![]() The first wide-spread cursive penmanship instruction was the Spencerian handwriting system named after Platt Rogers Spencer who established a chain of business schools in the mid-1800s. There are several cursive scripts which were widely taught in schools throughout the United States. Mandatory education, along with the inexpensive copybooks which could be purchased nationwide, advanced literacy tremendously. The spread of literacy, which was originally limited to monks and a few highly trained laypeople, was suddenly possible. Penmanship manuals could then be printed in large number and used to teach people how to write. Oddly enough, widespread penmanship was given a big boost by the development of copperplate engraving which enabled the production of copybooks. Cursive started with professional scribes or "embossers" as they were called in the 18th century. This precursor to cursive was labeled "italic" after Italy.Ĭursive writing which features linkages between all the letters in a word and flowing letter shapes which allow the pen to move easily and continuously is much more efficient and the time saved was important to business and governments. It featured linkages between some letters in addition to the slant. ![]() Niccolo Niccoli, an Italian living in the 1400's, is credited with giving a distinct slant to a form of Carolingian script. An example is the Book of Kells, a beautifully illuminated book of the four Gospels, which was produced by the Columban monastery on the island of Iona off the coast of Ireland. Some monasteries became famous for the works produced in their scriptoriums. Writing was a specialized skill primarily executed by monks in monasteries as a way of earning income for the order. The resulting Carolingian minuscule script introduced the ideas of upper- and lowercase letters, punctuation, and spaces between words. In the 700's, Charlemagne hired an English monk, Alcuin of York, to develop a script by which the recordkeeping of his kingdom could be standardized. ![]() To save parchment, it was later condensed into capitalis rustica, a curvier, smaller script. This lettering system worked very well in the great stone edifices the Romans erected. Until 400AD, the Romans used all capital letters in a style called capitalis quadrata (square capitals). Around 2,400 BC, the Egyptians began using papyrus and reed brushes for writing. About 3,000 BC, the Sumerians introduced one of the earliest forms of writing, cuneiform, which relied on a wedge-shaped stylus pressed into moist clay or wax. Writing started with printing and was naturally greatly affected by the tools available to record the information the writer wished to transmit. In fact, National Handwriting Day is celebrated each January 23rd in honor of John Hancock, well known for his clear signature on the Declaration of Independence. It is much faster to write in the easy, flowing manner of cursive where the pen only leaves the paper between words rather than after or even during each letter. Cursive writing was developed to save time. ![]()
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