Shorthand on an old English letter

[ruthruss]

Hi there! I sadly do not know shorthand but have come across some on a couple of letters written by my great-great-grandfather in the 1920s. Can anyone help me decipher them? They are business letters but was hoping for some juicy morsel of scandal maybe(!) but either way, thank you!

[Kinsy]

Other people's shorthand is difficult to read without knowing the context, because the vowels are usually omitted, so the same outline could be any number of words using the same consonants.
And after not using s/hand for so many years, I've forgotten a lot - so the little I can decipher is very mundane
27/9 letter - last few words, after the small x (which is a full stop) "with kind regards yours faithfully"
28/9 letter - 1st line "Thank you very much for the .... £10."
2nd line "If the success of Pop should encourage you to ... ... ..."
3rd "(as I hope it will) it will ...) could? be that ... £10 ..."

But I'll keep staring at the jpgs for a wee while, and let you know if I figure out anything else.

[Whipby]

I’ve been trying to decipher the shorthand for you this last day or so, but like Kinsy says, without any context it’s really difficult.

I’m not sure what shorthand this is, but it certainly has elements of Pitman 2000, which is what I used to do.  It could also be Pitman New Era, which I can sometimes read as that seems to use many of the same principles as 2000 (I’m not sure which came first).

Could you please give us a little bit of background? What type of business would it have been?  I think I see the name Jack - would that mean anything? Where did the writer live? Any little detail that you can think of that might help!

In the meantime, I’ll keep plugging away too.

[ruthruss]

Hi Whipby,

Thank you so much for having a look. I'll post the letters in full. Here's a bit more context: Jack is John's eldest son. The letters were written in about 1905. John worked for Longmans, a publishing firm in London (he also lived there). The man John is writing to, David, is an old classmate of John's and they had written books together.

I wonder also if the "Pop" which Kinsey mentions is an acronym for Pride and Prejudice, as David was working on condensing it around this time.

Hopefully this helps!

[ruthruss]

Letter 1 with shorthand.

[ruthruss]

Letter 2 with shorthand

[Whipby]

Oh these are very interesting!

Are they carbon copies, which John kept and then wrote some shorthand on, or are they the actual letters that were received by David, and so the shorthand would be written by him?

[tillypeg]

I am fairly certain this is Pitman New Era which I learned in 1976.  The tiny crosses are full stops.  First letter:

The three dots (appear twice) as underlining are the writer's own short forms for something, perhaps when he wrote out the reply in long hand, it was to signify something else/fill in the number of anecdotes?

So far with the first one:

Message back  I have a ? number of anecdotes ready scribbelled.  I have

them [in the/now] ?.  Bertenshaw's "unseens" (like all the other "unseens"

in the market) are/which ever/serve? my purpose too? long and I ? enough.  ?

the students ? whatever have ready in any number? of edition? now have ready in

french ?  With kind regards, yours faithfully.

This is a start for someone else to build on but it seems just a straight forward reply.

[Kinsy]

To expand on tillypeg's excellent transcription:
My dear Jack, I have a [...] number of anecdotes ready ?selected. I will have them copied [...].  Bertenshaw's "unseens" (like all the other "unseens" in the market) are for my purpose too long and not pointed enough. To reproduce the ?substance I want of them ?? ready in any number? of edition?, now have ready in french ??.  With kind regards, yours faithfully