Outside of manuscripts and antique books, you might only encounter the long s in German, where it lives as one half of the "Eſzett," or double s character (written as 'ß'). font derived from an eighteenth-century print font for Old English. The end of the long s was quite abrupt in English printing, occurring around 1800, but the character lingered a little longer in the U.S. The most deceptive element for a modern reader is perhaps OE words that have changed. Soon after, the English bookseller and publisher John Bell omitted the long s in his editions of Shakespeare's texts, reasoning that it would prevent confusion with the letter f and keep the lines of the text more open visually. In France, publisher and printer François-Ambroise Didot abandoned the long s in his new more modern typeface around 1782. Different sources blame different people for the death of the long s. The long s started to be seen as antiquated in the late 18th century, Overholt said, and it began disappearing.
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