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Published by THE A. N. PALMER COMPANY
NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO CEDAR RAPIDS,
IOWA
COPYRIGHT, 1901, COPYRIGHT, 1908, COPYRIGHT, 1913, COPYRIGHT, 1915,
BY A. N. PALMER BY A. N. PALMER BY A. N. PALMER BY A. N. PALMER
[Illustration]
An explanation.—The object of this book is to teach rapid,
easily-executed, business writing. It has not been written to exploit
any one’s skill as a pen artist. It aims to be of use to those who are
ambitious to become good, practical business writers. The lessons it
contains are not experimental, but have been the means of guiding
millions of boys and girls, young men and women to a good business style
of writing.
As will be seen at a glance, the Palmer Method of Business Writing has
nothing in common with copy-books which have been so largely used in
public schools for more than half a century. If they are right, this
book is wrong. The two methods of teaching writing are absolutely
antagonistic.
In teaching writing, as in other subjects, the final result should be
the criterion. Pupils who follow absolutely the Palmer Method plan never
fail to become good penmen. On the other hand, no one ever learned to
write a good, free, rapid, easy, and legible hand from any copy-book
that was ever made.
The copy-book has but one purpose—to secure absolute mechanical
accuracy. The copy-book headline is usually first carefully penciled by
a skilled penman after a given model, and shows none of the
individuality of the penman employed in its construction. The penciled
copy is given to a skilled script-engraver, who engraves it by hand and
further perfects it wherever possible. This impossible and lifeless
ideal the child is required to imitate through long, dreary pages of
copying. No wonder he fails!
It has been proved, through at least two generations, that the copy-book
kills individuality and makes freedom of movement impossible. It compels
slow finger-action in the formation of letters, giving a fair degree of
accuracy where only slow writing is required; but the pupil’s work
inevitably becomes scribbling when the least speed is attempted. In the
Palmer Method, freedom of movement is the foundation, and, through a
constantly repeated series of rapid drills, the application of movement
becomes a fixed habit of the learner. Under this plan the pupil’s first
attempt is naturally crude, but every drill practiced in strict accord
with the printed instructions tends to add grace and accuracy to his
work. The sure result is a handwriting that embodies these four
essentials—legibility, rapidity, ease, and endurance.
The drills and copies in this book are actual writing, executed with a
rapid, easy, muscular movement, and then photo-engraved, thus retaining
the individuality of the writer.
Pupils practicing from these lessons acquire the general style of the
copies, but, at the same time, there is left to them the possibility of
developing their own individuality.