This page is from the Vere Foster Copy Book No. 10. The book belonged to Emily Cunynghame. She has used pen and ink to carefully copy the word 'Penmanship' and the sentence 'Writing is almost as important as speaking'.
Copy Book No. 10 was the last in the series of copy books used by students to practise their handwriting. It contains pages of fancy letters and was used by students in their last year of primary school, at about 13 years of age.
The lettering style is German text for the word 'penmanship' and Old English for the sentence. The swirls that decorate the words are called 'flourishes'.
Copy books were used in schools for handwriting until the early 1900s.
The copy book shows:
the style of fancy lettering practised as part of handwriting lessons in the 1890s
a high quality sample of 5th Class student work of the period (equivalent of Years 6 and 7 today)
is rare and one of only two Copy Book No. 10 in our collection.
Date – late 1890s
Creator – Emily Cunynghame, 5th Class student
Place – New South Wales, Australia
Materials – black ink on paper
Dimensions – 213mm x 168mm, 24 pages
What did you notice first?
Emily's letters are in darker ink. How accurate are her letters?
Has Emily's accuracy improved through the pages?
Why did students learn fancy lettering? When would they use it?
What is the meaning of 'Writing is almost as important as speaking.'
What were the main forms of communication in the late 1890s?
How is fancy lettering produced today?
What do these pages make you wonder about?
What questions do you have about handwriting and copy books?
Complete a line of fancy lettering.
Download an unfinished page from Vere Foster Copybook 10 - button below.
Use pen or pencil to carefully copy each letter into the spaces below.
From 2nd Class students wrote with pen and ink into their copy books and exercise books. They:
dipped the pen into the inkwell
wrote until the ink ran out
gently pressed the blotting paper onto their wet writing
cleaned their pen with the pen wiper when they were finished.
This work sample shows fancy letters used in a page heading in a student's exercise book in 1905.
There is a decorative heading on each page in May's exercise book. This is a common feature of other exercise books in our collection indicating that neat bookwork was important.
May attended Bourke Street Public School in Surry Hills, Sydney. She was probably in the first half year of 5th Class when she completed this work (equivalent to Year 6 today). May's composition is a recount of her Christmas holidays.
What ink colours did May use on her page?
What fancy lettering style has she used in her heading?
Copy Book No. 9 contained sentences for students to copy. It was the last in the series of the ten books that practised handwriting. There was an emphasis on consistent size, shape and spacing.
This page was completed by Claude Schumacher using pen and ink. He attended Tent Hill Public School in Glenn Innes, NSW. He completed this book in 5th Class in 1896 when he was 14 years of age.
How is Copy Book No. 9 similar and different to Copy Book No. 10?
What is the meaning of the sentence 'Kindness calms anger, and soothes misfortune.'?
This hand-drawn map was completed by Emma McKinnon using pen, ink and watercolour. We assume Emma completed this book in 5th Class in 1890 when she was around 14 years of age.
Note the use of fancy lettering on the map for labelling the countries, continents and oceans.
Emma McKinnon attended Tent Hill Public School in Glenn Innes, NSW – the same school as Claude Schumacher, above. They probably had the same teacher.
Can you make any inferences about the expectations of the Tent Hill Public School teacher?
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands of people using this site. Is, always was, always will be – Aboriginal land.