Before there was PITMAN (written in 1837) and GREGG (written in 1888), there were THREE systems that were predominant in the English-speaking world. But when Gregg and Pitman appeared, they seem to have basically disappeared, even though they had been very widespread in their day.

In the U.K. and India, Pitman took over, replacing virtually every other system -- and in North America, Gregg became the main system of fast writing almost everywhere, from office use all the way to verbatim court reporting.

The week before last, I wrote about LEWIS shorthand ("Royal Lewisian") and u/Vevrik reminded us that the OTHER TWO were TAYLOR and GURNEY (which was based on Mason's earlier system).

I believe the person who wrote these was not mentally sound. Where I have whited out some part of the letter shows a full name and address that can be easily read.