FIFTY MYSTERIOUS POSTCARDS

What looks like scribble was often written in shorthand to withhold secrets that the sender was at pains to hide from postman, servants or anyone else living at the recipient's address. The lines, circles, ticks, hooks, dots and dashes of Pitman shorthand used by some postcard writers during the early 20th century are obscure to most people today. Could the mysterious messages contain scandalous gossip, tales of adventure or declarations of undying love? Here are intriguing 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, actresses, mysteries, sweethearts, holidays, the First World War or just plain boring observations of ordinary people to life once more. The images on the postcards are fascinating in themselves with Edwardian families wearing their Sunday Best on the beach and crowds of holidaymakers walking along promenades in familiar places around Britain, or just of kittens! 122 page large landscape softback.