For more resources for learning Spencerian Script, please click on Pointed Pen DVDs,
Spencerian and Spencerian Pen Nibs under the Tools & Materials/Calligraphy & Illumination category on the left.
B2463. Spencerian Practice Pack/Sull Michael Sull's Spencerian Practice Set
The traditional method for students to learn Spencerian Script was known as the copybook format, where a model line of Spencerian penmanship was printed at the top of a sheet with blank lines underneath for the student to practice her/his own writing.
In this set by Michael Sull, the 29 printed sheets feature 100 model lines of penmanship encompassing the lowercase letters, capitals, words, sentences, and over 700 blank lines for your writing. The set also includes 5 blank practice sheets each for two sizes of script (10 total), with instructions.
B1816. Learning to Write Spencerian/Sull Learning to Write Spencerian Script
By Michael Sull & Debra Sull. 1993. 75pp. 6.75" x 8.5". Paper.
An instructional manual for Spencerian covering equipment
and tools, practice, and extensive instruction on the individual letters. This book gives the main instructional material from Volume I of Spencerian Script and Ornamental Penmanship, which is no longer available.
B368. Ames Compendium of Practical.../Ames Ames Compendium of Practical & Ornamental Penmanship By Daniel T.Ames. 1883. Reprint 1978. 60pp. 8.5"x11". Three-ring Binder
Eight pages of good instruction on writing and letterforms
(Spencerian & copperplate) are followed by examples and alphabets. Flourishing (birds, feathers, etc.) is next, followed by pages of 19th-century ornamental lettering of all sorts. If you are interested in pointed pen writing, this book is a must buy.
B3209. Designing Faces, Figures, Florals /Schneider Designing Faces, Figures, Florals and More: Contemporary Ornate Pictorial Calligraphy by Linda Schneider. 2009. 85pp. 8.5"x11". Paper
A great instructional workbook for pointed pen flourishing. You learn the basics of flourishing and how to apply those techniques to ornament your work. Linda's flourish style is unique. Instead of feathers and birds, she uses the flourish strokes to create delightful flowers, ladies, dogs and even the Eiffel Tower.
DVD23. Off Hand Flourishing DVD Off-Hand DVD: Flourishing Techniques for Ornamental
Penmanship by Michael Sull. 106 Minutes. Color.
Covers basic tools and materials: pen points, oblique
holders, papers. Continues with preparing and using colored
and gold inks including mixing a sepia ink from vermilion
sumi & Higgins Eternal, using Dr.Martin’s Bleedproof White & Schmincke metallic gouaches. Begins with the primary flourishing strokes. Presents the basic steps for cartouches, scrolls, border designs, quills, birds, title flourishing, accent flourishes, and creative patterns. Finishes with a selection of over 50 different historical designs by a range of master penmen. It’s the closest thing to having Michael in the
room teaching you!
All our DVDs are made to run on USA and Canada machines. If you live outside North America, you should check with the manual for your machine to see if it can play NTSC format DVD’s. If your DVD player can’t play our DVD’s, your computer may be able to.
B2476. FW Tamblyn's Home Instructor Penmanship FW Tamblyns’s Home Instructor in Penmanship
F.W. Tamblyn. 8th ed. 2001. 174pp. 8.5"x5.25". Spiral.
80 pages of instruction on basic script starting with holding the pen and positioning the paper, followed by pages of exercises, letterforms, words, and sentences to copy. Then 33 pages on Artistic Writing (Spencerian) -- instruction on adding the stresses to capitals and appropriate lowercase letters. Smaller sections on Engravers Script, broad-edged
alphabets, off-hand flourishing, engrossing, and diplomas. A great reprint. A highly recommended manual.
Reprints the 7th edition, 1938, with a new foreword and an added biography of Tamblyn.
DVD12. Learning to Write Spencerian Script DVD Learning to Write Spencerian Script
By Michael Sull. DVD.
A 60-minute instructional video by the author of the
comprehensive text of the same title. First, he gives a brief history of the hand, and then he gives letter-by-letter instruction.
All our DVDs are made to run on USA and Canada machines. If you live outside North America, you should check with the manual for your machine to see if it can play NTSC format DVD’s. If your DVD player can’t play our DVD’s, your computer may be able to.
DVD40. Spencerian with Ron Tate DVD Spencerian with Ron Tate DVD. 2009. 1 hour, 27 minutes.
This step-by-step, stroke-by-stroke, instructional DVD presents the history, tools, and techniques for this beautiful hand. You learn Spencerian Script with the help of professional calligrapher, Ron Tate. Spencerian is an American style of penmanship. The lower case has only a few stressed strokes in a word. In copperplate, every down stroke is thickened by applying pressure to the pen. Spencerian Script can be written with more speed than copperplate. Spencerian originated in Ohio in the 1860s with Platt Roger Spencer.
This includes 15 chapters showing:
Instruction and demonstration of all the letters of the alphabet
Hand positions and correct posture
Practice exercises
Writing angles and letter sizes
Samples of master penmen scrapbooks
The Madarasz Book
Old copy books
Oblique pen holders and pen points
List of on-line resources
Practical tips for envelopes
Pen flourishes
This DVD is formatted for North America. For those outside the USA & Canada, it will work with the DVD drive on your computer, but may not work on your TV's DVD player.
B2470. Elegant Hand / Henning An Elegant Hand: The Golden Age of American Penmanship and Calligraphy
By William E.Henning. Edited by Paul Melzer. 2002. 320pp. 8-1/2"x11". Hardcover.
Chronicles the history of the Golden Age of American penmanship, guiding the reader through the lives and careers of important American penmen beginning with Platt Rogers, Spencer, the Father of American Handwriting and Spencer’s gifted student, George A. Gaskell, whose books and periodicals reached the hundreds of thousands of
students throughout the second half of the 1800s.
Illustrated with more than 400 examples, most from
original specimens.
