(*Portrait
and bio taken with permission from Michael Sull’s Spencerian Script and
Ornamental Penmanship, Volume I.)
Lyman P. Spencer
(1840-1915)
A
biographical sketch of Lyman P. Spencer's life is detailed earlier in this
chapter. in brief, he was without question the most artistic of the Spencer
children, and the finest penman among his siblings. Born in 1840, he displayed
an ability at drawing and illustration during his youth that surpassed many of
his elders. While in his twenties he served in the Civil War, after which he
devoted his career to developing and promoting the Spencerian publications. In
1876 Lyman Spencer and Henry Flickinger produced a masterwork of the
Declaration of Independence for the Centennial Exhibition of the United States.
Both men were considered to be the finest penmen of their age, with flawless
skill in the execution of letterform and flourish. Together, these artists
penned the original specimens for the New Spencerian Compendium of Penmanship
(1879), the finest book of penmanship at that time From an historic
perspective, Lyman P. Spencer's efforts were noteworthy not only for his
facility with a pen, but perhaps more importantly because it was he who served
as a vital link between his father, Platt Rogers Spencer, and the most productive
generation of American penmen. Through his work with the Compendium, the other
Spencer publications and his professional associations with other penmen, the
guiding principles and philosophy of the Spencerian System of Penmanship
continued to influence the style of American handwriting well into the
twentieth century. Lyman Spencer lived to his seventy sixth year, and passed
away on June 11, 1915.
