More on the Long s

http://tinyurl.com/lxs7z

My research efforts pale, however, when compared to the research efforts
of Paul W. Nash, one of the biggies in the biblio world.
In response to a May 1999 thread on the Letterpress Discussion List,
Paul Nash wrote:

"...The question of why the long s was dropped around 1800 in London is
a fascinating one, which I have been working on for some time. At the
risk of being accused of self-advertisement, I am hoping to publish my
conclusions fairly soon, probably in the Printing Historical Society
Journal..."

Mr Nash's entire response to the Letterpress thread is provided here:

http://tinyurl.com/oy6sf

Paul Nash's conclusions were published in the Summer 2001 issue of the
"Journal of the Printing Historical Society (NS.3 2001, 3-19)," His
article, "The abandoning of the long s in Britain in 1800," is a
masterpiece. It supports one of my own conclusions from my RCB thread,
and corrects another one.

In my May 2001 RCB thread, I reported that John Bell was the first
publisher to discard the long s. Paul Nash proved me wrong; however, I
wasn't the only one who thought that. As Paul Nash reveals in his
article, Leigh Hunt mentioned that very fact about John Bell in 1860 in
the second edition of his autobiography. I can't believe I missed this
reference to Hunt in my initial RCB thread! I collect Leigh Hunt, and
even read his autobiography, although, too many years ago, evidently.

Paul Nash cites the 1749 edition of Ames' "Typographical Antiquities" as
probably the earliest work in Britain to abandon the long s. He follows
that with a work published by Robert and Andrew Foulis in 1758 and cites
over ten other works by various publishers which were published without
the long s between 1760 and 1780.

Although John Bell, in 1784, wasn't the first publisher to abandon the
long s, he was responsible for showing that its elimination was popular
with the reading public and advantageous to the printing industry.
Nevertheless, it wasn't until 1800 that the majority of the publishers
began to abandon the long s.

I arrived at my own conclusion that 1800 was the magic date by
sampling some of the works in my own library which were published before
and after 1800. Paul Nash used the same method to form his conclusion,
except his samplings came from the British Library, the Royal Institute
of British Architects's Library and the Bodleian Library.

Paul Nash went one step further and sought the reason why the year,
1800, was the year when many printers abandoned the long s. Mr. Nash
credits a law which was passed on July 12, 1799, for creating the
opportunity for change in the printing industry: the Seditious Societies
Act. Because of unrest in Ireland, France and in England, the British
government passed this act, seeking to control the printing industry,
and to prevent the publication of revolutionary pamphlets and books.

One of the requirements of the Seditious Societies Act was that
printers were required to print their names and places of business on
the first and last leaves of their published works so that they would be
readily identifiable to government inspectors. Prior to this date, many
printers simply identified themselves by their initials. In effect,
this new requirement became an advertisement for the printers.
Eliminating the long s in their printed works showed the public that the
printers were "of modern times" and not of the antiquated times where
the use of the hard-to-read long s flourished.

I have only touched upon some of the finer points of Paul Nash's
article. The entire article is, in essence, "the bible" on the
abandoning of the long s . If published as an offprint, I believe it
would be a best seller in the book collecting world.

Jerry Morris,
Man of Other People's Letters,
Soon to be Retired.

Moi's Books About Books: http://www.tinyurl.com/hib7
Moi's LIbrary http://www.moislibrary.com My Sentimental Library
http://www.picturetrail.com/mylibrary Florida Bibliophile Society
http://www.floridabibliophilesociety.org

Very interesting, Jerry. Thanks for the post!

Cheers,

John