John Jenkins (penmanship)

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John Jenkins engraving in the frontispiece of The Art of Writing

John Jenkins (1755–1822) was an American schoolteacher who wrote the first entirely American book on penmanship, The Art of Writing, Reduced to a Plain and Easy System, first printed in 1791 by Isaiah Thomas.[1] It consisted of 32 pages of text, four plates of engraved writing samples and a frontispiece.[2] It was recommended by John Adams,[2] Benjamin Franklin and John Hancock.[1] Jenkins' system became the standard in America,[2] and a revised second edition was published in 1813 by Flagg & Gould.[3]

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  1. ^ a b Jill Gage (January 22, 2018). "Righting the Penmanship of America". Newberry Library.
  2. ^ a b c Christen, Richard S. (2012). "John Jenkins and "The Art of Writing": Handwriting and Identity in the Early American Republic". The New England Quarterly. 85 (3): 491–525. doi:10.1162/TNEQa00210 (inactive 31 January 2024). JSTOR 23251389.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link)
  3. ^ "The Art of Writing...Book I..." Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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