19th Century Hottie Identification Contest Giveaway

[AnasaziWrites]

IIRC that's Oliver Goldsmith who was based out of New York and active in the 1840s and 50s teaching "mercantile penmanship". Notable because his book published in 1844 apparently claimed to contain only reproductions of work executed with metal pens, apparently one of the first uses of the word "copperplate" to describe a specific style of writing (as opposed to any style writing which was so perfectly executed it looked like it was engraved) and one of the first American penmanship books to be reproduced by lithography instead of engraving.

@Brush My Fennec

Ah, your memory is excellent. You are exactly correct. The mystery man is Oliver B. Goldsmith. The portrait pictured is from his Gems of Penmanship ...., c. 1844. More about that in my next post.

I am thrilled (though not entirely surprised) that you took the time to identify correctly this penman. Your knowledge of early western penmen and their books is amazing. You also correctly identified my favorite page and penman from a very partial scan of the page from The Universal Penman posted here about three(?) years ago. Good eye.
Although the contest officially ended a day ago, I would be most pleased to send you the prize, a mousepad with one of his works thereon (I ordered three different ones last week and they should arrive later this week. You could have your choice). However, as you alluded to having seen this picture, and thus book (perhaps you have a copy? Or perhaps seen a copy in The British Library, St. Pancras, the only copy I know of in GB), thus a at best moderate reproduction might disappoint, I would be most glad to send you a signature penned by E. A.  Lupfer from the Lupfer collection (I acquired several of these about 15 years ago from Del Tysdal (who bought the Lupfer collection from his widow)) if you prefer. Originals are just so much nicer than copies of anything. Your choice.
Let me know what you would like.
Thanks so much for participating. It's so much fun sharing a common interest.

[AnasaziWrites]

A few more details on Oliver B. Goldsmith:
Without question, one of the finest penman of the 19th century. Born in 1815, by 1838 he had opened a school in Brooklyn, NY and later in NYC which he conducted for 40 years. Amazing that he was not better known, as at his height he was arguable the best at flourishing in the US. But he did not create a large number of books, and not much marketing of his skills except in connection with his school. I bumped into his work after seeing his Gray's Elegy in Caligraphic Costume at the LOC (we had a bit of fun with that one also on the forum in Dec., 2015). Hi career ended in 1877 when he was accidentally shot and fell a few weeks later resulting in paralysis from which he never recovered (from Appleton Annual Cyclopedia, Vol 13 and 28, 1889). He died on April 28, 1888.
The book in which his portrait appears (engraved from a Daguerrotype) in his beautiful book Goldsmith's Gems of Penmanship containing various examples of the caligraphic art embracing the author's system of mercantile penmanship in ten lessons of one hour each with ample instructions. Guess they didn't mind long titles back then. It was copyrighted in 1844, printed by him in 1845 and 1846, and later, 1859, by Sheldon & Blakeman.