The “long s” of eighteenth-century (and earlier) typography seems strange to us today but was common at one time. It is not a lower-case “f” as many think. Instead, it is “a long s,” which is represented by the similar-but-different character, “.” See the word “Congrefs” in the image below for one well-known example: Andrew West at Babelstone has created a comprehensive guide to the use of the long s in English as well as in French, Italian, and Spanish He also gives a brief description of its use in other languages as well. Here are West’s simple rules for English: short s is used at the end of a word (e.g. his, complains, ſucceſs) short s is used before an apostrophe (e.g. clos’d, us’d) short s is used before the letter f (e.g. ſatisfaction, misfortune, transfuſe, transfix, transfer, ſucceſsful) short s is used after the letter f (e.g. offset), although not if the word is hyphenated (e.g. off-ſet) [see Short S before and after F for details] short s is used before the letter b in books published during the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century (e.g. husband, Shaftsbury), but long s is used in books published during the second half of the 18th century (e.g. huſband, Shaftſbury) [see Short S before B and K for details] short s is used before the letter k in books published during the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century (e.g. skin, ask, risk, masked), but long s is used in books published during the second half of the 18th century (e.g. ſkin, aſk, riſk, maſked) [see Short S before B and K for details] Compound words with the first element ending in double s and the second element beginning with s are normally and correctly written with a dividing hyphen (e.g. Croſs-ſtitch, Croſs-ſtaff), but very occasionally may be written as a single word, in which case the middle letter s is written short (e.g. Croſsſtitch, croſsſtaff). long s is used initially and medially except for the exceptions noted above (e.g. ſong, uſe, preſs, ſubſtitute) long s is used before a hyphen at a line break (e.g. neceſ-ſary, pleaſ-ed), even when it would normally be a short s (e.g. Shaftſ-bury and huſ-band in a book where Shaftsbury and husband are normal), although exceptions do occur (e.g. Mans-field) double s is normally written as double long s medially and as long s followed by short s finally (e.g. poſſeſs, poſſeſſion), although in some late 18th and early 19th century books a different rule is applied, reflecting contemporary usage in handwriting, in which long s is used exclusively before short s medially and finally [see Rules for Long S in some late 18th and early 19th century books for details] short s is used before a hyphen in compound words with the first element ending in the letter s (e.g. croſs-piece, croſs-examination, Preſs-work, bird’s-neſt) long s is maintained in abbreviations such as ſ. for ſubſtantive, and Geneſ. for Geneſis (this rule means that it is practically impossible to implement fully correct, automatic contextual substitution of long s at the font level) Can you imagine memorizing all those rules? No wonder the character was phased out around 1800! You can find Andrew West’s excellent article at http://babelstone.blogspot.com/2006/06/rules-for-long-s.html. -- Jeannie God Bless God Speed kymonroe@rootsweb.com ancestraltrackers.org