive handwriting is no longer being taught in schools. Mr. Spencer believed that writing was almost as important as speaking as a way of communicating thought. It is said "Writing is a secondary power of speech and they who cannot write are in part dumb." Many folks from the 19th century including the old west, believed that scrawls that cannot be read may be compared to talking that cannot be understood. In other words, writing difficult to decipher was the same as stammering speech.

Once I learn Spencerian, I might blog about it again and show you my progress.

Until next time,

Kit