I have received this book today. It is copyright 1940 by the Gregg Publishing Company Ltd (Gregg House, 51 Russell Square, London WC1) and was printed by Morrison and Gibb Ltd, (London and Edinburgh).
It contains 122 numbered pages, preceded by a preface and 'A Talk With The Beginner'. Inside the front cover of the book, there is a chart of Brief Forms, and at the back a chart of Most Used Phrases.
There are 10 chapters, broken down into 30 units, and two appendices: 'Keys to Frequent-Word Drills' and 'Keys to Word Drills'.
Although I am not very familiar with the 1929 Anniversary Manual, I have already noticed that there is at least one difference: in the Rapid Course, the vowel combinations ea and ia are both represented by the large circle with a dot placed inside, whereas in the Anniversary Manual, this is used for ia only; ea has a dash.
Also, I don't think the chapters and units correspond the Anni Manual, although in the preface, Dr Gregg says they do; perhaps the UK edition was different from the US version?
Anyway, yet another Gregg Shorthand book added to my collection.
The book I really want to see is the unpublished New Standard Course which Dr Gregg was preparing when he passed away, and was evidently used by Leslie and Zoubek as a basis for the Simplified Manual. Please can somebody go to the New York Public Library and ask to see the John Robert Gregg Papers, Manuscripts and Archives? There appears to be a draft copy in box 65. You could make a copy of this important work and share it with the group and make me very happy :) (I can't as a live in the UK, otherwise I would.)
Labels: anniversary, general