In a previous post, I presented an example of how a newspaper could provide an “illustration” without using engraved plates. In that case, it was a map of Spain made simply by typing the names of cities in such an order on the page to approximate their actual relative locations.

In a 19th century history of Tennessee, I found some similar creativity. Apparently, Daniel Boone was famous for, among other things, carving his name into trees. He wasn’t well-known however for his orthography or spelling. The author of the book in question showed how Boone’s mark on a tree told a story of killing a “bar,” the Tennessee pronunciation of “bear.”

The spelling of “Boon” without an “e” is peculiar, and I wonder if he often spelled his name that way. The lower-case “y” in “yEAR” might be a effect of how one uses a knife to carve into a tree. In general, it’s easier to carve in upper case letters, because they tend to have straight lines, while lower case letters (a, e, f, i, k, m, n, q, and r) for example require smaller or rounder strokes. The font-designer Frederic Goudy once explained that the common Roman numerals (M,C, X, V, I ) were traditionally shaped in straight lines because they were used in carving on stone and its much easier to carve in a straight line than in a curve.