Hi, I'm looking for the name of the paragraph marker graphic found in
old books.  It's a little graphic that's found between paragraphs or
sections of text.  It looks like a tilde with two short vertical lines
in the middle.

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Request for Question Clarification by endo-ga on 25 Nov 2003 19:17 PST

I found several references that just call it "paragraph symbol", it's
a P reversed and the black inverted into white and outlined in black.
I'll try and represent it here, but not sure it will come out right:
¶
I wonder if anyone else can come up with a proper name for it.

Thanks.
endo

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 25 Nov 2003 19:49 PST

If this is the symbol to which you refer, I can tell you several names
for it, and a bit about its history:

http://www.mortalwombat.com/Special/symbol.gif

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Request for Question Clarification by hummer-ga on 26 Nov 2003 08:02 PST

Hi debiannewbie,

This is the standard "Section Sign" used in books (used not only
throughout the text but also used to designate footnotes) and is not
what you have described:

§

Assuming you are describing a horizontal ess with two vertical lines
striking through the center (when I was in highschool, I'd put one of
those symbols under my signature), the sign you are enquiring about is
probably just a typesetter's decoration, rather than a symbol having
meaning. We consulted numerous reference material that we have here,
including "Books and Printing: A Treasury for Typophiles", by Paul A.
Bennett, and we haven't found an example of your sign anywhere.
Perhaps if you could give us more information of where it is used
(when you say "old", how old?), it would help. Given that we haven't
found it listed in our references, it doesn't seem likely that it's
part of a standardized meaning but rather just an ornament or
type-ornament or embellishment.

If you are interested in reading about the history of embellishing
text, have a look at:

An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students.
by Ronald B. McKerrow
London: Oxford University Press (©1928)
Chapter Nine: The Decoration of Books

If you'd like to send us as much information as you can, we'd be happy
to have another look.

Regards,
hummer

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Clarification of Question by debiannewbie-ga on 26 Nov 2003 08:52 PST

Thanks everyone for your responses.  Sorry, I am not referring to the
"paragraph symbol".  hummer, I think you understand what I'm thinking
of:

"Assuming you are describing a horizontal ess with two vertical lines
striking through the center (when I was in highschool, I'd put one of
those symbols under my signature), the sign you are enquiring about is
probably just a typesetter's decoration, rather than a symbol having
meaning. We consulted numerous reference material that we have here,
including "Books and Printing: A Treasury for Typophiles", by Paul A.
Bennett, and we haven't found an example of your sign anywhere.
Perhaps if you could give us more information of where it is used
(when you say "old", how old?), it would help. Given that we haven't
found it listed in our references, it doesn't seem likely that it's
part of a standardized meaning but rather just an ornament or
type-ornament or embellishment."

I think I am referring to the symbol you used in high school.  I was
hoping it would have a name so I could search for pictures of it on
the web.  (I would like to use it as a section marker for my
webpage....)

Hi debiannewbie,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to answer your question, I appreciate it. 

Since posting my clarification request, we have looked through more
books, such as "A Manual of Style: Containing Typographical and other
Rules for Authors, Printers, and Publishers...together with Specimens
of Type" by The University of Chicago Press, and "A Short History of
the Printed Word", by Warren Chappell, and we are now confident in
saying that the design you are seeking (horizontal ess with two
vertical lines crossing through the center) is not a book symbol (such
as the Section Sign" §) but rather just a design or decoration.
Apteryx-ga had a good idea when he mentioned finding someone handy
with a calligraphy pen - I'm sure someone could make you something
quite striking. When you get several possibilities, I would be happy
to choose my favorite if you let me know in a clarification request
where I can see them.

In the meantime, thanks again and good luck with your website.
Sincerely,
hummer

Hi, debiannewbie--

I think I know the mark you mean.  You may have thrown people off by
calling it a paragraph marker.  It isn't a paragraph or section symbol
or, for that matter, any of the other standard dingbats (that's what
they're called, the little devices that are sometimes printed in books
between elements, such as under a chapter title or at the end of a
section, or used in other ways).  I have never seen this symbol in
print.  I have only seen it rendered by hand--back in schooldays, as
you say.  I haven't seen it used by anyone in a long time; but then,
I've been out of school for a while.

Picture a somewhat enlarged and elongated capital S rotated 90 degrees
to the left, so the left end is open at the top and the right end at
the bottom.  Two short vertical strokes cross it at the center, fairly
close together.  If the width of the scroll-like S mark were, say,
3/4", then the vertical cross strokes might be 1/4" in length and 1/8"
apart, centered on the scroll.

I doubt that this mark has a name, and I doubt that it will be found
in a font.  What I'd do is get someone with a steady hand to render it
with an ink pen or calligraphy pen, depending on whether you want a
constant line weight or one that varied like calligraphy, and have it
done much larger than you want it.  Then scan it and reduce it to the
size you want and insert it as a graphic.  Reduction will smooth it
out a lot.

A person with the right graphics tool could also render it digitally;
the fact that it is diagonally symmetrical means that you would get
your symmetry by drawing one end and rotating it to form the other.  I
can describe how to do it, even though I don't have the tools to do it
finely enough.

Apteryx

Thanks for all your responses.

I would like to pay hummer-ga, as he first answered my question
correctly, but I'm not sure how...

Thanks again, debiannewbie. Sincerely, hummer