This month our shorthand page has a longhand date, rather than a longhand title. What does this suggest about the type of document we might be dealing with? Download an entry form and have a go!
Deadline: 30 November 2022
Blog
Transcription for ‘Travelling’ part II
Download the shorthand transcript for ‘Travelling’ part II here, which has been solved with the help of the Dickens Decoders.
‘Travelling’ part III
Where will these ‘travels’ take us? Help us to find out by taking part in our #SolveItDickens challenge for October, which focuses on the third part of ‘Travelling’.
Deadline: 31 October 2022
The great dictator – was Dickens reading texts to Arthur or improvising them?
How did Dickens teach his pupil, Arthur Stone, shorthand? Was he reading texts aloud, or improvising them, or both? Professor Hugo Bowles ponders some of the possibilities.
Transcriptions for ‘Anecdote’ parts I and II and ‘Travelling’ part I
Download the latest shorthand transcripts, including line-by-line solutions for ‘Anecdote’ parts I and II and the first page of ‘Travelling’. Thanks to all of the Dickens Decoders who made these transcripts possible.
‘Travelling’ part II
Our September #SolveItDickens challenge turns to the second part of ‘Travelling’. How does the text continue? We’ll need to transcribe the shorthand to find out!
Deadline: 3 October 2022
Telling Tales: Dictation, Gossip, Fact, and Fiction
Is it important that Dickens is dictating to his shorthand pupil, Arthur Stone, in the texts that our Dickens Decoders have transcribed? In the first of two blogs, Professor Hugo Bowles thinks through the implications of these texts as spoken stories, as well as the role of dictation, gossip, fact, and fiction.
‘Travelling’ part I
Our August #SolveItDickens challenge focuses on ‘Travelling’ part I. What is this shorthand dictation exercise about? Is it a travelogue or something else? We’ll need to transcribe the text to find out!
Deadline: 2 September 2022
‘Anecdote’ part II
Our July #SolveItDickens challenge focuses on ‘Anecdote’ part II. How does this story end? We’ll need to transcribe the text to find out!
Deadline: 31 June 2022
‘You have seen me before tonight’: Transcribing ‘The Two Brothers’ part II
We thought the mystery of ‘The Two Brothers’ was solved when the amazing work of the Dickens Decoders produced a full transcript of part II. But, thanks to two eagle eyed decoders, it soon emerged that it wasn’t just the ghost of the Slough brother that we’d ‘seen […] before tonight’. Find out more and download a full transcript.