Browse Items · The Dickens Code

Typed letter Higenbottam/Carlton Page 2

A sheet of paper with three lines of typewritten print followed by a signature and postscript handwritten in black ink. The postscript is a line of Brachygraphy shorthand characters followed by a transcription.

The second page of a typed letter to Carlton from Higenbottam concerning their attempts to transcribe Dickens's shorthand

Tags: Frank Higenbottam, letters (correspondence), shorthand, transcription, William J. Carlton

Typed letter Higenbottam/Carlton Page 1

A sheet of paper headed 'Royal Museum & Public Library, Canterbury' with the organisation crest. A typewritten letter with date, address, recipient and twenty-five lines of writing arranged in three paragraphs. In the first paragraph, four Brachygraphy shorthand symbols are added by hand in black ink. The last paragraph continues onto the next page.

The first page of a typed letter to Carlton from Higenbottam concerning their attempts to transcribe Dickens's shorthand

Tags: Frank Higenbottam, letters (correspondence), shorthand, transcription, William J. Carlton

Traced shorthand letter with partial solution

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

Tags: Charles Dickens, letters (correspondence), shorthand, transcription

A page from Dickens's 1867 Pocket Diary

The right hand page of a small open book. Eight notes are written in different colours and shades of ink divided by underlining. Two of the notes are crossed out with heavy zig-zag lines. The second note on the page is three lines of Brachygraphy shorthand with 'Xmas 1855' written in longhand at the start.

A page from Dickens's 1867 Pocket Diary, including a shorthand note of a quotation later used in a speech

Tags: Charles Dickens, diary, shorthand

The Tavistock Letter

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

Tags: Charles Dickens, deciphered shorthand, letters (correspondence)

Page of Henry Fielding Dickens's Transcribed Shorthand Characters

A framed page. Handwritten in ink a narrow column of twenty Brachygraphy shorthand characters to the left. The meanings of the characters are written in English to the right. Brachygraphy characters in pencil appear faintly after some of the English words.

List of transcribed shorthand characters from Henry Fielding Dickens's lessons with his father

Tags: Henry Fielding Dickens, shorthand learning

Rules for Representing Vowels and a Table of Arbitrary Characters from Gurney's Brachygraphy manual

A page from a book. The paper shows age staining. On the page is a printed box divided in two halves horizontally. Above the box is the number two in brackets. The top box is titled 'Of the Vowels'. In it is writing in English and intermittent Brachygraphy characters. The bottom box is titled 'Arbitrary Characters' and contains two narrow columns of brachygraphy characters and their meanings in wider columns next to each. There are faint pencil markings in the top margin of Brachygraphy characters.

A description of how to represent vowels in the Brachygraphy shorthand system, as well as a list of arbitrary characters that begin with upper or lower case letters

Tags: brachygraphy, Gurney, manuals (instructional materials)

Title Page of Gurney's Brachygraphy manual

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

Tags: brachygraphy, Gurney, manuals (instructional materials), title page

Frontispiece portrait of Thomas Gurney

A black and white illustration on a book page. The illustration is of a man with a rounded face. He is wearing a white wig, necktie, waistcoat and jacket. He is smiling with mouth closed. His portrait is illustrated in an oval decorative frame. Beneath the frame are depictions of books, papers and a pen and ink stand. At the bottom of the illustration are the words 'Thomas Gurney' separated by a crest.

A portrait of Thomas Gurney, inventor of the Gurney shorthand system.

Tags: frontispiece, Gurney, illustration, manuals (instructional materials)

Table of 'Arbitrary Characters for Prepositions and Terminations' from Gurney's Brachygraphy manual

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

Tags: brachygraphy, Gurney, manuals (instructional materials), shorthand

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