| AdminHistory | John Willis: stenographer and mnemonician; graduated BA from Christ's College Cambridge, 1593; MA, 1596; rector of St Mary Bothaw, Dowgate Hill, London, 1601-1606; graduated BD, 1603; appointed rector of Bentley Parva, Essex, 1606; invented the first practical and rational scheme of modern shorthand founded on a strictly alphabetical basis, unlike impracticable systems devised by others in the late 16th century; his method was published repeatedly and was imitated and improved upon by succeeding authors; Willis probably died in 1627 or 1628. Publications: anonymously, 'The Art of Stenographie' (London, 1602, and many later editions), and a Latin version, 'Stenographia' (London, 1618); 'The Schoolemaster to the Art of Stenography' (London, 1623); 'Mnemonica', in Latin (London, 1618), translated into English by the bookseller Leonard Sowersby (London, 1661). |
| CustodialHistory | Part of the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), linguistic psychologist, founder of the Orthological Institute and originator of the language system Basic English, whose interests in language systems are reflected in the subject matter of his collection, which comprised individual manuscripts and manuscript collections dating from the 14th to the 20th century. |