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Louis Madarasz


Williams & Packard


C.W. Jones

Rare Books on Calligraphy and Penmanship


Listed by Title

Click HERE for an alphabetical list
by Author


C.C. Canan


Austin N. Palmer


Enoch Noyes

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

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.