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calligraphy

Spencerian penmanship, style of handwriting developed by Platt Rogers Spencer (died 1864) of Geneva, Ohio. Energetically promoted by Spencer’s five sons and a nephew, the Spencerian method became the most widely known system of writing instruction in the United States after about 1850.

The first original attempt at standardizing American handwriting appeared in 1791 in The Art of Writing by John Jenkins. Jenkins introduced the notion that each of the minuscules and capital letters could be formed by combining two of six basic strokes. As Jenkins asked in his revised edition of 1813, “All are at once ready to acknowledge, that there should be a proper standard for pronunciation; …and is it not equally necessary there should be a proper standard to convey our ideas by writing as by pronunciation?” This simplifying approach was immediately copied by nearly every writing manual published in the United States.

In the 1830s the American writing teacher Benjamin F. Foster adapted the English system of Joseph Carstairs, which emphasized the rhythmic movement of the wrist and arm and which laid the groundwork for, among others, Alvin Dunton’s system (known as the Duntonian system). American writing books promoted the commercial advantages of good penmanship for men as a means to business employment and the social advantages for women as a domestic skill of the well-educated.

By the beginning of the American Civil War, penmanship courses had been established in the burgeoning business schools. Spencer had an advocate in Victor M. Rice, a teacher who became superintendant of schools for Buffalo and later for New York state, and Spencer’s sons and nephews formed connections with the widespread network of Bryant & Stratton business colleges. Thus was Spencerian established as the major form of penmanship in American schools into the 20th century. Spencerian instruction manuals and copybooks (i.e., books of examples to copy) were produced in prodigious numbers beginning in 1848, and they were used by schools nationwide for writing instruction.

Spencerian script is distinguished from round hand and copperplate scripts by the lack of emphasis on shaded downstrokes on most small letters and by the use of only one broad downstroke on capitals. Minuscules are considerably smaller than capitals, and the joins between letters tend to space them far apart. The emphasis on forming letters by arm movement and basing round letters on an oval sometimes leads to confusion between a, e, and o. (See also calligraphy.)

Robert Williams
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calligraphy, the art of beautiful handwriting. The term may derive from the Greek words for “beauty” (kallos) and “to write” (graphein). It implies a sure knowledge of the correct form of letters—i.e., the conventional signs by which language can be communicated—and the skill to make them with such ordering of the various parts and harmony of proportions that the experienced, knowledgeable eye will recognize such composition as a work of art. Calligraphic work, as art, need not be legible in the usual sense of the word.

In the Middle East and East Asia, calligraphy by long and exacting tradition is considered a major art, equal to sculpture or painting. In Western culture the plainer Greek- and Latin-derived alphabets and the spread of literacy have tended to make handwriting in principle an art that anyone can practice. Nonetheless, after the introduction of printing in Europe in the mid-15th century, a clear distinction arose between handwriting and more elaborate forms of scripts and lettering. In fact, new words meaning “calligraphy” entered most European languages about the end of the 16th century, and in English the word calligraphy did not appear until 1613. Writing books from the 16th century through the present day have continued to distinguish between ordinary handwriting and the more decorative calligraphy.

It has often been assumed that the printing process ended the manuscript tradition. This is not quite true: for example, most of the surviving books of hours (lavish private devotional manuscript books) date from the period after the introduction of printing. Furthermore, certain types of publications, such as musical scores, scientific notation, and other specialized or small-audience works, continued to be handwritten well into the 19th century. Thus, although handwritten books could not be reproduced in quantity or with complete uniformity, they did survive the introduction of printing. Printing and handwriting began to influence each other: for example, modern advertising continues to incorporate calligraphy, and many calligraphers have through the years designed typefaces for printing.

Ray Nash Robert Williams

Early Semitic writing

During the 2nd millennium bce, various Semitic peoples at the eastern end of the Mediterranean were experimenting with alphabetic writing. Between 1500 and 1000 bce, alphabetic signs found in scattered sites showed a correspondence of form and provided material for sound translations. Bodies of writing from this period are fragmented: a few signs scratched on sherds or cut in stone. Few of these are celebrated in terms of aesthetic value.

One interesting set of Semitic inscriptions was discovered in 1905 at an ancient mining site on the Sinai Peninsula. A sphinx from that discovery yields the taw, nun, taw, or t, n, t, meaning “gift.” It is evident that the nun, or n, sign is a rendering of a serpent. Most of the early Semitic alphabetic signs were similarly derived from word signs of more ancient vintage.

The several Semitic peoples in the Middle East area spoke languages that were closely related, and this enabled them to use the same set of alphabetic signs. After some experimentation the alphabet was reduced to 22 signs for consonants. There were no vowel signs. The tribes of Canaan (Hebrews, Phoenicians, and Aramaeans) were important in the development of alphabetic writing, and all seemed to be employing the alphabet by 1000 bce.

The Phoenicians, living along a 20-mile (30-kilometre) strip on the Mediterranean, made the great sea their second home, giving the alphabet to Greeks in the mutual trading area and leaving inscriptions in many sites. One of the finest Phoenician inscriptions exists on a bronze cup from Cyprus called the Baal of Lebanon (in the Louvre, Paris) dating from about 800 bce. The so-called Moabite Stone (also in the Louvre), which dates from about 850 bce, has an inscription that is also a famous example of early Semitic writing.

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