Quote:
Originally Posted by sjfan
The most common rule was that the long ſ was used at the beginning or middle of words, while the short s was used at the end of the word, except in a double s the second was always short-form (“aſsets”).
This goes back to the Greek sigma, which had different forms at the end of the word vs. in the middle/front (ς and σ).
Your excerpt mostly obeys that, except for some reason in one instance of the word “sacred”. Sometimes (depending on the printer and era), a short s would be used before an f or in some other cases where the long ſ was deemed unaesthetic. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe they ran out of long ſ'es and had to sub in a short one, maybe it was an idiosyncrasy of the printer or a transitional form.
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I screwed up on "ſacred" when I typed it in. But they did use the small "s" for "shal." And the small "s" – when there's a double "s" – doesn't occur anywhere in that Preface. It's always "ſſ" as in "neceſſary" there. I guess it wasn't all completely standardized yet (or maybe these editors weren't aware of the standards). But I appreciate all the information you've given me. I was just making uneducated guesses.