I’m excited to announce that I’ll be giving a talk about books and book history at the British Library’s Knowledge Centre, 96 Euston Road, London, at 7pm on Monday 3rd July. The talk will be about an hour long and there will be plenty of time to ask questions if you so desire. (The bar will be open later, too, until 10pm — I’ll be needing a stiff drink afterwards, I’m sure!)
Advance tickets go on sale this Thursday, the 1st of June, and on general release a week later, on the 8th of June. Learn more about the event and get ready to order your tickets here!
The photograph featured above was taken at the British Library by Steve Cadman.
Comment posted by Martin Seddon on
Hi ‘Shady’
Have you done a post, article or book section on the practice of half-height and underlined or under-dotted shortened works such as appear on street names and grave stones?
Some are fairly basic but others are beautifully executed.
Thanks, Martin
Comment posted by Keith Houston on
Hi Martin — thanks for the comment! I haven’t done a post about that, but it’s an interesting idea. Presumably it’s a holdover from Latin scribal abbreviations? I’m sure some other readers might have more insight.
Comment posted by Brian Inglis on
Some links to images would be appreciated, or further clarification. What kind of shortened works are these – book titles or quotations – or do you just mean abbreviations? And why would they be half-height, underlined, or under-dotted?