Shorthand - can you help decipher?

[Deb D]

Well done, Stenog!

Fascinating!

[chinakay]

I wonder if the name of the horse was Rory. From Black Beauty.

[stenog]

I wonder if the name of the horse was Rory. From Black Beauty.

There you go! Thank you. The shorthand outline is very clear in its vowel pointing of the first vowel as ('a'): R-A-R-{E/U, indistinct}-Y. But of course it's also used for the `aw' sound in the word `law' in line 13, though there reinforced with the sign for `w'. Can't believe I missed it!

Thanks again.

S.

[HeatherLynne]

What a fascinating thread!  Great work Stenog!   I learnt Pitman New Era in the late 1970s and thought I could read a few words here and there.  The clearest being the last word in brackets on 1v.18 which appeared to be "carefulness" but turns out to be "Hawkins"!   

Just a thought, but the numbers that are transcribed as "1/<?>" in 1v.10, 2r.04 and 2.r06 are likely to be 1/2 or 1/4 as they are times.  However as the writer has put 'half' in shorthand at the end of line 1v.02 perhaps these are more likely to be 1/4 or even 1/Q (a quick version of writing one quarter) 

Heather 

[yelkcub]

I have written to Sean off-list to express my gratitude for his magnificent effort in transcribing these shorthand leaves from James Page’s notebook, circa 1876. Not only did he manage to identify, from many possibilities, the system of shorthand employed by James Page, but then went on to decipher, from a poor, smudged copy of the original, a fascinating glimpse into the life and character of a multi-faceted, historically important citizen of South Australia at a key moment in the colony’s history.
Sean – it’s a little early in the day to raise a glass to you, so I raise my coffee cup instead with a heartfelt thankyou. IAN

[stenog]

...
Just a thought, but the numbers that are transcribed as "1/<?>" in 1v.10, 2r.04 and 2.r06 are likely to be 1/2 or 1/4 as they are times.  However as the writer has put 'half' in shorthand at the end of line 1v.02 perhaps these are more likely to be 1/4 or even 1/Q (a quick version of writing one quarter) 

Yes, it is possible to pin the numbers down a little more than I have let on. You are right that the fractions are either 1/2 or 1/4. In fact the numeral `2' seems to be the only one which coincides with Lewis's published system, and all the 1/<?> fractions in the text use this symbol. However, there are too many plausible solutions (and many more implausible) to make listing them all useful.That the diarist spells out `half' at one point is slightly inconsistent, but then it's just a journal.

Code-breakers amongst you can have some fun comparing the symbols in the text with the <?>-s in the transcription. They all have two little strokes under them in the shorthand, so are easy to spot. There are two consecutive dates, and the phrase `<?> or <?> miles', also likely two consecutive numbers.

For what it's worth, here's the page from Lewis's flamboyant manual concerning his number system. Although it looks like the diarist follows much of this system, it quickly becomes apparent that he doesn't!

Good luck!

S.

[HeatherLynne]

Thanks for posting the 'Fifth Lesson', it's really interesting to see the logic behind how numbers were written in this system.  Numbers always slowed me down when writing Pitman as the normal numerical symbols 1, 2, 3 etc were too well ingrained in my head to write numbers phonetically 

I looked up the calendar for 1876 to see if that gave a clue to the numbers against Saturday and Sunday, guessing that they might be poorly written versions of 3 and 4 but it seems December 1876 had Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd   

http://www.historyorb.com/date/1876/december

I also looked at December 1875 in case this was written a while after but that doesn't fit either 

Intriguing!
Heather 

[yelkcub]

I'm glad that this point has been raised. I note from Sean's transcript that James Page set off on his weekend in the Hills from Port Adelaide, where he was presumably living at the time. Reading through other notes from my Australian correspondents, I find that James Page moved to Mitcham, South Australia, in 1868. Therefore, if my logic is working, the trip outlined in the shorthand notes must have been sometime before 1868, not in 1876 as I was informed. How does that affect our understanding of James's system of numeration?

[stenog]

... I note from Sean's transcript that James Page set off on his weekend in the Hills from Port Adelaide, where he was presumably living at the time.

Not necessarily. He could have been on business during the week in Port A, and started his weekend directly from work.

S.