PA and Secretary Community - Deskdemon.com

Whilst unpacking yet another box on Sunday night following moving house in December, I came across an old book which I have never really looked at before called Commercial Correspondence & Office Routine by William G Patton. 3rd Ed 1925

I think this book was aimed at those working in the shipping offices, my grandfather used to work to P & O which is how I think I come to have the book.  Fascinating to read and see how they did things all those years ago and seeing the cost of items in £. s. d.  There is even a table headed Time Taken In Transit of Letters - showing the days and hours it used to take a letter to get from London to other countries - 31 days to Sydney!  All the steamship routes from the UK are listed as well as the UK canals.

This extract made me giggle

How to use a telephone

Suppose a person wishes to speak to another person at a distance, he first ascertains from the directory the call number of his distant friend, if not already known. 
Then he must call up the Exchange either by turning a handle or by merely removing the receiver from its hook or rest.  He should now place the receiver to his ear and as soon as the exchange operator answers the call, he must give her the number of the subscriber to whom he wishes to speak; if disengaged, his friend’s wire will be connected to his.  Still keeping the receiver to his ear, he should wait until he hears someone at the other end of the wire, and then should ask: “Is that ….?”  If it is the person to whom he wishes to speak, he can begin the conversation at once.

There is a great chapter called Correct English

Anyone else have any old office books?

Thanks for that really helpful how to use a phone, I am going to put that to practical use every day!  ;)   

That is cute, and made my Monday.  Thanks for sharing that!  I bet there are some other really great excerpts from that book. 

Ohhh I'd love to get my hands on that book Cozwaz  ;D