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Punctuation Personified, or Pointing Made Easy by Mr. Stops
This charming and quirky children's grammar book first appeared in 1824 as one of several beautifully hand-coloured instructional texts published by John Harris in his "Cabinet of Amusement and Instruction."
There are a series of larger-than-life characters in the book, including Mr. Stops, Counsellor Comma, and the hero, Young Robert, humorously bring its lessons to life with witty and amusing verse such as: 'See, how Semicolon is strutting with pride; Into two or more parts he'll a sentence divide."
There are lively and colourful engravings that infuse the book with an entertaining spirit, while also reinforcing the lessons laid out in its cheerful rhymes.
It is evident to see how a child would have enjoyed learning about grammar through 'Punctuation Personified', as its simple but instructive verse and vibrant illustrations skilfully open up a fresh world of knowledge.
This new edition, featuring a modern introduction, will delight and amuse readers of all ages.
There are a series of larger-than-life characters in the book, including Mr. Stops, Counsellor Comma, and the hero, Young Robert, humorously bring its lessons to life with witty and amusing verse such as: 'See, how Semicolon is strutting with pride; Into two or more parts he'll a sentence divide."
There are lively and colourful engravings that infuse the book with an entertaining spirit, while also reinforcing the lessons laid out in its cheerful rhymes.
It is evident to see how a child would have enjoyed learning about grammar through 'Punctuation Personified', as its simple but instructive verse and vibrant illustrations skilfully open up a fresh world of knowledge.
This new edition, featuring a modern introduction, will delight and amuse readers of all ages.
- GenresBooks About Books
20 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1824
8 people want to read
About the author
Bodleian Library
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 10, 2024
Perhaps the surprising thing about this charming book is that it is 200 years since it was written and it is still relevant and meaningful today. It is a sort of precursor for Lynne Truss' splendid book 'Eats, Shoots & Leaves' which is appropriate for on the back cover there is a quote from Lynne, 'What a charming book - and how useful, too. Introduce children to Counsellor Comma and Ensign Semicolon and just see how the world will be improved.' And that is not to mention author Mr. Stops!
There is an excellent (unattributed) introduction that informs us 'Punctuation, since its development in the 15th and 16th centuries into a form we recognise today, has attracted the attention of educators and grammarians bent on imposing rules and regulations governing its usage.' And six years before (1818) Mr. Stops produced his book, there was Cecil Hartley's 'Principles of punctuation: or, The art of pointing familiarised.' Apparently it was intended explicitly for 'seminaries of education', ie private schools or colleges. It was in the form of questions and answers between tutor and student, unlike 'Punctuation Personified', which is more a picture book, with what in their day were hand-coloured illustrations, than an educational tool.
But the messages put across will be the same, with this book using characters or objects in the illustration accompanying each item of punctuation that have similar characteristics to the punctuation that they are representing; the cover for instance has the boys either side of Shakespeare shaped like inverted commas because they are used when quoting from such as the bard.
Thus we have for instance a stooping man sitting down to represent a question mark, a boy waving a flag with a semi-colon etched on it is used, a boy with an oversized head represents a full stop, or point, and a tall slim man represents an exclamation mark. It becomes a little more complicated when more than one punctuation mark is included in the verse that accompanies each illustration such as the one with grave and acute accents, a dash, parenthesis and a couple of other more minor marks but this is accomplished by having multiple characters in the illustration.
The ellipsis, brackets, asterisk, obelisk and double dagger is another example of multiple marks being shown but it just needs a little ingenuity in the illustration to make the points! The caret, the mark placed below the line to indicate something is missing, is another interesting mark to illustrate and the example has two boys with a statement printed above their heads and one hand of each points to a gap in the statement where in the example an obvious work is missing.
It really is a delightful book, faithfully reproduced in facsimile with the original vibrant colours standing out superbly. Not only that it does make the necessary points about punctuation that are still relevant today, I can imagine it was a wonderful learning tool in 1824 ... perhaps it could be in 2024!
There is an excellent (unattributed) introduction that informs us 'Punctuation, since its development in the 15th and 16th centuries into a form we recognise today, has attracted the attention of educators and grammarians bent on imposing rules and regulations governing its usage.' And six years before (1818) Mr. Stops produced his book, there was Cecil Hartley's 'Principles of punctuation: or, The art of pointing familiarised.' Apparently it was intended explicitly for 'seminaries of education', ie private schools or colleges. It was in the form of questions and answers between tutor and student, unlike 'Punctuation Personified', which is more a picture book, with what in their day were hand-coloured illustrations, than an educational tool.
But the messages put across will be the same, with this book using characters or objects in the illustration accompanying each item of punctuation that have similar characteristics to the punctuation that they are representing; the cover for instance has the boys either side of Shakespeare shaped like inverted commas because they are used when quoting from such as the bard.
Thus we have for instance a stooping man sitting down to represent a question mark, a boy waving a flag with a semi-colon etched on it is used, a boy with an oversized head represents a full stop, or point, and a tall slim man represents an exclamation mark. It becomes a little more complicated when more than one punctuation mark is included in the verse that accompanies each illustration such as the one with grave and acute accents, a dash, parenthesis and a couple of other more minor marks but this is accomplished by having multiple characters in the illustration.
The ellipsis, brackets, asterisk, obelisk and double dagger is another example of multiple marks being shown but it just needs a little ingenuity in the illustration to make the points! The caret, the mark placed below the line to indicate something is missing, is another interesting mark to illustrate and the example has two boys with a statement printed above their heads and one hand of each points to a gap in the statement where in the example an obvious work is missing.
It really is a delightful book, faithfully reproduced in facsimile with the original vibrant colours standing out superbly. Not only that it does make the necessary points about punctuation that are still relevant today, I can imagine it was a wonderful learning tool in 1824 ... perhaps it could be in 2024!
March 28, 2018
I bought this charming facsimile of an 1824 grammar book at the Bodleian Library. I was taking a course on the British Library system through Oxford, and I have great memories of the course and Oxford. Just looking at this book brings those memories back. It's cute and colorful, and a look at how things were taught 200 years ago. As a former proofreader it appeals to me in many ways.
November 3, 2023
Nice little children's book, which can be appreciated by adults alike. The author presumably writes under a pseudonym.
Available on Project Gutenberg.
Available on Project Gutenberg.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews