Writing in Spencerian Script

By William Chapman

Over the years, handwriting styles have come and gone.  In each period of history, a different handwriting style has been taught.  In the Civil War era, the newest and most popular script was Spencerian.  It was developed in 1840 by Platt Rogers Spencer, a teacher and lover of handwriting and the English language, and soon became the standard for education in writing in the United States.  Spencerian handwriting had its heyday from about 1850 until 1894, when Austin Palmer introduced a new, simpler form of script called the Palmer Method.

Most of us today were taught the D'Nealian or Zaner-Bloser styles in school, which both vary greatly from the elegant Spencerian script of the 1800s.

Common Spencerian Hand, Ca. 1862

Spencerian Script is best learned by viewing examples from the period.

 

Gaskell's Compendium of Forms, published in 1883, gives a good set of instructions for learning good handwriting.

"Paper: Ruled foolscap is the best paper for use in practicing, and for teachers to recommend to their scholars in writing schools and business colleges.  It should be firm, and sufficiently thick to prevent shades from showing through the page."

Gaskell also puts emphasis on the importance of a good pen.  During the period, fine pointed steel pens were common.  Quill pens were also still in use for the entirity of the 19th century.  "No fine pointed steel pen will bear more than a day or two of constant service.  Change whenever the pen seems to be worn at the points.", says Gaskell.  Keep in mind that all pens of the period were dip pens, so you should have a good supply of ink and an inkwell handy.  This should be filled with india ink, if at all possible.

Good posture is extremely important when writing.  Use a desk and a good chair if you have them available.  Sit up straight and sit to the right side of the desk (If you are left handed you may want to sit on the left side).  You should hold your pen steadily in your hand between the thumb and first finger to ensure the most control of the pen.  Gaskell recommends movement of the whole arm, combined with that of the hand when writing as opposed to just writing with the fingers or hand alone.  Use of the arm allows for more beuty and grace in the writing.

On lined paper, your capitals should take up three spaces, and lower case letters should take up one.  Descenders, such as the tails of f, y, z, g, should extend down two spaces on lined paper.

The slant of your writing should be kept even all the way through.  If one d's stem is slanted right, they all should be.

There should be enough space between words to write a lower-case m, and enough between letters to keep them from being crowded, according to Gaskell. 

Shading is one of the most important elements of Spencerian writing.  It appears on any curve, or descender, as seen here:

Try copying this poem for practice with the shading.

Learning Spencerian writing takes careful study of period writing, as well as a lot of practice.  If you use the right tools and practice enough, your writing can become indistinguishable from that of the 1800's.

Comments

[Sandy]

My Dad had a friend from Virginia who used to write like that. It's beautiful penmanship.

[William]

It really is. I'm trying to replace my funky D'Nealian writing with something more Spencerian because it looks so much better.

Thanks!

-Wm.

[Sandy]

Happy Easter to you and the family!

[Sarah Jane Meister]

I just found your site today via the CW reenactors board, looking for information on Pinwheel hats. I just wanted to say your site is one of the nicely laid out, most inspirational I have come across in quite a while. Thank you for all the time you put into this. It is so helpful!

[Sandy]

Wishing you and your family a safe Memorial Day.

[Maria]

I learned calligraphy in high school but I must say Spencerian is so elegant! I'll have to bring out my pen and ink set and try this.

I hope you and your family have a good summer. I miss your dad's entries on enonhall.com

[Jenny]

This is a very helpful article for background and style of scripting. Can you give information on how to get started learning and practicing Spencerian script? I would like to be able to practice this beautiful form of writing, but have not been able to find any practical ways to get started. Thanks

[William]

My best advice would be to view period examples and try to copy the script. Also, some period texts give information on that sort of thing.