[CW] Phillips Code

[Richard Knoppow]

     I got my reprint copy of The Phillips Code published by 
Franklin Classics. Reminds me of Franklin Mint and may be the 
same company. The book is a facsimile of the original 1879 
edition. Pretty well printed but I wonder if its complete. This 
has a list of the abbreviations and the words or phrases they 
stand for but it goes only one way. I wonder if the original had 
two lists, one the reverse of the other, i.e. words and phrases 
in order with the abbreviations following. I am sure there must 
have been an introduction of some sort and, at a guess, 
advertising in the back. So, I am satisfied although the same 
material is available off the web.
     I wonder if anyone has an original edition of any age and 
could tell me what it consists of. Vibroplex used to advertise 
Phillips code booklets for years. Someone, somewhere, must have 
an original even if its not a first edition and could answer my 
questions.
    FWIW, there are no numbers in this and no Morse punctuation. 
The numbers, such as 73, 88, 30 (SK) came from Western Union code 
but there are additions to the Morse punctuation given in old 
books that are attributed to Phillips.
    I got my copy via Amazon, not expensive. I doubt if this code 
is of any utility these days.
    I am reminded that a friend got a job by learning Speed 
Writing. She was offered a very good job if she could take 
shorthand. She yes although she had no shorthand training but 
took a Speed Writing course and got the job. Speed Writing was a 
system of abbreviations rather similar to Phillips code. They 
used to advertise in pulp magazines with the phrase "F u cn rd ts 
u cn gt a gd jb as a sec". Well, she could and did and became an 
executive secretary outlasting three CEO's.

-- 
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL