Browse Items (87 total)

A black and white illustration on a book page. A room decorated with framed pictures, busts, and birdcages, lit by two candles. One candle sits on the mantlepiece and another on a table next to which, to the left of the illustration, is seated a young, smartly dressed man. He has a pencil in his mouth and is writing with another pencil in a notepad he holds in his hand. His legs are crossed and he leans toward the candle as if to work by its light. A pile of books are on the floor by his chair. Centrally seated is an older lady, her face framed by a frilled cap. Her hands are clasped together in her lap and an open book has been placed pages down on her knees. A cat occupies a chair to her right and then an older man is seated, hands clasped in a pointing motion, a cloth lying over one knee. A hat and cane are propped on another chair next to him. Another man with hair pulled up by the roots stands before the table, one arm raised emphatically, the other hand holding a book. One foot is leaving the ground as if the man is pacing. A pile of books and papers topped with a top hat are on the floor in the foreground of the illustration.
Illustration by Phiz of David learning shorthand from chapter 38 of David Copperfield

A brown sheet of tracing paper with holes punched down the left side. The outline of a smaller page torn from a notebook, also with holes punched down the left side, can be seen through the tracing paper. Written in black at the top is 'Dickens's Shorthand' and the date. 11 lines of shorthand characters in black ink are visible through the tracing paper. On top, written on the tracing paper layer, are potential transcriptions.
A tracing of a shorthand letter partially transcribed

A printed title page from a book. The paper shows age staining. The text is surrounded by decorative curls mimicking handwriting flourishes.
The title page of Gurney's Brachygraphy manual

Fourteen lines of Brachygraphy shorthand characters written in pencil fill three quarters of a notebook page. At the end of the fourteenth line is a long oblique line. Under the fourteenth line of shorthand is a long horizontal line, indicating the end of the exercise. In the top right corner is the number four, indicating the page number.
The second and final part of a ghost story written in shorthand about the apparition of a man's dying brother

Nineteen lines of Brachygraphy shorthand characters written in pencil fill the page of a notebook with 'The Two Brothers' written in longhand at the top. In the top right corner is the number six, indicating the page number.
The first part of a ghost story written in shorthand about the apparition of a man's dying brother

Notepaper headed in a gothic typeface 'Tavistock House, Tavistock Square, London, W.C'. On the paper, handwritten in ink, fifteen lines of Brachygraphy shorthand set in four paragraphs.
Shorthand copy of a letter that Dickens wrote to J. T. Delane, editor of The Times, in May 1859

A black and white illustration. In the foreground a small wooden rowing boat is being rowed by a young woman with dark hair blowing in the wind. She wears a simple dress and a cloak and is looking over her shoulder as she raises the oars out of the water. A man is at the back of the boat crouched with one hand on each side. He has a dark grizzly beard and hair. He is dressed in a shirt with the sleeves rolled up and trousers. In the background of the picture is a skyline of tall buildings and a church spire with tall ships in port in front. Another small rowing boat is coming in to frame from the left.
'The Bird of Prey' illustration taken from Our Mutual Friend

A page from a book. A box containing a black and white illustration takes up half of the page. Two short columns of printed text appear above and below the illustration. At the top of the page the heading reads 'MR. BOLTER AND FRIEND' and indicates the page number, 151. In the illustration a young man stands on a platform in the centre, hands on hips, knee slightly raised. A policeman stands on the floor to his right; he gestures with a right fist thumb out and holds his hat under his other arm. To the right, six ladies and gentlemen, with the implication of more behind them, lean over a wooden panelled seating area. To the left, an older man sits on a carved high back chair at a high bench. Four men work at desks below. One man is writing, one is hunched over the desk and two stand behind a slanted desk covered in papers.
An illustration of the Artful Dodger in court from the Household Edition of Oliver Twist

On the right-hand half of a folded sheet of paper is a letter neatly written in black ink on white paper, thin enough to see the words written overleaf. The joined up handwriting is neatly spaced in straight lines and easily decipherable. On the left-hand side, eight lines of Brachygraphy shorthand annotation are written about the stamp and address. Parts of the wax seal remain on the top left corner and bottom left edge.
A letter addressed to Charles Dickens from author William M. Thackeray with Dickens's reply noted in Brachygraphy shorthand

A page in a book. The paper shows age staining. On the page is printed a table. Above the table is the number three in brackets. The table is headed 'Arbitrary Characters for Prepositions and Terminations &c.' The table lists Brachygraphy characters in three narrow columns, each next to a wider column listing the accompanying definitions.
A table of shorthand symbols that stand for arbitrary characters
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