These images are of inscriptions on the fly-leaves of Edward Everett Hale’s The Story of Spain (New York: Putnam, 1886), Franklin in France (Boston: Roberts Bros., 1887-88), and Tarry at Home Travels (New York: Macmillan, 1906) from the author to his personal assistant, Harriet E. Freeman (1847-1930). Hale (1822-1909) was a Unitarian minister and a popular author and speaker. They represent three of at least 11 books by Hale with inscriptions to Freeman in Andover-Harvard Theological Library that hint that her role in the writing of these books was not merely secretarial, even though she is not acknowledged in the printed work. The first image also includes two lines in Pitman shorthand, widely used at the time not only by secretaries but by members of the clergy.
Comments
Hale & Freeman's shorthand method
According to Sara Day in footnote 52 of her article "Harriet E. Freeman and the Larger Life of Edward Everett Hale" (Journal Of Unitarian Universalist History 32, [January 2008]: 21-90), Hale and Freeman's shorthand method was the one promoted by Thomas Towndrow. Several editions of his A Complete Guide to the Art of Writing Short-Hand are available in Google Books.
In footnote 56, Day notes "Other scholars will need to decide whether "writing" meant merely writing from his dictation, making a fair copy his impossible handwriting, or actually creating. Her handwriting will also be seen in many of his literary manuscripts."
Edward Everett Hale's Inscriptions to Harriet E. Freeman
I appreciate the correction made for the actual shorthand used by Hale and Freeman as cited in my 2008 article for the Journal of Unitarian Universalist History. The question of their literary collaboration is a major theme of my forthcoming book (working title Coded Letters, Concealed Love). Sara Day