s → ſ

I recently received an email from an anonymous reader aſking if i had any ſort of programme i uſed to inſert the long S (ſ) into texts. Uſually, i inſert theſe manually, but on pages like The Garden and “What i believe”, i include a ſmall programmatic widget allowing a reader to toggle between long and ſhort S-es as they chooſe. I thought i might preſent a more uſer-friendly verſion here: juſt inſert your ſ-leſs text into the box below and it will ſpit out an equivalent in either my houſe ſtyle or a ſtyle more authentic to its uſage in 17 ^th-century Engliſh. (For information about the differences between the two, ſee the footer.)

My houſe ſtyle tends to take more after works publiſhed in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, in the tail end of the long S’s faſhionability, than works in the 17^th century and earlier, to which the anonymous emailer’s requeſt pertained. In particular:

• I write ſk where 17^th-century works would write sk: aſking ſkeletons versus asking skeletons .
• I write ſb where 17^th-century works would write sb: leſbians’ ex-huſbands versus lesbians’ ex-husbands .
• I write ſs word-medially where 17^th-century works would write ſſ: aſseſs leſsons versus aſſeſs leſſons .

For more detail, ſee this poſt on babelstone.co.uk.