G. A. Gaskell (1844–1886)

By G. A. Gaskell from Gaskell’s Guide

Whatever Mr. Gaskell has accomplished in improving the handwriting of the masses has been done mainly through the various publications he has prepared, not the least of which is this little book. The Compendium of Penmanship has reached a sale of over two hundred thousand ; the Compendium of Forms one hundred and fifty thousand, and the Penman’s Handbook two thousand. The Penman’s Gazette now circulates in every State and Territory in the Union, and is widely read by a good class of young men and young women.

He spent his boyhood in Ashtabula County, Ohio, the family having removed there from Penn Yan, N. Y., where he was born in 1844. His ancestors were English Quakers. There is still a good number of the family in Philadelphia, who yet carry out the early notions of that sect.

Mr. Gaskell is the proprietor and principal of Gaskell’s Business College in Jersey City, across the river from New York. This school is attended by young men and women from all parts of the United States