The Palmer Method of Business Writing A Series of Self-teaching in Rapid, Plain, Unshaded, Coarse-pen, Muscular Movement Writing for Use in All Schools, Public or Private, Where an Easy and Legible Handwriting is the Object Sought; Also for the Home Learner

THE PALMER METHOD _of_ BUSINESS WRITING


            A Series of Self-teaching Lessons in Rapid,
            Plain, Unshaded, Coarse-pen, Muscular Movement
            Writing for Use in All Schools, Public or
            Private, Where an Easy and Legible Handwriting
            is the Object Sought; Also for the Home Learner

             BY A. N. PALMER, EDITOR OF THE AMERICAN PENMAN

 ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
                  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.




                SOME PALMER METHOD FACTS—A PERSONAL TALK

            Read and Carefully Consider Everything on These
            Three Pages Before Beginning the Study and
            Practice of the Lessons. Failing to follow These
            Simple Suggestions, You are Likely to Waste Many
            Hours, Weeks, and Months in Useless Practice.


The Palmer Method is a text-book on practical writing and should be
studied as such—not treated as a copy-book. The printed instructions are
the author’s direct personal talks to pupils—the same things he would
say to you from day to day were he personally to teach you. These
instructions are of more importance than the copies. They tell you how
to develop and use the muscular movement in writing. If you do not
follow the instructions, you will fail.

Pupils who followed absolutely the Palmer Method plan have always
learned to write well. Pupils who have not first studied the plainly
printed directions and followed them absolutely, have partly or
completely failed. Failure is unnecessary.

Thousands of young men and women have made the Palmer Method of Business
Writing the stepping-stone to positions in business offices, where
commercial advancement rewarded faithful service.

In hundreds of classes where the Palmer Method has been faithfully
studied and completely mastered, periods devoted to written spelling,
composition, examinations, and other written work have been reduced more
than half.