![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Jenkins, who had stuggled with learning how to write the “old fashioned way”, devised a system in which each letter was constructed from a mixture of a few basic components. Naturally, writing masters who could teach both elegant and practical styles with success were highly sought after. However, handwriting reflected social status : men who had an elegant, flourished hand were identified as gentlemen, and people who scribbled in a sloppy handwriting were not as “honorable”. But unlike Europeans who still had to use specific hands for specific purposes (ladies used the italian hand, men used a round running hand, there was a style for government, and a style for commerce…), Americans only used one style – the round hand-, and they needed it to be both beautiful and practical. In the late 18th century, handwriting was a valued skill : it was essential for commerce, education, government as well as an important social tool. Jenkins’s publication was different from most of the copybooks availaible, because it did not just offer pages of examples to copy : it promised to make “penmanship “plain and easy”, and therefore accessible to more people. The history of American penmanship starts with the publication of the very first 100 % American copybook : John Jenkins’s Art of writing, in 1791… Before this publication, European copybooks had been the only references used by writing teachers in the USA. ![]()
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