Capitals in M&D

[Tim Strzechowski]

Also on the subject of standardizing 18th Century punctuation:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=492836


And some worthwhile info here:

"The Capitalisation of Nouns (closest modern parallel, German) faded away 
between the Middle and End of the Eighteenth Century. The Reason was 
primarily Æsthetic, as Writers and Printers moved away from Heavy Typography 
towards a more Italianate Model. There were also Oconomic Advantages, since 
it generally made Typesetting easier.

"The heaviest Stiles of Typography are usually associated with low-status or 
popular Publications -- the Equivalent of today's Tabloids, with their 
shouty sans-serif Headlines. That fits with your cited Text -- the 
anti-coffee Pamphlet mentioned in Harper's this Month, which is fairly 
Shouty even by Restoration Standards.

"By Contrast, high-status Writers (and their Printers) tended to favour 
lighter Typographical Stiles, especially going into the Augustan Age. 
(Alexander Pope is a good Example One who 'lightened' the Typography of his 
Books over the Course of his Career, particularly in Editions meant for 
Persons of Quality; David Foxon's Pope and the Early Eighteenth-Century Book 
Trade is the canonical Work on this Topic.)

"The Change didn't occur at once, by some top-down Decree, but happened over 
a long period of Time, and according to Fashion. Regular Nouns go from 
Capitalised to lower-case; emphasised Nouns go from Italicised-capitalised 
to italicised or roman lower-case, depending on House Stile. Certain proper 
Nouns go from SMALL CAPS to Capitalised.

"If you are going to imitate the Stile, you need to understand that there 
is, indeed, a System behind it."

http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/29691