The Alphabet Abecedamrium. Some Notes on Letters.
Language: English
Published by London-Oxford-New York, Bloomsbury. 1993, 2000
- First Edition
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: Antiquariaat Schot, Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, NetherlandsAntiquariaat Schot
AbeBooks seller since June 23, 2020
Condition: Used
£ 6.10
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Original publisher's black paper-covered boards, silver title spine, pictorial dustjacket, 1st English edition [1993], 8vo: frontispiece, illustration title-page,xij, 308pp., richly illustrated with characters, foreword, dictionary A - Z and & sign, bibliography, index, table of contents. Dustjacket some wear of use. Fine copy.
Seller Inventory # 533649
- Title
- The Alphabet Abecedamrium. Some Notes on Letters.
- Author
- FIRMAGE, RICHARD A.
- Publisher
- London-Oxford-New York, Bloomsbury. 1993
- Publication year
- 2000
- Dust jacket
- Dust Jacket Included
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0747547572
- ISBN 13
- 9780747547570
- Edition
- 1st Edition
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
Originally intended as "a winter's brief exercise" by American editor and book designer Richard A Firmage, the book, in the author's words, "far overstepped its original bounds". Years of research finally yielded a work that traces the development of the alphabet from the time the Phoenicians began representing sounds with symbols to the contemporary explosion in computerised typography. Along the way, Firmage brings in some intriguing trivia. For example, the stylus used by ancient Greek scribes often doubled as a weapon and, in 1939, one E V Wright published a 50,000-word novel which didn't once use the letter "e".
In 26 chapters (one for each letter of the alphabet), Firmage explains not only the linguistic origins of each letter but also the evolution of its representation in script and in type. The author's prose is stately and learned, but never over-scholarly or tedious, and the text is accompanied by abundant black-and-white illustrations of historical typefaces and alphabetical ephemera.
Anyone interested in the Western alphabet and how it got that way will enjoy The Alphabet Abecedarium. The book is an excellent gift choice for the aspiring designer or budding bibliophile, but you'd best buy two copies--if you care enough about the alphabet to be reading this review, you'll probably want one for yourself. --C A Wills
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Antiquariaat Schot
Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, Netherlands
AbeBooks seller since June 23, 2020
Shipping rates from Netherlands to U.S.A.
| Item | 8 to 21 business days | 8 to 20 business days |
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| First item | £ 21.44 | £ 25.73 |
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