A is for Ox

This short history of the alphabet explains how a small set of signs for consonants, later given vowels, replaced picture-writing for many languages. Davies begins with tokens and cuneiform in Mesopotamia and with Egyptian hieroglyphs, then follows the Proto-Sinaitic and Phoenician letter-rows from which Greek, Etruscan, and Roman scripts descend. The title refers to the ox-head pictograph that became the Semitic aleph and, turned on its side, the letter A. A second half treats each modern letter in turn, noting lost forms, sound shifts, and later changes such as minuscule writing and print.

Bound in maroon design blocked cloth. Orange/brown slipcase.