
Why this old book uses f instead of s, except where s is the last letter - gurjeet
http://reader.library.cornell.edu/docviewer/digital?id=hivebees5017286#page/9/mode/1up
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simonblack
The 's' used be a very long 's', similar to a written 'f' and so was often
printed as an 'f'.

[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S_long_serif_et_sans...](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S_long_serif_et_sans_serif.png)

This is similar to the German 'ss' or 'sz' (one long 's' followed by a short
's') which when printed or written in the Gothic font looks like a Greek
'beta'.

[https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/68183/how-...](https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/68183/how-
to-design-the-letter-%C3%9F-eszett-or-sharp-s)

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gurjeet
The "Translator's Preface" (page 8) has many instances where the letter 's' is
replaced with something that looks like lowercase 'f', except where 's' is the
last letter of the word.

This makes reading the text extremely difficult and infuriating. Consider
'fubject' instead of 'subject', and 'whofe' instead of 'whose'. It's like I
suddenly developed a lisp or something.

Just curious why the printer of that book may have used this typeface.

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schoen
This form of the letter s was standard in the past:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_s)

Wikipedia has a long description of the history and how it went out of use.
It's actually not quite identical to the letter f (it's ſ rather than f) and
is also the original of the integral sign in calculus.

