The Best Method of Pen-Making, Illustrated by Practical Observations on the Art of Writing. To which are added, directions for holding the pen properly, and many other secrets worth knowing, to those who wish to write well.

Nd, but dedication is dated Tuesday 9th May, which means it must be either 1820 or 1826. Pp 32 with 5 plates and one illustration in the text. Printed pictorial straw-coloured wrappers. Price 7s. (Extremely expensive for a pamphlet.) Covers are lightly soiled, there is noticeable off-setting from the plates, and a little scattered foxing. *** A very rare and sought after work by a noted stenographer. The illustrations include Lewis's Patent Fountain Pens, quill pens, how to hold the pen, and examples of lettering. Lewis also challenges his opponents to a trial of writing skill for £50 a side. According to the ODNB, James Henry Lewis, 1786-1853, was an energetic self-publicist and one of the last great writing-masters. He assembled, at great cost, a collection of short hand books and manuscripts by earlier short hand writers. Some of these, acquired after his death, perished in a fire at Birmingham library in 1880. Lewis was the most prolific short hand writer of the early nineteenth century.…