Shady Characters

Every character we write or type is a link to the past, and in today's writing - be it printed, electronic or scrawled handwriting - their history stares right back at us.

The full stop, for instance, is a plain-speaking herald of the creative freedom once enjoyed at the library of Alexandria, while its younger siblings the asterisk and dagger are ominous reminders of the literary crusades prosecuted by early Christians. This book charts the lives of some of the most intriguing examples, from the pilcrow to the ampersand and reveals the bust and boom endured by punctuation with each new technological innovation.