Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Life of Sir Isaac Pitman (Inventor of Phonography)
IN the illustrious roll of inventors who have in our own age conferred great and varied benefits on their country, the name of Sir Isaac Pitman occupies a unique position, as the originator of a method of brief writing as widely used as the language in which it is written. His bold experi ment of giving to the world a system of shorthand having an absolutely phonetic basis was an immediate success, and for seventy years it has proved of inestimable service for every purpose for which a written record is desired, and has become the standard method of English short hand. He did not live to see success attend his proposals for a drastic reform of English spelling on a strictly phonetic basis. But it is only just to his memory to point out that, to his work as a pioneer, is to a large extent due the revived interest in Simplified spelling manifested in our own time.
The life story of Sir Isaac Pitman has been related in many forms, but not hitherto with the completeness which has been attempted in the present volume. The author's thanks are due to Sir Isaac's family for placing at his disposal all the personal records in their possession. Mr. Henry Pitman, younger brother of the Inventor of Phonography, gave valuable information On many points. From the writings of Mr.
Benn Pitman assistance was derived in relation to his early reminiscences of his brother. The Biography of Isaac Pitman, written by Mr.. T. A. Reed in 1890, comprises a large amount of information which would not have been recorded at all but for his industrious pen, and this work has of necessity been freely drawn on.
Later information on the birthplace of Isaac Pitman points to the fact that he was born before his family moved to Timbrell street, Trowbridge (page While the Life was appearing in serial form some further facts came to the author's knowledge relative to the presentation to Mr. G. J. Holyoake (page There is no doubt that Isaac Pitman Visited Birmingham in the year of the presentation, and that a certain Mr. Pitman made the gift to young Holyoake. But whether he was really the Inventor of Phonography (as Mr. Holyoake believed and wrote) appears to be doubtful.
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