At 11:57 9/4/2001, David Starner wrote:

>I'm curious why it survived the Fraktur -> Antiqua transition, as it's
>very clearly a long s-s ligature in the Fraktur. If it survived, why
>didn't the long s?

The long s did survive for quite a long time, and not just in German texts.
The long s was standard in English printing until almost the end of the
18th century, and survived in Irish publishing into the early 19th century.
The essay I referred to in my other message addresses your question
directly and is titled 'Vom Schicksal des [longs s] in der Antiqua'.

John Hudson

Tiro Typeworks www.tiro.com
Vancouver, BC tiro@...

Type is something that you can pick up and hold in your hand.
- Harry Carter