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A copybook, or copy book is a book used in education that contains examples of handwriting and blank space for learners to imitate. Typical uses include teaching penmanship and
arithmetic Arithmetic () is an elementary part of mathematics that consists of the study of the properties of the traditional operations on numbers— addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponentiation, and extraction of roots. In the 19th ...
to students. A page of a copy book typically starts with a copybook heading: a printed example of what should be copied, such as a single letter or a short proverb. The rest of the page is empty, except for horizontal rulings. The student is expected to copy the example down the page. By copying, the student is supposed to practise penmanship,
spelling Spelling is a set of conventions that regulate the way of using graphemes (writing system) to represent a language in its written form. In other words, spelling is the rendering of speech sound (phoneme) into writing (grapheme). Spelling is on ...
,
reading comprehension Reading comprehension is the ability to process text, understand its meaning, and to integrate with what the reader already knows. Fundamental skills required in efficient reading comprehension are knowing meaning of words, ability to understand ...
,
punctuation Punctuation (or sometimes interpunction) is the use of spacing, conventional signs (called punctuation marks), and certain typographical devices as aids to the understanding and correct reading of written text, whether read silently or aloud. A ...
, and
vocabulary A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the ...
.


History

''The American Instructor: Or, Young Man's Best Companion'', published in 1748, was the first American copybook. The 1802 book ''The Port folio'' recommends the copybook method of learning fine penmanship over the previously used method of "engraved models", citing the advantage of having the example text closer to the student's reproduction. The author adds, "A neat copybook has often laid the foundation, or shown the first symptoms, of taste in all the elegant arts of life." Copybooks are still available for purchase today, but unlike older copybooks many modern ones use print and cursive fonts as the writing examples instead of real handwriting.


Uses

Because in the 18th century good penmanship was primarily considered an important business skill, the copybooks frequently were oriented towards
autodidact Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning and self-teaching) is education without the guidance of masters (such as teachers and professors) or institutions (such as schools). Generally, autodidacts are individu ...
s wishing to learn business skills, and therefore included chapters on general business management as well as lessons in accounting. Other copybooks, however, focused chiefly on writing literacy and used maxims and sometimes Bible verses as their material. It was intended that students memorize not only correct penmanship, but correct morals as well, through exposure to traditional sayings. Copybooks were also published in geography, the student being asked to copy first names onto an unlabelled map, and later whole maps onto a latitude/longitude grid. There are also botanical copybooks like ''
Studies of Flowers from Nature ''Studies of Flowers from Nature'' is a 19th-century botanical copybook notable for the high quality of its illustrations by an artist known only as "Miss Smith." Publication history Combining an instruction manual "for young ladies" with a colo ...
'' that were popular in the 19th century for developing watercolor painting skills. Here the student would paint an image for which the outline was already drawn in (like a modern coloring book), using as a model a finished watercolor provided by the book's illustrator."Featured Book Archive: Miss Smith"
University of Cambridge Library website.


In popular culture

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)'' The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...
published a poem called '' The Gods of the Copybook Headings'' in October 1919, a lesson to keep to common sense.


See also

* Notebook * Exercise book * Examination book * Laboratory notebook


References


Further reading

* ''American Penmanship, 1800-1850: A history of writing and a bibliography of copybooks from Jenkins to Spencer''. American Antiquarian Society. 1969.


External links


European Network of Forensic Science Institutes - Copybook models and handwriting samples database

Historic copybook: ''Nathan Loomis' Copy Book''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Copybook (Education) Educational materials Teaching