1921 Early Connecticut Penmanship and Religious Commonplace Manuscript
Two-sided American manuscript combining early nineteenth-century penmanship exercises, religious meeting notes and moral verse. Inscribed at Hampton, May 30, 1821, and subsequently dated July 28, 1822, with “Winchester Connecticut” written at the foot.
The upper portion records notes from a “Local Preachers Conference” and identifies a Mr. Pinkham’s text as Proverbs, chapter 9. The writer interprets Wisdom’s seven pillars as “reason,” “scripture,” “conscience,” “discipline,” “experience,” “union” and “Divine Protection.”
The remainder contains moral and devotional passages written in several hands or penmanship styles. Among them are selections from Alexander Pope, including the celebrated lines:
“The world recedes; it disappears!
Heaven opens on my eyes! my ears
With sounds seraphic ring…”
The reverse is headed “Penmanship £3 6 8” in an ornamental hand and opens with a version of Pope’s famous observation:
“True ease in writing comes from art, not chance—
As those move easiest who have learned to dance.”
A particularly attractive example of an early American copybook leaf, preserving the interrelationship of education, religion, moral instruction and handwriting practice in the early republic. A faint attribution at the bottom appears to include the surname Holcomb, although the writer has not been conclusively identified.
Original laid paper with age toning, folds, stains and losses along the upper and lower edges. Most text remains clear and legible.
Two-sided American manuscript combining early nineteenth-century penmanship exercises, religious meeting notes and moral verse. Inscribed at Hampton, May 30, 1821, and subsequently dated July 28, 1822, with “Winchester Connecticut” written at the foot.
The upper portion records notes from a “Local Preachers Conference” and identifies a Mr. Pinkham’s text as Proverbs, chapter 9. The writer interprets Wisdom’s seven pillars as “reason,” “scripture,” “conscience,” “discipline,” “experience,” “union” and “Divine Protection.”
The remainder contains moral and devotional passages written in several hands or penmanship styles. Among them are selections from Alexander Pope, including the celebrated lines:
“The world recedes; it disappears!
Heaven opens on my eyes! my ears
With sounds seraphic ring…”
The reverse is headed “Penmanship £3 6 8” in an ornamental hand and opens with a version of Pope’s famous observation:
“True ease in writing comes from art, not chance—
As those move easiest who have learned to dance.”
A particularly attractive example of an early American copybook leaf, preserving the interrelationship of education, religion, moral instruction and handwriting practice in the early republic. A faint attribution at the bottom appears to include the surname Holcomb, although the writer has not been conclusively identified.
Original laid paper with age toning, folds, stains and losses along the upper and lower edges. Most text remains clear and legible.
