s variation

[TeresaS]

I just got a copy of the Universal Penman and noticed many of the "s"s look like an f.  Many of them seemed to show up as the first of 2 double "s"s.  I was trying to figure out if there were any rules to when and where this variation was used. It seems pretty random... unless I'm missing something.  Just curious.

[Natalie419]

The only rule I could remember is that it is not used at the end of a word, so I did a quick google search of rules for using the long S in writing and found this very helpful blogpost:

http://babelstone.blogspot.com/2006/06/rules-for-long-s.html

[RD5]

I like the ſ, it eſpecially has the advantage of being eaſier to write in ſome ſcripts (textura) when the long ſ is uſed it is normally the defaulf ſ, with the ſhort ſ being uſed at the end of words. All other rules ſhould be viewed as exceptions to this rule. That is, the rules are when to uſe the ſhort ſ. Theſe exceptions ſeem to be based on typographical concerns and vary by typeface/ſcript and language.

The Babelstone article is mainly for printing,  and points out 18th century handwriting uſes only the ſ as part of a ſs.

To make it ſimple, I juſt uſe the s at the end of words and in combination with f. All of the other rules mentioned in that article vary, and probably for typographic reasons, or deal with rare situations.

[Estefa]

I was wondering about the long s and its use in English too (which looks even more confusing to me than in German  ). Thanks for the article, it's bookmarked!

I also was under the impression that there are no fix rules. For example in the Universam Penman on page 91, there is a paragraph where »Understandings«, »Apprehension«, »must«, »understood«, »us'd« is written thus, whereas »thoſe« and »Senſe« have the long ſ.

So is one rule that st always has the short s …?

[RD5]

I was wondering about the long s and its use in English too (which looks even more confusing to me than in German  ). Thanks for the article, it's bookmarked!

I also was under the impression that there are no fix rules. For example in the Universam Penman on page 91, there is a paragraph where »Understandings«, »Apprehension«, »must«, »understood«, »us'd« is written thus, whereas »thoſe« and »Senſe« have the long ſ.

So is one rule that st always has the short s …?

I imagine that the rules that change a lot might have to do with ligatures. An ſt or ſf possibly being more likely to be confused with an ft or ff in some fonts? Or something to do with kerning. That is my guess.

[AmyNeub]

I just read in my Ames Compendium about this topic.

Ames rule eight for practical writing, "The small s should never be made with a loop below the line, as it liable to be mistaken for a p or f,"

My opinion is that penman would maybe show off with the double s variation.