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Louis Madarasz


Spencer Authors


Mary Champion

Rare Books on Calligraphy and Penmanship

Listed by Author

Click HERE for an alphabetical list
by Title


William E. Dennis


Knowles & Maxim


F.F. Wildish

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Welcome to the IAMPETH Rare Books page. Here you will find classic, vintage books on penmanship and calligraphy from the 1800's and early 1900's - the "Golden Age" of American Penmanship.

Preserved in digital format, we offer them here in their entirety for current and future generations of calligraphers, penmen and pen artists. We hope you enjoy them.

If you find these materials useful, and would like to support the organization that makes this site possible, please consider joining IAMPETH or making a donation.

For the PDF files, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader (free). The PDF files are quite LARGE

  ADOBE PDF Ames, Daniel T., 1884, Ames' Guide to Self-Instruction in Practical and Artistic Penmanship
     
  ADOBE PDF Ames, Daniel T., The Daniel T. Ames Notebook, A wonderful collection of penmanship from the early 1860’s from one of America’s preeminent penmen and teachers
     
  ADOBE PDF Behrensmeyer, H.P, Lessons in Practical Penmanship
     
  ADOBE PDF Barnett, C.A., J.T. Henderson and J.N. Yocom, 1901, Oberlin Business College - Compendium of Penmanship
     
  ADOBE PDF Bloser, P.Z. (Copies by E.A. Lupfer), 1948, Lessons in Ornamental Penmanship, Copyright © by Zaner-Bloser, Inc. Used with permission.  All rights reserved.
     
  ADOBE PDF Canan/Zanerian College, 1921, C.C. Canan Collection of Penmanship - The Canan Book, Copyright © by Zaner-Bloser, Inc. Used with permission.  All rights reserved.
     
  ADOBE PDF Champion, Mary L., Champion Method of Practical Business Writing
     
  ADOBE PDF Charles, A.A.S., 1983, Steel Pen Trade 1930-1980  Used with permission.  All rights reserved.
     
    Clark, Clinton H., The Clinton Clark Scrapbook
  ADOBE PDF   Part One
  ADOBE PDF   Part Two
  ADOBE PDF   Part Three
     
  ADOBE PDF Comer, George and Oliver Linton, 1864, Penmanship Made Easy
     
  ADOBE PDF Courtney, F.B., The Francis B. Courtney Scrapbook, courtesy of Bob Hurford
     
  ADOBE PDF Damm, Carl, 19th Century Swedish Copybook, dated December 9, 1858 and penned by Carl Damm, a tutor, this copybook contains 12 pages of handwritten forms of Copperplate/Engraver's Script. Contributed by Evan Lindquist.
     
  ADOBE PDF D'Avignon, L'écriture Américaine, "Writing American" by D'Avignon, circa 1840
     
  ADOBE PDF Dennis, W.E., 1914, Studies in Pen Art
     
  ADOBE PDF Gaskell, G.A., 1883, Gaskell's Compendium of Forms (the section on writing)
     
  ADOBE PDF Huntington, Eleazer, 1821, Art of Penmanship
     
IAMPETH Scrapbooks - A remarkable collection of Golden Age penmanship
ADOBE PDF Number 1
ADOBE PDF Number 2
     
  ADOBE PDF Jenkins, John, 1813, The Art of Writing
     
  ADOBE PDF Jones, C.W., editor, 1914, Lessons in Engraver's Script
     
  ADOBE PDF Jones, C.W., editor, 1914, Ninety-five Lessons in Ornamental Penmanship
     
  ADOBE PDF Kelchner, L.M., 1901, Complete Compendium of Plain Practical Penmanship
     
  ADOBE PDF Knowles and Maxim, publisher, 1881, Real Pen Work - Self Instructor in Penmanship
     
  ADOBE PDF Madarasz, Louis, Lessons in Advanced Engraver's Script, published by C.W. Jones
     
  ADOBE PDF Madarasz/Zanerian College, 1911, The Madarasz Book - The Secret of the Skill of Madarasz, Copyright © by Zaner-Bloser, Inc. Used with permission.  All rights reserved.
     
  ADOBE PDF McDonald Business Academy, 1894, Penman's Leisure Hour
     
  ADOBE PDF Meyrat, P., circa 1920's, Recueil Méthodique de Principes d' Ecriture ("A Methodical Collection of Principles of Writing"
     
  ADOBE PDF Mills, Edward C., 1903, Modern Business Penmanship
     
  ADOBE PDF Noyes, Enoch, 1839, Noyes's Penmanship
     
  ADOBE PDF Palmer, A.N., 1935, The Palmer Method of Business Writing
     
  ADOBE PDF Palmer, A.N., 1919, Palmer's Penmanship Budget
     
  ADOBE PDF Palmer Company, The A.N., Portfolio of Ornate Penmanship
     
  ADOBE PDF Real Pen-Work Publishing, 1867, Bible Pearls of Promise
     
  ADOBE PDF Spencer Authors, 1874, Theory of Spencerian Penmanship
     
  ADOBE PDF Spencer Brothers, 1881, New Standard Practical Penmanship
     
  ADOBE PDF Spencer, Platt Rogers, Sr., 1866, Compendium of Spencerian or Semi-Angular Penmanship
     
  ADOBE PDF Spencerian Authors, 1879, New Spencerian Compendium
     
  ADOBE PDF Stacy, L.E., 1907 (compiled by), The Blue Book  Text-converted PDF
     
  ADOBE PDF Sull, Michael R., 1989, Spencerian Script and Ornamental Penmanship, Volume I, Chapters 1,2 and 8.  Used with permission.  All rights reserved.
     
  ADOBE PDF Sykes, circa 1885, Sykes's Manual of Penmanship
     
  ADOBE PDF Williams, J.D. and S.S. Packard, 1867, Gems of Penmanship
     
  ADOBE PDF Zaner, C.P., 1888, Gems of Flourishing
     
  ADOBE PDF Zaner, C.P., 1920, Lessons in Ornamental Penmanship
     
  ADOBE PDF Zaner, C.P., 1900, The New Zanerian Alphabets

Writing is, of all arts, universally admitted to be that which is most useful to society.  It is the picture of the past, the regulator of the future, and the messenger of thought.