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Spencerian Handwriting: The Complete Collection of Theory and Practical Workbooks for Perfect Cursive and Hand Lettering
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
• 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.
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
• 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.
176 pages, Paperback
First published February 9, 2016
About the author
Platt Rogers Spencer
16 books7 followersPlatt Rogers Spencer (also Platt R. Spencer) was the originator of Spencerian penmanship, a popular system of cursive handwriting. He was a teacher and active in the business school movement.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 9, 2016
I received Spencerian Handwriting: The Complete Collection of Theory and Practical Workbooks for Perfect Cursive and Hand Lettering through a Goodreads giveaway. Having already purchased another set of Spencerian Penmanship that has a theory book with separate copybooks, I was curious how this book would compare so I entered the giveaway not really expecting to get it. When I found out I had been chosen to win a copy, I was super excited. After my copy arrived and once I actually had a few minutes to peruse the two side-by-side, I quickly realized the two are nearly identical.
Yet, there are a few differences worth mentioning. In the set of 6 books, the number 51 had been skipped so everything after 50 was numbered incorrectly. I hadn't even noticed it until I was comparing the two books. This new book has been numbered correctly. With more distinct lines, the illustrations in this book are crisp, clean, and clear, whereas in the other set the illustrations have thicker lines and remind me of an old-fashioned newspaper ad.
Concerning letter formation, some of the letter examples have slightly different illustrations--in this book there's a line across the letter to show it has an oval shape--but the letter itself is still formed the same way. One noticeable difference with this new book is the "long s" is included, whereas my purchased set did not have that letter at all. Since I don't know what "long s" is used for, I'll leave that to the penmanship professionals to explain.
The one difference I didn't like in this new book is uppercase L is shaped differently and, to be quite honest, looks extremely weird. In the set of 6 it looks just like the way I learned to write a cursive uppercase L, but in this book it is formed to look almost exactly like uppercase S. Therefore, I believe the two letters could easily be confused and that's the reason I'm giving this book 4 stars and not 5.
The practice section of the new book is quite similar to the other set. Besides the obvious difference of not being separated into five practice books, the differences are minor: some of the letters aren't practiced together as in the older set. I believe the reasoning behind practicing them together was to work on spacing the letters properly, but there are still words to practice writing and that will give you letter spacing practice as well. The new book also includes a separate practice page for number formation which is a nice addition. Still, the majority of the practice pages are basically the same and are ordered similarly to the older set as well.
All in all, I'm glad to have Spencerian Handwriting: The Complete Collection of Theory and Practical Workbooks for Perfect Cursive and Hand Lettering as part of my collection. I feel it complements the set I already own. Thank you!
Yet, there are a few differences worth mentioning. In the set of 6 books, the number 51 had been skipped so everything after 50 was numbered incorrectly. I hadn't even noticed it until I was comparing the two books. This new book has been numbered correctly. With more distinct lines, the illustrations in this book are crisp, clean, and clear, whereas in the other set the illustrations have thicker lines and remind me of an old-fashioned newspaper ad.
Concerning letter formation, some of the letter examples have slightly different illustrations--in this book there's a line across the letter to show it has an oval shape--but the letter itself is still formed the same way. One noticeable difference with this new book is the "long s" is included, whereas my purchased set did not have that letter at all. Since I don't know what "long s" is used for, I'll leave that to the penmanship professionals to explain.
The one difference I didn't like in this new book is uppercase L is shaped differently and, to be quite honest, looks extremely weird. In the set of 6 it looks just like the way I learned to write a cursive uppercase L, but in this book it is formed to look almost exactly like uppercase S. Therefore, I believe the two letters could easily be confused and that's the reason I'm giving this book 4 stars and not 5.
The practice section of the new book is quite similar to the other set. Besides the obvious difference of not being separated into five practice books, the differences are minor: some of the letters aren't practiced together as in the older set. I believe the reasoning behind practicing them together was to work on spacing the letters properly, but there are still words to practice writing and that will give you letter spacing practice as well. The new book also includes a separate practice page for number formation which is a nice addition. Still, the majority of the practice pages are basically the same and are ordered similarly to the older set as well.
All in all, I'm glad to have Spencerian Handwriting: The Complete Collection of Theory and Practical Workbooks for Perfect Cursive and Hand Lettering as part of my collection. I feel it complements the set I already own. Thank you!
July 15, 2017
This book is a work of magic.
I have always had narrow but long drawn out handwriting. Most people I came across couldn't read it and I couldn't at times.
I wanted to improve my handwriting but not use a bland style like most people these days.
Handwriting is an art form, regardless of how skilled the user of the pen is you surely can see it looking at various different peoples writing.
I wanted to go from bland to elegance, the Spencerian script is elegant.
Beautiful. And so I decided to learn this because at 25 years old it matters how j present myself.
This book teaches so much, don't be put off by how complex it first seems talking about angles and diagrams. If you pay attention you come to notice it is all relevant to learning how to write in the script. And its easy to get if you focus and follow diagrams.
4 hours later I am writing on almost everything because it looks that good!
The book also teaches a lot how to sit so you are not bending over the paper stressing the back I did that a lot...
The only thing I have not done is developed the wrist muscles to write with an elevated wrist of the paper and maintain my neatness however as I practice if I can see my improvements and the swiftness and speed of writing this way...kindle or not. This book is a steal.
I have always had narrow but long drawn out handwriting. Most people I came across couldn't read it and I couldn't at times.
I wanted to improve my handwriting but not use a bland style like most people these days.
Handwriting is an art form, regardless of how skilled the user of the pen is you surely can see it looking at various different peoples writing.
I wanted to go from bland to elegance, the Spencerian script is elegant.
Beautiful. And so I decided to learn this because at 25 years old it matters how j present myself.
This book teaches so much, don't be put off by how complex it first seems talking about angles and diagrams. If you pay attention you come to notice it is all relevant to learning how to write in the script. And its easy to get if you focus and follow diagrams.
4 hours later I am writing on almost everything because it looks that good!
The book also teaches a lot how to sit so you are not bending over the paper stressing the back I did that a lot...
The only thing I have not done is developed the wrist muscles to write with an elevated wrist of the paper and maintain my neatness however as I practice if I can see my improvements and the swiftness and speed of writing this way...kindle or not. This book is a steal.
September 25, 2016
First I would like to state that I have received this book through the Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
I would like to thank the author for giving me this opportunity and honor in being able to read this book. This is a very helpful and informative book helping you with obtaining the perfect cursive and hand lettering. I did not realize until lately that a lot of schoolchildren now a days do not know how to write in cursive or read cursive for that matter. I found this very helpful in showing them how to. I would suggest this book to anyone wanting to brush up on cursive or who has a school age child who has not been taught how to write in cursive. I really liked that fact that you could follow the step-by-step instructions and practice on the included workbook pages. In this book it showed you how to learn The seven Spencerian principles, the proper pen positioning, the finger and arm movements, It also showed you what the proper heights and widths of letters should be and the spacing between each of the letters and words were to be. This is a wonderful book that I feel every school age child should have. A must have!
I would like to thank the author for giving me this opportunity and honor in being able to read this book. This is a very helpful and informative book helping you with obtaining the perfect cursive and hand lettering. I did not realize until lately that a lot of schoolchildren now a days do not know how to write in cursive or read cursive for that matter. I found this very helpful in showing them how to. I would suggest this book to anyone wanting to brush up on cursive or who has a school age child who has not been taught how to write in cursive. I really liked that fact that you could follow the step-by-step instructions and practice on the included workbook pages. In this book it showed you how to learn The seven Spencerian principles, the proper pen positioning, the finger and arm movements, It also showed you what the proper heights and widths of letters should be and the spacing between each of the letters and words were to be. This is a wonderful book that I feel every school age child should have. A must have!
June 21, 2025
I have pretty nice handwriting already, but a pretty odd grip, and my full cursive is less nice. I was curious if changing my grip would give me more control, better lines... I think the issue here though is if I wanted to change my grip and be successful I would need to do it consistently but the grip they teach here I find absurdly difficult, so I always switch back for my daily journal entries at night - and that is also really the only hand writing I do in a day!
The book itself has a very old fashioned feel, from the explanations of how to sit, hold, down to the phrases they choose for practice. Perhaps an interesting historical view.
Overall three stars for how much I got out of the book in the end.
The book itself has a very old fashioned feel, from the explanations of how to sit, hold, down to the phrases they choose for practice. Perhaps an interesting historical view.
Overall three stars for how much I got out of the book in the end.
February 1, 2023
At last a book dedicated to the "fine" &"extra fine" nibbed fountan or dip pens
A scientific and precise instuction on the practice of the spencerian hand, ideally practised on a ruled paper,with precise terminology toward developing a perfect cursive hand
My only gripe is that on my Kindle version, the examples need enlargement to follow the instructions .I would certainly recommend this book to all those wishing to improve their Spencerian hand or develop a proper Spencerian hand.
A scientific and precise instuction on the practice of the spencerian hand, ideally practised on a ruled paper,with precise terminology toward developing a perfect cursive hand
My only gripe is that on my Kindle version, the examples need enlargement to follow the instructions .I would certainly recommend this book to all those wishing to improve their Spencerian hand or develop a proper Spencerian hand.
January 15, 2025
This was a good review of long-forgotten lessons. I was surprised to see how much my handwriting had changed from this baseline over time. This form of writing still looks beautiful to me.
This book explains the specifics of the how-to and gives clear examples and practice pages.
This book explains the specifics of the how-to and gives clear examples and practice pages.
September 9, 2017
Great for beginners
In this book you learn proper form and how to the pen, correct sitting positions, spacing and much more! Highly recommended.
In this book you learn proper form and how to the pen, correct sitting positions, spacing and much more! Highly recommended.
April 1, 2020
It's my first book on handwriting and I love it. I'm practicing these methods.
February 2, 2022
A touch of history and a great teaching tool.
March 21, 2018
Not a new trendy rewrite — the actual original primer text. Fascinating because letters are cool, but also because of the method it was taught and all the talk of forms and process. I wonder the standard age group who was taught this? Younger me would have LOVED this but I am decidedly nerdy like that; I would assume many, many students hated this complicated but beautiful writing style.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews