‘The Shaw Alphabet Edition of Androcles and the Lion’ by Bernard Shaw (1962) | Olde Timey Book Review
Book Reviewed: The Shaw Alphabet Edition of Androcles and the Lion by Bernard Shaw (London: Penguin Books, 1962)
In this Olde Timey Book Review I delve into a peculiar little printing of one of Bernard Shaw’s plays, The Shaw Alphabet Edition of Androcles and the Lion (1962). The history of its publication involves an eccentric author’s dying wish, a protracted legal case, and fundamental questions about the construction of the written English language. At the centre of this story is a newly created phonetic alphabet for English that had grand hopes of supplanting the inefficient Latin alphabet…
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References
The Shaw Alphabet Edition of Androcles and the Lion (London: Penguin Books, 1962)
George Bernard Shaw On Language edited by Abraham Tauber (London: Peter Owen, 1965)
‘The “Advancement of Education” as applied to the Wikimedia Foundation projects’, Wikimedia.org.uk, 2009 <https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/The_%E2%80%9CAdvancement_of_Education%E2%80%9D_as_applied_to_the_Wikimedia_Foundation_projects#cite_note-2>
‘Analysis of the law underpinning: The Advancement of Education for the Public Benefit’, Charity Commission for England and Wales, UK Government Publishing, 2008 <https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/358532/lawedu1208.pdf>
‘Estate Plans of the Rich and Famous: George Bernard Shaw’, The Heritage Law Center, 2013 <https://www.maheritagelawcenter.com/estate-plans-of-the-rich-and-famous-george-bernard-shaw-2/>
Shavian Alphabet Information <https://www.shavian.info/>
‘Shavian (1/3): Origins’ by Leo Philip, articles c-a-s-t, 2017 <https://articles.c-a-s-t.com/towards-an-ideal-alphabet-the-origins-and-the-typographic-interpretation-of-shavian-22bb5455c11c>
Olde Timey Book Review is a series examining vintage books, focusing on them as cultural artefacts within their historical context rather than solely on the texts themselves. These videos are for people interested in literary heritage and in discovering the peculiar variety of topics that authors have approached, each in their own unique style.
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