You know I love a penmanship practice notebook, but especially an early one, this one dating to 1824, kept by a Rhoba ("Rhoby") Saunders of Scituate, Rhode Island, for whom I've found a record (1802-1873, married to Matthew Hill, with whom she had seven children.)
And this notebook provides a very good and interesting example of penmanship instruction for a woman during the early part of the 19th century, as New England experienced a dramatic rise in female literacy with the rapid growth of private female seminaries and academies. While men were instructed in "round hand" for business, women more often learned "Italian hand" or "Ladies hand" for domestic use, demonstrating refinement in social correspondence, etc. Here, Rhoba learned both, with one page dedicated to repeating the phrase "Plain mercantile penmanship" (round hand) and another to the phrase "Italian hand for Ladies," rendered in ladies hand. Plus another (gorgeous) page of fraktur style ornamental lettering. So lots of information embedded in these pages, including, as always, about life and values of the time: (Humanity commands esteem; By a commendable deportment we gain reputation; Governments are maintained by rewards and punishment (how apt!); Innumerable annoyances attend men (!); Punishments commonly attend dishonesty; Education was recommended by Xenophon (rooting it in the Greek.) And a reminder, too, of how young the country was, with one page repeating the names of the four presidents who had completed terms to date, just neglecting Monroe, who served 1817-1825.
7 3/4" x 6 3/8". 11 leafs (19 pp filled + inside covers, with several blank pages at the end). The majority documented. Very good condition, ink strong throughout and paper in very good condition.
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