Fifty Mysterious Postcards : Pitman Shorthand Messages from the Golden Age of the Postcard

Author: Baird, Kathryn

c 1914 to c 1918 (including WW1)

Published on 15 September 2022 by The History Press Ltd in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 99 Illustrations, colour
197 x 217 x 13 | 352g

The lines, circles, ticks, hooks, dots and dashes of Pitman shorthand used by some postcard writers during the early twentieth century are obscure to most people. Could the mysterious messages contain scandalous gossip, tales of adventure or declarations of undying love?Fifty Mysterious Postcards presents fascinating examples from the 'Golden Age' of the postcard, each with a message written in the dying art of Pitman shorthand. The rules of Pitman have changed since the postcards were written and posted over 100 years ago, but careful transcription has unlocked their meaning to bring stories of penfriends, sweethearts, holidays and the First World War to life once more.