Spencerian Calligraphy

 Spencerian is a style of calligraphy originated by Platt Rogers Spencers in the United States during the mid 1800s. Spencerian evolved from the copperplate style.

We can recognize Spencerian calligraphy from:

-light strokes

-little shading (darker, heavy parts to the letters)

-Often very ornate capitals

Here is a beautiful exemplar of a style of spencerian script entitled “Ladies hand”

Here is an excerpt from my upcoming (2022) book of traditional calligraphy:

When the metal pointed pen nib moved into mass production in mid-nineteenth-century Britain, Copperplate spread as the writing style for business, Government, Royalty, and legal matters throughout Europe. Writing schools and teachers were prevalent, and being a ‘Penman’ was a not only viable but lucrative career choice.

Along with English Roundhand or “script’, certain styles of Copperplate are also called Engrosser’s script and Engravers script. These feature a slightly different minuscule, which will be shown in this chapter. In France, the name is Anglaise. Lettra Inglesa is the name in Spain, and in Italy, the hand is referred to as lettera inglese.

Eventually, Copperplate spread to the New world and began to evolve. In North America, a lighter and speedier form of elegant writing grew out of Copperplate. This new writing style was more steeply slanted and with willowy, less shaded letters. In the early nineteenth century, a Writing teacher by the name of Platt Roger Spencer published manuals outlining the details of this writing style, which bears his name. He then went on to found several writing academies, and the business and culture of this elegant writing spread across North America.