Other Shorthand Improvements Between 1602 and 1707 (Shorthand Part 9)

1644 — Theophilus Metcalf 
Theophilus Metcalfe published the 6th edition of his Radio-Stenography in 1645. He is the first author to suggest leaving out the small words "the" and "of," words that can be supplied from context or memory to speed writing.

1659 — Noah Bridges
Noah Bridges published Stenographie and Cryptographie in 1659. His is the first system to represent medial vowels with dots. He represented initial vowels by alphabet sign and final vowels with dots.

1674 — Elisha Coles
Elisha Coles published The Newest, Plainest and Shortest Shorthand in 1674. Coles was the first shorthand author to suggest position writing or writing on ruled paper which gives three distinct writing positions: above the line, on the line, and below the line.

Coles thought the greatest obstacle to shorthand speed was monosyllables. In his system, writing a vowel sign above, on, or below the line corresponded to certain monosyllabic words. For example, an A written above the line represented the words add, aid, and, age, arch, ash, ark, and ask.

Jeremiah Rich (Shorthand Part 8)

Summary:
Jeremiah Rich (d. ~1660) was most likely from a good family because he dedicated his 1659 Penns Dexterity to the “Right Honourable Lady Mary Rich,” the Countess of Warwick and a likely relative with whom he probably lived as a tutor. Rich learned shorthand from his uncle, William Cartwright, became a well-known practitioner, and is one of the earliest known reporters of trails. Jeremiah Rich published his shorthand system in the following books:
• Semography in 1642.
• Charactery in 1646.
• Semigraphy or Arts Rarity in 1654.
• The World’s Rarity before 1660.
• The Penns [Pen's] Dexterity in 1659.

Unfortunately, Jeremiah Rich was not the inventor of his shorthand system; it was developed by his uncle, William Cartwright. While Rich published Semography, the author of the system is clearly William Cartwright. The later portion of Semography’s subtitle reads:

"…Invented and composed for the benefit of others by the Author hereof William Cartwright, and is now set forth and published by his nephew, Ieremiah Rich, immediate next to the Author deceased…"

While Jeremiah Rich did not author the system, he did popularize it. Cornelius Walford, a President of the Shorthand Society of London, in The Phonetic Journal (Feb. 21, 1885) stated:

“[Jeremiah] Rich did a great deal to popularize stenography in the United Kingdom during the second half of the 17th century is absolutely clear; and I have reason to suppose from various manuscripts and shorthand notes in books that a great many of the learned professors at the Universities became familiar with and practiced his system.”

Pen's Dexterity Alphabet:
The alphabet is based on the 1627 alphabet of Edmond Willis 

Pen's Dexterity Vowel Expression:
Initial vowels were expressed by alphabet sign. Medial vowels were expressed by “Vowel Mode” using the following four positions based on spelling or best represented sound. Final vowels were expressed by dots in the Vowel Mode position. The vowel E was omitted it for ef-, el-, em-, en-, er-. es-, ex-, be-, de-, ge-, pe-, and te-. When written medially, E was represented by a small joined circle. Final E was written as a dot in the I vowel position.

Resources:
1. Dictionary of National Biography. 2nd Edition (1909), Vol. 16, page 1000-1001
2. A History of Shorthand by Isaac Pitman (1891), page 21 to 26
3. “A Critical and Historical Account of the Art of Shorthand” The National Stenographer
    (Dec 1882)
4. Story of British Shorthand by Edward Butler. 1951. Pages 38 to 40.
5. Pen’s Dexterity (1690)

Thomas Shelton (Shorthand Part 7)

Summary:
While Thomas Shelton (1601 to 1650) came from an affluent Norfolk family, he himself was not of independent means.

Thomas Shelton published “Short Writing” in 1626 (2nd Ed 1630; 3rd Ed 1636). Shelton improved his shorthand system and published his most well known work “Tachygraphy” in 1638. It was republished in 1641 along with a primer, “A Tutor of Tachygraphy” (1642). Tachygraphy was popular with more than twenty editions between 1641 and 1710. Thomas Shelton published “Zeiglographia” in 1650.

Tachygraphy Alphabet:

The Tachygraphy alphabet is based on the 1627 alphabet of Edmond Willis. The alphabet signs were written all the same size, unlike the previous systems where the first alphabet sign was written large than the rest to indicate where the outline began.

Tachygraphy contained improvements like excluding the E from the prefixes of em-, en-, es-, and ex-. It also contained about 300 symbols for common words and suffixes that a student had to learn by rote.


Tachygraphy Vowel Expression:
Initial vowels were expressed by alphabet sign. Medial vowels were expressed by “Vowel Mode” using the following five positions based on spelling or best represented sound. Final vowels were expressed by dots in the Vowel Mode position.

Resources:
1. Dictionary of National Biography. 2nd Edition (1909). Vol. 18, pgs. 45 & 46.
2. A History of Shorthand by Isaac Pitman (1891)
3. “A Critical and Historical Account of the Art of Shorthand” The National Stenographer
    (Nov 1882)
4. Story of British Shorthand by Edward Butler. 1951. Pgs. 26 to 28.
5. A Tutor of Tachygraphy, 1642