Practicing Spencerian Script

When I was a child, possibly around the age of 8 or 9, I first read a hand written letter from my Aunt Dorothy. She had actually just sent a regular card to the family, with a small written note wishing us a Merry Christmas and a quick update on what she was up to. I remember when my mum first showed me the letter, I was thoroughly mesmerized by her handwriting.

“She writes beautifully, doesn’t she?” I remember my mum commenting on it. At first I thought Aunt Dorothy must have specially done this writing just for the card and must have spent hours on it. I questioned my mum about my speculations, only to be shown several other letters my mum had saved over the years.

“This is her regular hand writing. She always writes this way” my mum assured me. I was captivated by its elegant beauty and I borrowed a letter from my mom. I would stare at it over and over and sometimes practiced copying the letters as Aunt Dorothy wrote them.

I remember thinking that I wanted to write this way. I already had been taught general cursive writing in school, but nothing close to the almost perfect calligraphy of Aunt Dorothy. I felt this immediate admiration for my Aunt and my perception of her suddenly solidified into believing she was a remarkably poised and graceful lady. While my Aunt was far from an uncouth woman, my imagination of her refinement was not a completely accurate assessment. I embellished my views just based on her writing. I dreamed to possess similar traits. Needless to say, my general cursive handwriting at age 8 wasn’t the most graceful of sorts and so my practice copying of Aunt Dorothy’s lettering didn’t continue towards complete fruition. True to my colours, I quickly found another interest and returned the letters to my mum for safe keeping. I vowed to revisit the writing at another time in my life.

The time now has come when I am once again reminded of my interests in beautiful penmanship. I believe it was ignited anew when I learnt that schools across Toronto were not required to teach cursive writing, instead reverting to print writing. I felt a pang of sadness as I believe an exquisite art will be lost during this “Age of Technology”.

My hunt and research for where to learn elegant writing began. I came across this book “Theory of The Spencerian System of Practical Penmanship in Nine Easy Lessons” Published by Mott Media. I found it online through my hunts on youtube. I managed to snag myself a pdf version of it through my research. I am sorry I can’t share exactly where I got it from, I truly cannot trace it back… sorry about that. I wish I made a bookmark, but if it helps, I did find it through following a link of one of the few youtubers who posted videos about practicing Spencerian script.

The book is a teaching guide for Spencerian Script as it was taught in the olden days around 1850s. Spencerian Script is an oval based penmanship style that was developed by a bloke called Platt Rogers Spencer in the 1800s and it grew out of his love for nature.  Variations of it became the American standard for business correspondence before the typewriter.

I am not exactly sure if Aunt Dorothy learnt Spencerian script herself, but its style was reminiscent of my 8 year old practices. The book contained instructional texts and 5 copy books. Each copy book is a series of practice strokes that you must repeat writing throughout the page. Similar to writing a hundred lines as punishment for school. However, unlike the school’s penance, once these strokes are mastered and combined, your elegant handwriting can take flight. The actual instructional text itself is somewhat amusing. It is full of old time wording and it gives you a sneak peek into the world of men of the past. I often smirked while reading.

I started my journey with purchasing my very own fountain pen. It was more than I had ever paid for a pen before. However, writing with a fountain pen did make the experience seem more authentic. I do recommend getting one yourself even for just general writing. Warning! There is an associated aristocratic pleasure that follows writing with a fountain pen.

The next step was practicing my strokes. I began with copybook 1. There are several pages of strokes, and I have not yet completed book 1 out of 5, but I wanted to write a post about my progress. Since beginning, my awareness for penmanship has increased and my lettering has improved in my general writing. I hope to keep up the practice. Even though I only can manage a page or two of practice a day (not even every day), it does send my imagination to wondrous places. Lettering of such poetry unlocks a world of charm and delicate romance. The script gracefully glides across the page with its own opulent dance. Possessing swooping upstrokes and cascading down strokes, curling capitals and trailing tails, the pen against the paper breathes its own elegant rhythms.

I have plans to continue my practice and even though I am presently nowhere near my Dear Aunt Dorothy’s level of perfection, the journey so far has been rather enjoyable. Not only does this writing style whisk me off into an imaginary past of feathered pens and ink pots, but it also takes me to a hidden place inside myself where even mundane grocery lists can be penned with tender melodies.