Download the shorthand transcript for ‘Travelling’ part II here, which has been solved with the help of the Dickens Decoders.
Deciphered shorthand
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.
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 a series of three 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.
‘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.
‘So […] fiction may have had some foundation of truth in it’: Transcribing ‘Nelson’ part II
The Dickens Decoders have done it again! Find out what happens next in ‘Nelson’ part II and download a near complete transcript.
‘Some circumstances connected with the death of Nelson’
Our Dickens Decoders have transcribed the first page of a shorthand exercise titled ‘Nelson’. Find out more about and download a line-by-line transcription.
Decoding the Tavistock letter, or, Dickens and the ‘dark arts of Victorian media management’
The secrets of the Tavistock letter are finally revealed, thanks to the amazing work of our Dickens Decoders. Find out more and download a transcript of the letter in this post.
The story of ‘The Two Brothers’
This shorthand exercise begins ‘I once heard a story’, but a story about what?
Find out more about this haunting tale of ‘The Two Brothers’ and download a transcript in this post.
The story of ‘Sydney Smith’
What in the world was this dictation exercise, labelled ‘Sydney Smith’, about? Was Dickens writing about his son? His friend, Sydney Smith? Or something else?
Find out more and download a full transcript in this post.