This page is under construction. Intended as a reader service, it presents a bibliography of recent English-language work, both scholarly and general, on the history of the alphabet and on related topics.
Suggestions from readers are welcome. Please email directly:
david@alphabet-history.com. Or you can post a comment below.
For children
Robb, Don and Anne Smith. Ox, House, Stick: The History of our Alphabet. Watertown, ME: Charlesbridge Publishing, 2007. Ages 9 to 12. Recommended: handsome and lively, and draws on good information collected in my book.
Robinson, Andrew. The Story of Writing. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1995. Ages teen to adult.
Samoyault, Tiphaine. Alphabetical Order: How the Alphabet Began. New York: Viking, 1998. Ages 9 to 12.
Introductions and overviews
Brown, Michelle P. The British Library Guide to Writing and Scripts: History and Techniques. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998.
Campbell, George L. Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. New York: Routledge, 1997.
Daniels, Peter T. and William Bright (editors). The World’s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. Chapter 12 only: “Blueprints and Borrowed Letters: The Evolution of Writing.” Recommended as a convenient starting point for general readers. (However, at one point the author surprisingly confuses the histories of letters U and V.)
Diringer, David. The Alphabet: A Key the History of Mankind. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1968 (3rd edition). Two volumes. Recommended as an overview, although now out of date in treating certain topics such as the early alphabet.
Diringer, David. Writing. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1962.
Firmage, Richard A. The Alphabet Abecedarium: Some Notes on Letters. Boston: David R. Godine, 1993. A delightful grab-bag of info: good on typography, letter hands, and the various letters' iconography.
Fischer, Steven Roger. A History of Writing. London: Reaktion Books, 2001.
Jackson, Donald. The Story of Writing. New York: Taplinger Publishing, 1981.
Jean, Georges. Writing: The Story of Alphabets and Scripts. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1992. Translated from French by Jenny Oates.
Man, John. Alpha Beta: How our Alphabet Changed the Western World. London: Headline Book Publishing, 2000. Recommended: accessible and up to date. Very good on the alphabet's beginnings.
Martin, Henri-Jean. The History and Power of Writing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994. Translated from French by Lydia G. Cochrane. Recommended: an excellent overview, from ancient Sumerian tablets to early computerization. Page for page, the best book available on the history of writing and print.
Meggs, Philip B. A History of Graphic Design. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1992 (2nd edition). Recommended for its superb overview: from the origins of writing to modern advertising and other print design.
Ogg, Oscar. The 26 Letters. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1948, 1961.
Ouaknin, Marc-Alain. Mysteries of the Alphabet: The Origins of Writing. New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1999. Translated from French by Josephine Bacon.
Robinson, Andrew. The Story of Writing. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1995.
Sacks, David. Letter Perfect: The Marvelous History of our Alphabet from A to Z. New York: Broadway Books, 2004. This is the paperback edition, still in print, of the 2003 hardcover entitled Language Visible (Broadway Books). Both titles provide the same text.
--Yes, this last item is my own book but here is honestly recommended as offering the most up-to-date introduction to the topic for general readers. See the book's Preface and Chapter 1. (To read the Preface and part of Chapter 1 online, go to the "My books" box at top right of this page and click on the Language Visible blue link; then scroll down the subsequent page.)
The alphabet's origin in Egypt, circa 2000 B.C.
Darnell, John Coleman. Theban Desert Road Survey in the Egyptian Western Desert, Volume 1: Gebel Tjauti Rock Inscriptions 1-45 and Wadi el-Hol Rock Inscriptions 1-45. Oriental Institute Publications, Volume 119. Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 2002. Includes description of the two earliest alphabetic inscriptions yet discovered, from about 1800 B.C.
Darnell, John Coleman; F.W. Dobbs-Allsopp; et al. Two Early Alphabetic Inscriptions from the Wadi el-Hol: New Evidence for the Origin of the Alphabet from the Western Desert of Egypt. Boston: Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Volume 59, 2005. Gives further analysis of the above.
Hamilton, Gordon J. The Origins of the West Semitic Alphabet in Egyptian Scripts. Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic Biblical Association of America, 2006.
Man, John. Alpha Beta: How our Alphabet Changed the Western World. London: Headline Book Publishing, 2000.
Sacks, David. Language Visible or Letter Perfect, as above, 2003. Chapter 1.
Wilford, John Noble. "Finds in Egypt Date Alphabet in Earlier Era," New York Times, November 14, 1999. Announcing discovery of the two earliest known alphabetic inscriptions.
The early alphabet in Canaan and Phoenicia, circa 1750 to 700 B.C.
Cross, Frank Moore. Chapter 5, "The Invention and Development of the Alphabet" in The Origins of Writing. Editor: Wayne M. Senner. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1989.
Hamilton, Gordon J. The Origins of the West Semitic Alphabet in Egyptian Scripts. Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic Biblical Association of America, 2006.
Healey, John F. The Early Alphabet. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990. Chapters 1 to 3. Recommended for its overview, although now not fully up to date.
Isserlin, B.S.J. Chapter 20-a, “The Earliest Alphabetic Writing” in The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 1: The Prehistory of the Balkans; and the Middle East and the Aegean World, Tenth to Eighth Centuries B.C. Editors: John Boardman, I.E.S. Edwards, et al. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982 (2nd edition).
Man, John. Alpha Beta: How our Alphabet Changed the Western World. London: Headline Book Publishing, 2000.
Markoe, Glenn E. Phoenicians. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. Chapter 4 on their alphabet: a good, brief summary.
Naveh, Joseph. Origins of the Alphabet. London: Cassell & Company, 1975.
O'Connor M. Section 5, "Epigraphic Semitic Scripts" in The World’s Writing Systems. Editors: Peter T. Daniels and William Bright. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Sacks, David. Language Visible or Letter Perfect, as above, 2003. Chapter 1.
Sass, Benjamin. The Genesis of the Alphabet and Its Development in the Second Millennium B.C. Wiesbaden, Germany: Otto Harrassowitz, 1988. Recommended but difficult to acquire.
Birth and development of the Greek alphabet, circa 800 to 400 B.C.
Hornblower, Simon, and Anthony Spawforth (editors). The Oxford Classical Dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Articles including "Alphabet, Greek;" "Books, Greek and Roman;" "Epigraphy;" "Palaeography;" "Papyrology, Greek and Latin;" "Pottery (Greek), Inscriptions On."
Jeffery, L.H. Chapter 20-b, “Greek Alphabetic Writing” in The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 1: The Prehistory of the Balkans; and the Middle East and the Aegean World, Tenth to Eighth Centuries B.C. Editors: John Boardman, I.E.S. Edwards, et al. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982 (2nd edition).
Jeffery, L.H. and A.W. Johnston. The Local Scripts of Archaic Greece: A Study of the Origin of the Greek Alphabet and Its Development from the Eighth to the Fifth Centuries B.C. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990 (revised edition). Recommended: a landmark work, although not aimed at general readers.
Naveh, Joseph. Origins of the Alphabet. London: Cassell & Company, 1975. Thought-provoking but (to my mind) wrong in its treatment of the Greek alphabet's origin. Naveh's too-early borrow-date of 1100 B.C. seems clearly contradicted by the earliest extant Greek letter-shapes, which point to 800 B.C., the date favored by mainstream classicists.
Peruzzi, E. "Cultura Greca a Gabii nel Secolo VIII," Parola del Passato, Volume 47, 1992. Announcing the earliest Greek inscription yet discovered, from about 775 B.C.
Powell, Barry B. Homer and the Origin of the Greek Alphabet. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Recommended: accessibly written and generally reliable.
Powell, Barry B. Writing and the Origins of Greek Literature. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Chapter 16 on the birth of the Greek alphabet.
Ridgway, David. “Greek Letters at Osteria dell’Osca,” Festschrift for P.G. Gierow, London, 1997. More on the earliest found Greek inscription.
Sacks, David. Language Visible or Letter Perfect, as above, 2003. Interstitial section, pages 57 to 63.
Woodard, Roger D. Greek Writing from Knossos to Homer: A Linguistic Interpretation of the Origin of the Greek Alphabet and the Continuity of Ancient Greek Literacy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
The Etruscan and ancient Roman alphabets, circa 700 B.C. to 500 A.D.
Bonfante, Larissa. Etruscan. London: British Museum Publications, 1990.
Bowman, Alan K. Life and Letters on the Roman Frontier: Vindolanda and its People. New York: Routledge, 1994.
Catich, Edward M. The Trajan Inscription in Rome. Davenport, Iowa: Catfish Press (St. Ambrose College), 1961 (2nd edition).
Gordon, Arthur E. Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983. Recommended as a starting point.
Hornblower, Simon, and Anthony Spawforth (editors). The Oxford Classical Dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Articles including "Alphabets of Italy;" "Books, Greek and Roman;" "Epigraphy;" "Palaeography;" "Papyrology, Greek and Latin;" "Vindolanda Tablets."
Penney, J.H.W. Chapter 15, “The Languages of Italy” in The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 4: Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean c.525 to 479 B.C. Editors: John Boardman, N.G.L. Hammond, et al. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988 (2nd edition).
Sacks, David. Language Visible or Letter Perfect, as above, 2003. Interstitial sections, pages 74 to 81, 103 to 109.
Sandys, Sir John Edwin. Latin Epigraphy: An Introduction to the Study of Latin Inscriptions. Groningen, Holland: Bouma’s Boekhuis N,V., 1969 (2nd edition: revised by S.G Campbell, originally published in 1927).
Wallace, Rex. Chapter 8, "The Origins and Development of the Latin Alphabet" in The Origins of Writing. Editor: Wayne M. Senner. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1989.
The alphabet in the European Middle Ages, circa 500 to 1500 A.D.
Antonsen, Elmer H. Chapter 9, "The Runes: The Earliest Germanic Writing System" in The Origins of Writing. Editor: Wayne M. Senner. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1989.
Bishop, T.A.M. English Caroline Minuscule. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Drogin, Marc. Medieval Calligraphy: Its History and Technique. Montclair, N.J.: Allanheld & Schram, 1980.
Johnston, Edward. Writing and Illuminating and Lettering. London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1932 (1906 edition). Two books in one volume.
Knight, Stan. Historical Scripts: A Handbook for Calligraphers. New York: Taplinger Publishing Company, 1986.
Martin, Henri-Jean. The History and Power of Writing. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994. Translated from French by Lydia G. Cochrane. Chapter 4: "The Death and Resurrection of Written Culture."
Orme, Nicholas. Medieval Children. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001. Chapter 7: "Learning to Read," on the medieval alphabet.
Page, R.I. Runes. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.
Pei, Mario. The Story of Latin and the Romance Languages. New York: Harper & Row, 1976.
Sacks, David. Language Visible or Letter Perfect, as above, 2003. Interstitial section, pages 141 to 155.
Ullman, B.L. The Origin and Development of Humanistic Script. Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1960.
Other topics
December 2009: Watch for development of this list into further categories--"The print revolution," "The writing of English," etc.--with annotations and recommendations.
Beament, Justin and Esther Dudley. In Blessed Memory: Incised Headstones of North & West Devon and North Cornwall, 1650–1850. Exeter School of Arts & Design, University of Plymouth, 2000.
Blumenthal, Joseph. Art of the Printed Book: 1455–1955. New York: Pierpont Morgan Library, 1973.
Bragg, Melvyn. The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2004.
Chappell, Warren, and Robert Bringhurst. A Short History of the Printed Word. Point Roberts, WA.: Hartley & Marks, 1999 (2nd edition, revised). Recommended.
Claiborne, Robert. Our Marvelous Native Tongue: The Life and Times of the English Language. New York: Times Books, 1983.
Cook, B.F. Greek Inscriptions. London: British Museum Publications, 1987.
Drucker, Johanna. The Alphabetic Labyrinth: The Letters in History and Imagination. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1995.
Dyche, Thomas. A Guide to the English Tongue. First published: London: 1707. Facsimile edition: Menston, Yorkshire, England: The Scolar Press, 1967.
Fairbank, Alfred, and Wolpe, Berthold. Renaissance Handwriting. London: Faber and Faber, 1960.
Goldberg, Jonathan. Writing Matter: From the Hands of the English Renaissance. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1990.
Goudy, Frederic W. The Alphabet and Elements of Lettering. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1942. (2nd edition, revised.)
Gray, Nicolete. A History of Lettering: Creative Experiment and Letter Identity. Oxford: Phaidon Press, 1986.
Harling, Robert. The Letter Forms and Type Designs of Eric Gill. Boston: David R. Godine, 1976.
Hart, John. An Orthographie. First published: London: 1569. Reprinted in John Hart’s Works on English Orthography and Pronunciation, volume 1. Edited by Bror Danielsson. Stockholm: Almquist & Wiksell, 1955.
-------. The Opening of the Unreasonable Writing of Our Inglish Toung. Unpublished: written in 1551. Reprinted in John Hart’s Works on English Orthography and Pronunciation, op. cit., above.
Hoffman, Edward. The Hebrew Alphabet: A Mystical Journey. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1998.
Johnson, Samuel. A Dictionary of the English Language. Three volumes. Second edition, revised by H.J. Todd. London: Longman, Rees, et. al., 1827.
Johnston, Edward. Writing and Illuminating and Lettering. London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1932 (1906 edition).
Jonson, Ben. The English Grammar. First published: London, 1640 (posthumously). Reprinted: London: Lanston Monotype Corporation, 1928.
Maittaire, Michael. The English Grammar: Or, an Essay on the Art of Grammar, Applied to and Exemplified in the English Tongue. First published: London: 1712. Facsimile edition: Menston, Yorkshire, England: The Scolar Press, 1967.
Man, John. The Gutenberg Revolution: The story of a genius and the invention that changed the world. London: Headline Book Publishing, 2002. Recommended.
Martin, Henri-Jean. The History and Power of Writing. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994. Translated from French by Lydia G. Cochrane.
Massin. Letter and Image. London: Studio Vista, 1970. Translated from French by Caroline Hillier and Vivienne Menkes.
Meggs, Philip B. A History of Graphic Design. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1992 (2nd edition).
Mencken, H.L. The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1955 (4th edition). Chapters: “The Two Streams of English” and “American Spelling.”
Monaghan, E. Jennifer. A Common Heritage: Noah Webster’s Blue-Back Speller. Hamden, CT.: Archon Books, 1983.
Morison, Stanley. Letter Forms: Typographic and Scriptorial. London: Nattali & Maurice, 1968.
---------------. Pacioli's Classic Roman Alphabet. Mineola, N.Y: Dover Publications, 1994. Originally published in New York in 1933.
Mulcaster, Richard. The First Part of the Elementarie which entreateth chefelie of the right writing of our English tung, facsimile edition. Menston, Yorkshire, England: The Scolar Press, 1970. First published: London, 1582.
Murray, James A.H.; Bradley, Henry; et. al. (editors). The Oxford English Dictionary. Unabridged: 13 volumes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1933. Excellent entries on each of the 26 letters, placed as the first entry under each letter in the dictionary.
Nesbitt, Alexander. Lettering: The History and Technique of Lettering as Design. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1950.
Pei, Mario. Invitation to Linguistics: A Basic Introduction to the Science of Language. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1965.
----. The Story of Language. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1966 (2nd edition).
Scragg, D.G. A History of English Spelling. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1974.
Smeijers, Fred. Counterpunch: Making Type in the Sixteenth Century, Designing Typefaces Now. London: Hyphen Press, 1996.
Spiekerman, Erik and E.M. Ginger. Stop Stealing Sheep & find out how type works. Berkeley, California: Peachpit Press/Adobe Systems, 2003 (2nd edition).
Steinberg, S.H. Five Hundred Years of Printing. New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 1996 (3rd edition, revised by John Trevitt).
Tory, Geofroy. Champ Fleury (“Field of Flowers”). Translated and annotated by George B. Ives, 1927. New York: Dover Publications, 1967. Originally published in French in Paris, 1529.
Tuer, Andrew W. History of the Horn-book. Amsterdam: S. Emmering, 1971.
Twyman, Michael. The British Library Guide to Printing: History and Techniques. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998.
