Which Anniversary books are worth looking for?

Having become a bit of a GS Anniversary used book addict :-), I keep looking on eBay and at the used books at Amazon, Abebooks, alibris, etc.

I have already purchased:

Anniversary – Functional Method Part 1
Anniversary – Functional Method Part 2
Gregg Shorthand – Anniversary Edition (for reference)
Gregg Shorthand Dictionary
5,000 Most Used Shorthand Forms
Fundamental Drills in Gregg Shorthand for Reading, Writing and Transcription
    with the key printed from a pdf file on this site.
Gregg Speed Studies – 3rd edition
Graded Readings in Gregg Shorthand (1930) by Alice Hunter
Progressive  Exercises with Key (1929) that was one of the pdf files I found here.
Functional Method Dictation
Shorthand Dictation Studies by Wallace Bowman

From Carlos’ very useful pdf file showing the covers of all the GS books – categorized by “system” – the following are the other Anniversary books.

Are any of these worth purchasing/looking for?

Which would be the most useful and/or most interesting?

Which are redundant to the ones I already own?  Or redundant to each other ? (i.e. all of the Speed Building books on the list)

Some seem to be readily available… others I have yet to see for sale.

Gregg Shorthand Phrase Book
Word and Sentence Drills in Gregg Shorthand
Brief Form Drills
Dictation for Beginners
Rational Dictation Studies – 1943
Gregg Dictation and Transcription
Transcription Drills
Graphic Transcription
Gregg Speed Building
Gregg Speed Building – New and Revised Edition
Gregg Speed Building One Year Course – 1940
Gregg Speed Building College Course – 1942
Gregg Speed Building for Colleges (Revised Edition)
Speed Drills in Gregg Shorthand
Expert Shorthand Speed Course
Gregg Reporting Course

I won’t live long enough to use all of these, but it’s fun to be on the prowl to find them.

Which would be the top 3 or 4 or 5 to buy? 

The one that “calls” to me at the moment is Gregg Shorthand Phrase Book.  But I shall await your advice/opinions.


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5 comments Add yours
  1. The phrase book is a great reference. Gregg Speed Building for Colleges (Revised Edition) and Speed Drills in Gregg Shorthand are meant for later study. The Expert Shorthand Speed Course and Gregg Reporting Course are for those students wanting to be reporters. They are very rare.

  2. Rare? Cool… I purchased a fairly "pristine" copy of Expert Shorthand Speed Course" last year when I went on my shorthand book buying spree 🙂

    But, mine is Simplified Edition… Is it just as rare?

  3. Essentially the Simplified edition of Expert Shorthand Speed Course is a mild revision of the Anniversary version with some words and phrases rewritten in "simplified" form. Both versions are excellent with great practice material. IMHO the Diamond Jubilee version is much inverior on all counts because it abandons the interesting reading and dictation material in favor of business correspondence that a regular stenographer in an office would use rather than a professional reporter. Also I'm sure anyone familiar with the various Gregg versions will acknowledge that DJ has weakened the speed ability possible because too many shortcuts have been abandoned.

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