Bath's Pitman Collection archive dates Sound-Hand's origin to September 1837

The University of Bath Library's Pitman Collection catalog, Section B ("Origins and Development of Phonographic Shorthand"), describes Isaac Pitman's own letter-book (item B.4, shorthand copies of his letters 1833–1838): "Up to August 1837 Pitman used Taylor's shorthand." A contemporaneous note within that same letter-book, quoted by the archivist, records that "IP's system of shorthand commenced" at the start of September 1837 — a note in Pitman's own hand, not a later recollection. The same catalog separately lists item B.435 in its Shorthand Publications sub-section: "Stenographic Sound-Hand by Isaac Pitman (?incomplete), nd ca 1837" — the archive holds a physical copy of the pamphlet itself, dated by the cataloging archivist to circa 1837.

Together these two independent archival entries — a contemporaneous note plus the surviving artifact — corroborate the "1837" date already carried by claim-pitman-1837-sound-hand-predates-english-phonotypic-alphabet, which had rested on Wikipedia alone, and confirm that date sits six to eight years ahead of the EPA's June/July 1845 completion (see claim-pitmans-1845-phonotypic-journal-documents-epa-completion-and-extension).