On Sale: Aug 11, 2026
Page Count: 352 pages
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN-13: 9781541606494

$32.00

$41.00 CAD

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Hardcover $32.00 $41.00 CAD
ebook $17.99 $22.99 CAD

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A lively history of punctuation, from ancient times to the age of the emoji

You know the lively exclamation mark, the controversial semicolon, and the often-omitted apostrophe, but would you recognize a percontation point? How about an obelus? In this irreverent and delightfully intellectual book, Florence Hazrat argues that all punctuation marks, from the most forgotten to the most ubiquitous, are worthy of our attention. After all, the history of punctuation is the history of humankind.

The first punctuation mark was a triangular symbol pressed into clay somewhere in Mesopotamia. Spaces between words were unknown for millennia, until a group of Irish monks pioneered spaces between words in the eighth century. Across ages and cultures, amid technological revolutions and radical changes in communication, these dots and dashes have reshaped the societies that created them. From the papyruses of the ancient world to our sprawling internet ecosystem, one thing has remained constant: Punctuation is powerful. These tiny marks can move markets, shift elections, topple political systems, and decide the fate of a precious human life on death row.

Weaving together anthropology, the history of writing, the philosophy of language, psychology, literature, and more, On the Mark masterfully proves that punctuation is at the heart of human communication.

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Florence Hazrat is a researcher and writer, and one of the world’s foremost authorities on the history and culture of punctuation. The author of An Admirable Point: A Brief History of the Exclamation Mark!, her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Washington Post, and Aeon. She received her PhD in English literature from the University of St. Andrews and now lives in Berlin.

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Florence Hazrat

About the Author

Florence Hazrat is a researcher and writer, and one of the world’s foremost authorities on the history and culture of punctuation. The author of An Admirable Point: A Brief History of the Exclamation Mark!, her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Washington Post, and Aeon. She received her PhD in English literature from the University of St. Andrews and now lives in Berlin.

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