Writing · Handwriting · 1915
A. N. Palmer's 146 lessons in plain, quick cursive, from posture, pencil hold and oval drills to every small letter, capital and figure, then words, sentences and names. For children about 8 and up, and for adults who want better cursive. Every lesson has a step-by-step guide, with the right page of the book beside it.
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Turn this on to see every lesson as a simple checklist: what to get out, what to do and what to say, one line at a time.
How to sit, how the arm rests and moves, and how to hold the pencil and place the paper. Lessons 1–3.
Straight push-pulls and ovals that train the arm, and the first three small words. Lessons 4–6.
Ovals swung into capitals, with the stop at the top of A and the aim-before-you-shoot C. Lessons 7–11.
Small o, m, n, i, u, t and e, counting steadily and keeping every letter tiny and even. Lessons 12–20.
Words with capitals, the small loop beginning shared by twelve capitals, and capitals M and N. Lessons 21–28.
Letters built from a, the tall loop letters starting with small l, and capital L. Lessons 29–35.
Small c, r and s, then five review sessions and a look back at the first specimen. Lessons 36–39.
More small letters and words, the reverse oval, and capitals J and I. Lessons 40–47.
A page of small-letter groups, capitals S, G and P, small p, and easy words repeated. Lessons 48–55.
Why figures must be small and plain, and each figure drilled on its own and then from dictation. Lessons 56–64.
Capitals E and B, the loop letters b, k and f, words full of loops, and a review. Lessons 65–74.
D, T, F, Q, H and K, the loop-beginning family, reviews of the capitals, and small j and z. Lessons 75–85.
Each lesson repeats one capital, then a word ending in "ing" written in one continuous motion. Lessons 86–107.
Whole sentences, nearly one for each capital from A to Z, written as full, even pages. Lessons 108–135.
Capitals joined in combinations, names with initials, and a final specimen to compare with the first. Lessons 136–141.
A. N. Palmer's self-teaching lessons in plain, rapid “muscular movement” handwriting, the most widely taught American handwriting of the early twentieth century. Drills of ovals and push-pulls come before letters and words.
Scanned from a University of California Libraries copy.
Each guide follows one of the book's numbered lessons, shown beside the title; the five review lessons 39 to 43 share one guide, and so do Lessons 52 and 53. The guides are written for this site; the book is in the public domain.