Shady characters

the secret life of punctuation, symbols & other typographical marks

Hardcover, 352 pages

English language

Published Nov. 3, 2013 by W. W. Norton.

ISBN:
978-0-393-06442-1
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OCLC Number:
829738463

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4 stars (6 reviews)

In Shady Characters, Keith Houston weaves a fascinating trail through the nooks and crannies of typographical history, from the Library of Alexandria to the halls of Bell Labs. Whether investigating the annotating duo of asterisk (*) and dagger (†); the plucky pilcrow (¶) and humble ampersand (&); or the at sign (@) and octothorpe (#), both newly reinvigorated by the Internet, Shady Characters will delight all who cherish the unpredictable and surprising in the writing life.

6 editions