Shady Characters

Every character we write or type is a link to the past, and in today's writing - be it printed, electronic or handwritten - this history stares right back at us. Take the pilcrow ¶: present at the birth of punctuation, its story encompasses the ancient Greeks, Charlemagne, medieval writing, England's greatest twentieth-century typographer and several brushes with extinction before its most recent revival in word-processing software. This book brings together many more intriguing examples of symbols old - and new ;-), well-known @ and obscure, and recounts the unexpected, colourful and sometimes outlandish stories behind them. The magnificent cast of Shady Characters reflects the changes in written communication through the ages, charting how punctuation has adapted to each new technological innovation and how the ways we express ourselves are constantly evolving. Together they form a rich, entertaining and surprising history of the written word and our continuing attempts to shape it.