US vs UK editions of Gregg

In order get a bit more reading practice in Simplified Gregg, I ordered a number of manuals which are slowly trickling in (postage from the US to Germany takes quite a while).

Among other things, I had ordered both a 1st edition and a 2nd edition of the Gregg Shorthand Manual Simplified, since I had read that about 50% of the texts are different, so it would be useful for reading practice to have both.

The 2nd edition one came fairly quickly (it was in stock at amazon.de) and the 1st edition one came today, from England.

I was surprised to read in the preface that it was a UK edition! I didn’t know they made special UK editions of the manuals.

A brief look through showed some differences, such as the number practises had pound values instead of dollar values, and the “principal cities” had some UK ones instead of US ones, and I think there’s an extra section on city name endings (I remembered the -ington one from my skim through the 2nd edition manual but not the one before about -chester, -port, and a couple of others).

In the section about punctuation, though, it talked about a “period” instead of a “full stop” 🙂

I haven’t read it carefully enough to see whether it uses UK spelling of things such as “favour” or “theatre”.

Is anyone else aware of other US/UK differences in Gregg manuals? Does this only affect Simplified or also other versions? Is it just the main manual?

(by Philip for
group greggshorthand)

 


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2 comments Add yours
  1. Ah – I had seen that the plates were by someone else but assumed this was due to the fact that this was a first edition. Apparently it's due to the fact that it's a UK edition instead.

    And the passages are different, too? Then it might be worth trying to get hold of a US first edition Simplified manual, too, for three different takes at things (US 1st, UK 1st, US 2nd).

    "There were other UK-specific books published for Simplified (speed building, dictation, advanced dictation, speed studies), however, be aware that although the material is different, the number of lessons and the content in these manuals is slighly reduced as compared to the US versions."

    Ah – so I'll have to pay attention to whether I get hold of things from a UK or a US address.

    I think I ordered most of my material from US sellers so I expect I'll get the more expanded versions.

    Still, very interesting about the differences! I'll try to keep an eye out and see whether I can spot any more potential UK editions on the used-book market.

  2. Yes. Gregg Publishing made country-specific manuals for the Canadian, UK, and Australian markets. The UK specific manuals are available for the Pre-Anniversary (called the "Victory" edition in the UK market), Anniversary, and Simplified versions. Not only the passages were different, but the plate writer was William Blackwell, who worked for Gregg Publishing in the UK. I haven't seen UK-specific DJS or S90 manuals, but I've seen an Australian version of DJS covering both the main manual and the dictation book. There is also a UK version of the Graded Readings for Anniversary. There were other UK-specific books published for Simplified (speed building, dictation, advanced dictation, speed studies), however, be aware that although the material is different, the number of lessons and the content in these manuals is slighly reduced as compared to the US versions.

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