A History of Shorthand (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1891 Excerpt: ...before upward /, and a list of about 500 best outlines was added to the " Manual of Phonography." The instruction book of the system first received the title, " A Manual of Phonography," in the fifth edition. 1837? Erdmann, a German stenographer. The following account of Erdmann's system is copied from "The Stenographic Standards;" by E. Ventriss, a small work containing four systems, those of Mason, Byrom, Taylor, and Mavor. "The announcement of Dr Erdmann's new shorthand in two continental literary periodicals, and the high commendations therein expressed of its simplicity, neatness and brevity, connected with the praise of a most respectable English journal, induced us to procure a copy of the work from Germany; and, without expressing any opinion of our own on its merits or demerits, we have translated all that may be considered essential for its full comprehension, and adapted it to the English alphabet. The following is the explanation in the words (translated) of the author: --"As substitutes for letters, I adopted the simplest of all signs, the dot and the dash; and that they may suffice for expressing the twenty-five letters, I make each of them denote several letters. This is done in two different ways, by varying either the direction or the position of the sign. As to varying the direction, this is, of course, practicable with the dash only, and that according as it is made horizontal, perpendicular, or oblique, from left to right, upward or downward. By this means, I, nevertheless, obtain five signs, including the dot. As I give to each of these a five-fold position, they suffice exactly for denoting twenty-five letters. This five-fold position is determined, as in musical notation, by parallel horizontal l...