Alphabetical Set of Large Text Words

Publication Date: 1810

About this Item

(PENMANSHIP). An Alphabetical Set of Large Text Words Designed for the Use of School and Academies [manuscript calligraphic title]. [United States]: [circa 1810]. Oblong 4to (3-1/2 x 10 inches). Title and 7 leaves of calligraphic alphabets in various styles. Manuscript on wove paper. Contemporary roan backed paper covered boards, decorated in watercolor in the style of marbled paper. Slight toning and staining, else very good. Ray Nash, American Penmanship 1800-1850, pp. 72-77. This very well accomplished calligraphic manuscript is comprised of a title, followed by seven leaves of alphabets in various styles: German Text, Old English, Engrosing [sic] Hand, Running Chancery, Set Chancery, Italian Hands, and Square Text. The vernacular binding of faux-marbled paper is unusual. It would seem likely that the work was the product of a student, rather than a teacher. It was possibly copied from Henry Dean's (1788-1849) Analytical Guide to the Art of Penmanship (1805) or his Alphabetical Set of Large Text Words (1808), which reprints plates from the second edition of the Guide. Dean (1788-1849) ran a copperplate printing business in Salem, Massachusetts, and wrote an ambitious manual of handwriting, with the first edition containing 18 plates and several examples of alphabets.

Seller Inventory # 84432

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Alphabetical Set of Large Text Words
• Publication Date: 1810
• Binding: Hardcover
• Seller catalogs:
  • GENERAL AMERICANA