1896 - Spencerian Penmanship Vertical Edition, No. 3

Oblong 8vo, 24pp. Small chip to the bottom corner of the rear wrap and bottom inch of spine split below the staple; else Very Good + with light expected soil. Completed by Bessie Biddle through halfway of page 21. Introduces short sentences and proper nouns in addition to the usual combos. Specimens include: Gaza. Scofield. Silence is Golden ... Are we gaining? ... Zealots are blind.

The Spencerian Penmanship Vertical Edition was published in 1896, using many of the same specimen phrases. Marketed as “the graceful lines and symmetrical forms which have distinguished Spencerian writing and made it the accepted American standard of penmanship… applied in an easy and natural way to vertical writing.” The inner covers have illustrations of correct upright posture, including a perspective view of the paper and arm position. The letters are so upright, it nearly seems like an over-correction to the iconic Spencerian slant which had gotten a bad rap. First published in 1896 by the American Book Company, who were the primary issuers of reprints for the earlier Spencerian editions, the vertical edition copybooks are especially scarce.