The Shorthand of Charles Dickens

At the age of sixteen Charles Dickens decided to learn the Brachygraphy shorthand and trained himself to write shorter and faster. That it poses many difficulties can be read in his novel David Copperfield where the main character is frustrated by applying shorthand.

The first part of this book shows a summary of shorthand and universal language in general and the second part shows the Gurney shorthand system by working out text examples. Then some of the examples of shorthand notes and letters by Dickens are shown and dissected into their separate syllables.