George Shelley (ca. 1666-ca. 1736) and John Seddon (died 1700), The Penman’s Magazine, or, A New Copy-Book, of the English, French, and Italian Hands, after the Best Mode; Adorn’d … after the originals of the late incomparable Mr. John Seddon. Perforn’d by George Shelley … Supervis’d and publish’d by Thomas Read (London: printed by J. Holland …, 1709). 2nd ed. Bound in old quarter calf over marbled boards. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2012- in process
Thanks to the research of Christopher Edwards, we recently acquired this unrecorded second edition of The Penman’s Magazine. The plates were selected by George Shelley but arranged by Thomas Read, one of his students. Read contributes a Preface to the Reader that states, “Seddon on his Death-Bed bequeath’d me his Remains,” desiring him to “Have them Perfected.” Read calls Shelley “a celebrated penman of the Age, who was so generous as to undertake it, and has so order’d the Ornamental Part, that it flows from the Pen by a swift Command of hand with the greatest ease imaginable.”
