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Back to topScript and Scribble: The Rise and Fall of Handwriting (Paperback)
February 2009 Indie Next List
“Tracing the story from the earliest cave scribblings to the Palmer Method to today's text-message-composed novels, this is a great read for anyone who has ever agonized over their signature, wondered what the slant on their 'l' means, or deplored the state of penmanship in today's typing world.”
— Jenn Northington, The King's English, Salt Lake City, UT
Description
"A witty and readable (and fetchingly illustrated and glossed) excursion through the history of handwriting." —The Wall Street Journal
Let a self-confessed "penmanship nut" take you on a tour of the strange and beautiful world of handwriting.
Since her Catholic school days learning the Palmer Method, Kitty Burns Florey has been in love with handwriting, and can't imagine a world where schools forego handwriting drills in favor of teaching something called keyboarding.
In this "winsome mix of memoir and call to arms" (Chicago Tribune), Florey weaves together the evolution of writing implements and scripts, pen-collecting societies, the golden age of American penmanship, and the growth in popularity of handwriting analysis, and asks the question: Is writing by hand really no longer necessary in today's busy world?
"Charmingly composed and handsomely presented," Script & Scribble traces the history of penmanship to the importance of writing by hand in an increasingly digital age (The Boston Globe).
About the Author
KITTY BURNS FLOREY is the author of Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences. She has also written nine novels—most recently, The Writing Master—and many short stories and essays. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Praise For…
"A witty and readable (and fetchingly illustrated and glossed) excursion through the history of handwriting." —The Wall Street Journal
"This is a book every writer would love, a curio cabinet on the art and act of writing." —AMY TAN, author of Saving Fish from Drowning
"[H]ighly enjoyable...witty and often endearingly autobiographical." —MICHAEL DIRDA, Washington Post
"[A] charming, illustrated eulogy to a craft that's fast losing its place in the modern world." —Financial Times
"Florey's argument is nostalgic yet pragmatic. 'It seems wrong,' she says, 'when something beautiful, useful, and historically important vanishes.' Charmingly composed and handsomely presented, Script and Scribble just might provoke a handwriting revival." —Boston Globe
"Florey lovingly traces the history of handwriting, from its ancient birth to its imminent demise."
—SAM ANDERSON, New York Magazine
"[A] winsome mix of memoir and call to arms...an entertaining history." —Editor's Choice, Chicago Tribune
"Part memoir, part meticulously researched primer [this] captivating history of handwriting is a lovely ode to a nearly lost art." —Ready Made