Penmanship Newbie, And "circular" Business Handwriting Style.

[briarrose]

Hello, everyone. I'm new here, and I'm looking to improve my everyday handwriting. I was barely taught penmanship in school, and though I can write in cursive, I make a lot of mistakes and stall frequently, even in signing my name while at the cash register (which is pretty embarrassing.) I would like to learn some form of business handwriting, and my plan is to order the Tamblyn Home Instructor in Penmanship. However, while searching around FPN, I came across this exemplar from "The Business Educator" volume 8:

 

http://oi55.tinypic.com/5jwuih.jpg

 

I really love this circular style, but this is all I could find on it. I'm wondering if this exemplar alone is enough to go on, since I'm a beginner, and whether I can use it along with the Tamblyn book.

 

Another question: do any of the alternate letterforms serve a special purpose, or is it my choice when and where to use them?

[knarflj]

It is an attractive style, briarrose. I don't know the Tamblyn book, but I would guess you'll want more than just the exemplar if you really want to master the style. You can find volume 8 of the Business Educator here: https://archive.org/details/businesseducator08zane

The page you posted is at the beginning, and I see that there are some lessons immediately following.

 

The magazine was published by Zaner & Bloser, so perhaps this might help:

http://www.iampeth.com/pdf/arm-movement-method-rapid-writing

 

Jenny

[Randal6393]

Hi, BriarRose, Welcome to FPN!

 

The Business Hand shown is pretty standard cursive, although a bit more rounded than most. A bit of practice and you should do well with it. Jenny's links should be of great help to you.

 

Best of luck,

[briarrose]

Thank you both! I'll check out the links.

[SuperNib44]

That style looks like a form that was taught in around the 1910's. It is very legible. It is also very much like French handwriting in my opinion.

 

 

 

 

 

http://luc.devroye.org/JeanBoyault--OldFrenchSchoolBold-2011b.jpg

Edited February 26, 2015 by SuperNib44

[briarrose]

That style looks like a form that was taught in around the 1910's. It is very legible. It is also very much like French handwriting in my opinion.

 

I thought so, too! I love the look of French handwriting, but I prefer to write at a bit of a slant. So this style, to me, seems to be the best of both worlds.

[briarrose]

I printed out the pages from the Business Educator vol. 8, but comparing the lessons to the exemplar, it appears that the lessons are for more general business handwriting. Which doesn't mean they won't be helpful. I can still use them to train my hand in a very similar style. But I can see the letters on the exemplar are rounder and wider.

 

When you use an exemplar, do you ever put the exemplar under your paper and trace over, to get a feel for the letter shapes? What's the best way to go about using one?

[bone215]

the lower case letters remind me of Palmer cursive, the capital letters are fancier/more circular. My thoughts would be if you could write like that it would be easy to read.

[briarrose]

I've been working on the first exercise in the Business Educator vol. 8 lessons, "direct retrace" (the one where you write up and down diagonal lines right next to each other across the whole line). It's actually pretty difficult! I haven't practiced it every single day, but I have practiced most days, and my lines still aren't straight or exactly parallel. It's enjoyable to do, though. I don't know if I should add a new exercise or wait until I master the first one.