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Instruction Books
Phrasing Books
Vocabulary Books
Old
Shorthand
Instruction Books
The current New Era textbooks generally
available are:
-
Anniversary Edition (Audrey
O'Dea) (the main text book)
-
Anniversary Edition Key
(Audrey O'Dea)
-
Anniversary Workbooks 1 (B
Canning) and 2 (Pitman)
-
Anniversary Facility Drill book
(Julie Watson)
-
Small Pocket
Dictionary (Addison Wesley Longman)
-
Rapid Review & Speed
Development (Bryan Coombs)
"Anniversary" refers to the
anniversary of the publishers in 1988, and does not signify any
change in the shorthand itself, which remains New Era. I have not discovered any other New Era books currently
in print, and second-hand books must be relied upon to provide
extra reading and learning material.
(Note that in Gregg
Shorthand the title "Anniversary" does refer to a particular version
of the rules of that system.)
Modern glue-spined textbooks
need bending with
vigour at every few pages until the book lies flat. If it then
refuses to stay closed, so be it – you cannot learn from it peeping
through the crack between the pages.
The older New Era books
that you find on Ebay (especially plentiful on Ebay UK) and in secondhand
bookshops will teach you
exactly the same New Era Shorthand as the modern book and your learning will not be
disadvantaged in the least. Ebay prices for the older books can be
extremely favourable, releasing your hard-earned cash for that special
pen. I believe the print and presentation in the older books are
much clearer, and they have the important advantage that they lie
flat on the desk, leaving your hands free to copy and write. The
titles are:
-
New Course - The most "modern" after the Anniversary book
above, and using approx the 2,000 commonest words
-
Shorthand Instructor
- This is the most comprehensive of all the instruction books
The New Era version of the Shorthand Instructor is now available
as free PDF download
https://archive.org/details/pitmansshorthand00pitm (please
also see their terms of use)
-
Shorthand Manual -
This is Part 1 of the Instructor (first 30 chapters) - All the
rules
-
Shorthand Reporter -
This is Part 2 of the Instructor - More phrases and
abbreviations for the verbatim writer
-
Modern
Course (with or without exercises) - This book restricts its vocabulary
to the more common words
-
Rapid Course
-
Rapid Course, Complete
Edition with Supplementary Exercises - Extra 80 pages of
exercises and vocabulary building graded to the lessons
-
Commercial Course
(with or without exercises) - Slim volume with the basics
-
Shorthand School Edition
- Slim volume with the basics
-
Teach Yourself Shorthand
The subject matter of the practice passages
reflects the time in which they were written. The occasional
antiquated term provides amusement but in no way lessens the usefulness of the books.
The publication entitled "The
New Shorthand Teacher" is not a book for teachers, but a thin
booklet that repeats the first 8 chapters of the New Course, after
which students are expected to follow the New Course book for
chapter 9 onwards. I can only guess that this may have been an
economical way to introduce the subject – by the end of chapter 8,
the student or college would know for certain whether the expense of
providing the full book was justified; or it may be that these
lightweight booklets needed to be mailed to students. (There are
also pre-New Era booklets called "The Shorthand Teacher" and "The
Phonographic Teacher" which give full, if condensed, instruction for
beginners, covering the older 1800's versions of Pitman's Shorthand.)
The pages may be ink-marked,
creased or annotated, but the previous shorthand learner would be
delighted to know that it is in the hands of someone who values the
contents, just as they did. In any case, you will be transferring it
all to your memory, where it will remain fresh and alive, growing
and improving, and endlessly useful!
Both teaching the self-same identical
no-difference New Era shorthand. The presentation wording and practice passages
are entirely different, with the language style reflecting their
different dates, but the theory is the same.
Phrasing Books
"Guide to Phrasing" by June Swann (Official Court Reporter),
which is a rewrite of the original "The New Phonographic Phrase
Book" by Emily D Smith. I learned from these in the 1970's. They
are both equally useful and very similar in content (you do not need
to buy both) with full
explanations of the principles, long lists of sample phrases and
some practice material. A pen lift is equivalent to writing an extra
stroke, and phrasing avoids this.
Any shorthand book by high
speed (250 wpm) writer Emily D Smith is worth buying, they are all very good
and packed with useful information, and their small slim size belies
their highly valuable content:
"Speed in Pitman's
Shorthand" Emily D Smith, detailing techniques and attitude
necessary to become a proficient high speed writer.
"Guide to High Speed
Writing" by E D Smith and A J Munro,
similar to above but smaller volume.
"The Expert Shorthand
Writer" by E D Smith, similar content to above but more
chatty, is written entirely in 700 common words
shorthand, in a loose handwritten style, with no longhand other than
the introduction and chapter subject list.
Vocabulary
Books
"Pitman's Shorthand
Writing Exercises and Examination Tests - a
series of graduated exercises on every rule in the system."
This book is extremely useful
for the ultimate in vocabulary extension. Despite the dry-sounding title, the main
content is extensive vocabulary lists illustrating every rule of the system, as
well as the counted practice passages. Learning outlines grouped by the rule
they follow is the ideal, far better than practising by subject matter,
alphabetically or random. The Key book provides the shorthand, so you need both
to get maximum benefit. These are old books that need searching out on
internet bookshops, and do check that the books are "New Era" before buying.
Main book: longhand (219 pages) – Key:
shorthand (272 pages)
Half inch thick and solid gold for the serious shorthand student
Old Shorthand
If you are interested in
pre-New Era versions of Pitman's Shorthand (anything before 1922), I suggest you learn New
Era thoroughly, and do your dabbling afterwards, as rules have been
revised over time, especially the placement of vowels and positions
of outlines, rather major things to get confused over if you are
still learning. The place to find all the pre-New Era books is
www.archive.org where you can
read online or download most of them as PDFs, without having to buy
expensive and fragile antique books. The text-only versions of the files are often
peppered with OCR mistakes, as the letterpress pages are not always
sharp, and of course the OCR makes mincemeat of the actual
shorthand.
Some of these are being offered
as modern reprints of the free PDFs, so caution is required to
ensure you know what you are getting, and it is unlikely to be New
Era, other than the particular Instructor mentioned above.
Many of the 19th century books
attempt to combine practice passages with moral instruction and this
can be either amusing, annoying or educational, depending on whether
you agree with it. Despite the sometimes condescending tone of the
advice, the text keys to the passages can be enjoyed without any
knowledge of shorthand and they give an interesting insight into the attitudes
of the times, where self-improvement was encouraged for all.
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