Lovely and Very Rare Wrifford's 1813 New System of Penmanship Instruction Booklet 1940s boxes with a varnish finish

with a varnish finish

stacked atop the frame itself

silver moon behind it

or a whimsy of two

Lovely and Very Rare Wrifford's 1813 New System of Penmanship Instruction Booklet 1940s boxes with a varnish finishThis is a super rare one from what I can tell, published in Boston in 1813, making it a very early example of penmanship instruction, too. I was sold as soon as a saw the blue paper with cut and pasted letterpress printed title, but there are plenty of delights inside, including the fact that it was once possessed by a Persis Rice (what a great name) who wrote her name both in ink and pencil on the inside cover and dated it 1817. (I found a record of