Shorthand mentioned in books

[Deb]

I'm reading "Whose Body? (Lord Peter Wimsey Series Book 1)" by Dorothy L. Sayers and wanted to share this quote with you.

"Mr. John P. Milligan, the London representative of the great Milligan railroad and shipping company, was dictating code cables to his secretary in an office in Lombard Street"

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[Deb]

From the book: Christie, Agatha. An Autobiography . William Morrow Paperbacks. Kindle Edition.


But we were happy there, and I planned to take a course of shorthand and book-keeping which would occupy my days. So it was goodbye to Ashfield and the start of my new life, my married life.

I enjoyed learning shorthand and book-keeping. I was humiliated by the ease with which little girls of fourteen and fifteen progressed in shorthand; at book-keeping, however, I could hold my own, and it was fun.

[As I recall, I don't believe she never did any office work, I think WW One started and she worked as a 'nurse', got sick so then worked in a type of pharmacy, which explains why she uses poison in many of her novels.]

[later in the book she was looking for an assistant:]
and I could then have a secretary shorthand-typist for some hours at my beck and call. Perhaps I should be able to dictate my literary works. It seemed a good idea. I put an advertisement in the paper, asking for someone who would look after a child of five, shortly to go to school, and act as secretary shorthand-typist–I added ‘Scottish preferred’.

[one person she interviewed:]
She knew shorthand and typing, but had not had much experience recently in shorthand.

[the person she hired:]
Although she had taken a shorthand-typing course she had never had much practice in it, and indeed had tried to refresh her skills by taking down sermons. She was terrified that I would rush along at a terrific pace–but nobody could have found any difficulty in taking down what I was saying. They could have written it in longhand.

[later she said she preferred to type or handwrite her novels as she didn't like the sound of her own voice. However, she tried a Dictaphone when she broke her wrist:]
The disadvantage of a dictaphone or tape recorder, however, is that it encourages you to be much too verbose.




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Those were the only searches I could find in "shorthand" and I finished it last year, so I can't remember if there was anything more.

[Deb]

Murder, She Wrote: Rum and Razors (Murder She Wrote Book 3)" by Jessica Fletcher, Donald Bain...

Jessica Fletcher, Mystery writer and mystery solver:
"I jotted down in my own brand of shorthand everything that had happened..."