A Font Book of Squiggles in Tristram Shandy

For those like me who didn&#x27;t know the reference, see [1] Aaron Schuster, &quot;Bachelors, Snakes, and Squiggles: The brief history of a famous literary doodle&quot; (2009). Not only is the squiggle part of [2] _Tristram Shandy_ (1759), it — the squiggle — was also quoted by Balzac as the epigraph to [3] his novel _The Wild Ass&#x27;s Skin_ (1832). Wikipedia [4] says: &quot;Balzac never explained his purpose behind the use of the symbol, and its significance to _La Peau de chagrin_ is the subject of debate.&quot;<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cabinetmagazine.org&#x2F;issues&#x2F;36&#x2F;schuster.php" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cabinetmagazine.org&#x2F;issues&#x2F;36&#x2F;schuster.php</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;lifeopinionsoft00ster&#x2F;page&#x2F;554&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;lifeopinionsoft00ster&#x2F;page&#x2F;554&#x2F;</a><p>[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;tudesphilosoph01balz&#x2F;page&#x2F;n12" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;tudesphilosoph01balz&#x2F;page&#x2F;n12</a><p>[4] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;La_Peau_de_chagrin" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;La_Peau_de_chagrin</a>

A fellow Sterne fan! Also, Mike Lesk, who wrote uucp at Bell Labs, is a committed Tristram Shandy aficionado with a first edition. The funereal page is great. Back in the 80s Mike talked about font emulating for old letterpress and how one could introduce pleasing asymmetries into the output.<p>Is there also a printed in &quot;damn the cat ran over my page&quot; moment?<p>McDowell &amp; Sterne booksellers in York were I believe descendants&#x2F;related. As was a lecturer of English at York University.

Tristram Shandy is not a eloquent testament to the limitation of words. It&#x27;s an eloquent testament how to evade censorship of words. Eg. every occurrence of the word sword can be replaced by penis, and you have a much bigger story.