wyman@blumon.enet.dec.com (Bob Wyman) (01/22/91)
I'm currently in the process of transcribing some handwritten court records
from the 1600's and am having some difficulty representing with TEX what I'm
finding in the manuscripts. My hope is that others have used Tex to set
old manuscripts and can help me out a bit...
The first problem that presents itself is the representation of "ye", "yt",
"ym", etc. ie: the use of "y" as an abbreviation for "th". I have tried
various definitions and find the following to have the most promise:
(using \ye as a representative example of the problem}
\def\ye{y{\raise3pt\hbox{\scriptsize e}} }
or \def\ye{${\rm y^{e}}$ }
Now, the problem is that the correctness of the \raise3pt in the first option
is highly dependent on the typesize and style in use at the moment that
the \ye is used. Thus, I can't really make a single macro to define ye in
all instances... The problem with the second form is that the "e" superscript
seems to be raised too high and the use of \rm only works when I'm using
roman font... What I would like to say is "use whatever font would have been
used if Tex were not in math mode at this point. How could I do this? Can
someone suggest a better form for the macros I need?
Also, in both macros, I've had to insert a space at the end of the definitions
in order to ensure that interword spacing is done properly. This causes the
purely technical problem that with `\ye.' the period is improperly kerned.
Given that I can solve the problems mentioned above, I am still left with the
fact that many of the characters used by court clerks in the 1600's don't seem
to appear in the "modern" character sets. For instance: there appear to be
3 or 4 different variants of "P" which are abbreviations for "per", "pro", etc.
And, I can't find a good character for "etc." as found in the manuscripts.
Are there any fonts available that are designed for use in transcribing
handwritten documents or that contain these archaic characters forms?
--
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Bob Wyman | Internet: wyman@blumon.enet.dec.com
Digital Equipment Corporation | or: wyman%blumon.enet@decwrl.dec.com
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------Douglas.Miller@viccol.edu.au (Douglas Miller) (01/23/91)
In article <19234@shlump.nac.dec.com>, wyman@blumon.enet.dec.com (Bob Wyman) writes: > > \def\ye{y{\raise3pt\hbox{\scriptsize e}} } > or \def\ye{${\rm y^{e}}$ } > > Now, the problem is that the correctness of the \raise3pt in the first option > is highly dependent on the typesize and style in use at the moment that > the \ye is used. Thus, I can't really make a single macro to define ye in > all instances... But you don't have to use absolute units. Try using a fontsize dependent unit such as ex. > Also, in both macros, I've had to insert a space at the end of the definitions > in order to ensure that interword spacing is done properly. This causes the > purely technical problem that with `\ye.' the period is improperly kerned. Don't include the space. Your alternatives for specifying \ye\ include: \ye\ {\ye} \ye{} \ye. \ye, etc.