Signifier of modernity: the demise of the long-s in English newspapers, 1784–1810

This paper charts the abandoning of the long s by English newspapers across the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries via an archival study, and concludes its fate was less straightforward than in the book-trade where the switch was both more abrupt and more thorough-going. But just as it was for the book-trade, the abandonment of the long s by newspapers was more about signalling their modernity (or their traditionalism) as it was about ensuring typographical clarity for readers.