sum history capitalisation english back late january early february posted query linguist sources history capitalisation english several people responded asking post summary list replies might receive apologies delay fighting three different winter bugs viral bacterial since original posting rush catch acadaemic commitments end term anyway summary immediate success reply speak came david denison u manchester u k mrcepdd fsl art man ac uk david suggested following article osselton noel 1985 spelling book rules capitalization nouns seventeenth eighteenth centuries arn mary jo hanneke wirtjes eds historical editorial studies medieval modern english johan gerritsen wolters noordhoff groningen pp 4961 delight found university library knight lib u oregon precisely volume article chapter 6 pages long contains well list spelling books grammars etc osselton referred text also page notes reference useful yet seen using time foundation finding info topic good place start think reply john e koontz koontz bldr nist gov pointed towards usenet lists regret yet able try john suggests comp fonts hte repositories past usenet postings sure usenet faq collections also comp text larry rosenwald lrosenwald wellesley edu suggested looking literature printing history reminded fact capitalization often regularized printer henry rogers rogers epas utoronto ca wrote remarked distinction upper lower case roman alphabet obviously developed writing middle ages confess knowledge middle ages sufficient know obvious nt yet managed contact henry find moment respond please henry eleanor olds batchelder eobgc cunyvm cuny edu suggested might look geoffrey nunberg writings esp history punctuation noted hunch yet read work yet final response came stavros macrakis macrakis osf org following suggestions note library congress tn3270 locis loc gov heading capitalization books prescriptive educational also subheading capitalization languages english language capitalization gives workbooks found books german capitalization may may helpful see harvard catalogue lists 15 books english capitalization prescriptive materialien zur historischen entwicklung der gross und kleinschreibungsregeln wolfgang mentrup hg tuebingen niemeyer 1980 336 p lc call pf3147 m34 subjects mentrup german language capitalization history moulin claudine der majuskelgebrauch luthers deutschen briefen 15171546 heidelberg winter 1990 xxxiii 462 pp subjects luther martin german language capitalization german language orthography spelling originally presented author doctoral thesis 1989 otto friedrich universitaet bamberg would like thank everyone replied even express interest heartening know people find tantalizing question well conclude would like put forward questions occurred result responses received 1 connection point rise printing industry important influence regularising use capitalisation still questions way people capitalised printing press instance religious writings book kells eire find capital letters ornately decorated start portions text top page capitals used nt seen copies work adam bede 2 building 1 ask idea capitalisation arise first place quite number writing systems world method marking important words larger slightly different version normal sized letters completely absent thus capitalisation come take much granted wonder still discover reasoning behind distinctiveness strategy final parting shot speak would like point english writing use capital letter 1st p environments person printing influence e g distinguish small roman numerals talking local professor russian instance remember correctly distinction language writing systems european effect english pattern us psychologically sense important etc thankyou respondents look forward discussion questions either post list directly regards anthea words nt mean people mean forgotten author reminder afb