Fifty Mysterious Postcards : The History Press : 9781803990460 : 1803990465 : 15 Sep 2022 : Pitman Shorthand was developed by Sir Isaac Pitman from 1837 and became the most popular shorthand system in Britain. Many travellers adopted it to send complex messages, whether to maximise available writing space or avail themselves of the secrecy it afforded. This beautifully designed book presents fifty postcards from the golden age of the postcard, each with a message written in Pitman Shorthand. The rules of Pitman have changed since these postcards were written, and Kathryn Baird's careful transcription has unlocked these mysterious old messages, written between 1901 and 1917: stories of penfriends, sweethearts, holidays and the First World War. This nostalgic and poignant record captures a dying art.