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<DIV><FONT size=4>Greetings to all,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>I saw this on the main Ansteorra list and thought I would pass
it on to you....</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>In Service,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Malcolm </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT
size=4>---------------------------------------------------------------------------</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=3>Date: Tue, 1 May 2007 15:11:12 -0500<BR>From:
"Chiara Francesca" <</FONT><A href="mailto:chiara.francesca@gmail.com"><FONT
size=3>chiara.francesca@gmail.com</FONT></A><FONT size=3>><BR>Subject:
[Ansteorra] Happy New Year!!<BR>To: "</FONT><A
href="mailto:ansteorra@ansteorra.org"><FONT
size=3>ansteorra@ansteorra.org</FONT></A><FONT size=3>" <</FONT><A
href="mailto:ansteorra@lists.ansteorra.org"><FONT
size=3>ansteorra@lists.ansteorra.org</FONT></A><FONT size=3>><BR>Message-ID:
<</FONT><A href="mailto:51f301c78c2e$ba5ade10$030ba8c0@CHESLAPTOP"><FONT
size=3>51f301c78c2e$ba5ade10$030ba8c0@CHESLAPTOP</FONT></A><FONT
size=3>><BR>Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed;
charset="iso-8859-1";<BR>reply-type=original<BR><BR>Happy New
Year!!<BR><BR>Today is May 1st<BR>Anno Societatis XXXXII (42)<BR>(Being 2007
C.E.)<BR><BR> "Any number of other variant or alternative forms may
also be found,<BR>especially in the imprint dates of books from earlier
centuries. These forms<BR>include the use of the long versions of the numbers
400 (CCCC) or 40<BR>(XXXX) -- these were actually the preferred forms in ancient
times and still<BR>appear in 20th-century books -- as well as XXC for LXXX, IC
for XCIX, VIX<BR>for XVI, or IIXX for XVIII, to mention only a few of the more
obvious<BR>variant patterns. "<BR><BR>From:<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www2.inetdirect.net/~charta/Roman_numerals.html"><FONT
size=3>http://www2.inetdirect.net/~charta/Roman_numerals.html</FONT></A><BR><BR><BR><FONT
size=3>1. For an overview of the Roman calendar see the discussion of
the<BR>"Development of the Modern Calendar" under the entry for Calendar in
The<BR>Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th edition, ?2000. Also extremely useful
for<BR>converting Roman calendar dates is Otfried Lieberknecht's Calendar
Tools<BR>(JavaScript calculator).<BR><BR>2. See also Edward R. Hobbs' playful
Compvter Romanvs (Java applet), a true<BR>calculator which accepts Roman
numerals in the range 1 - 3,999,999,<BR>validates the input, and performs basic
mathematical functions -- addition,<BR>subtraction, multiplication, and
division.<BR><BR>3. The smaller number must be a power of ten (I, X or C) and
precede a<BR>number no larger than 10 times its own value. The smaller number
itself can<BR>be preceded only by a number at least 10 times greater (e.g. LXC
is invalid)<BR>and it must also be larger than any numeral that follows the one
from which<BR>it is being subtracted (e.g. CMD is invalid).<BR><BR>4. Cappelli
indicates that the Romans rarely used the subtraction principle<BR>and that the
convention was equally uncommon during the Middle Ages. See his<BR>Dizionario di
abbreviature latine ed italiane, 6th ed., Milano, 1967, p.<BR>LIV.<BR><BR>5.
Chronograms are sentences, phrases, inscriptions, or other brief texts<BR>that
contain dates embedded within them, usually in the form of upper case<BR>Roman
numerals. If upper case letters appear on the title page of a book<BR>seemingly
at random, the letters may well represent a chronogram for the<BR>date of
publication. The intended date can usually be deciphered by making a<BR>simple
total of all of the letters' corresponding numerical values without<BR>regard
for their order (the order isn't usually meaningful). For example,<BR>the phrase
"I MarrIeD LuCy In CInCInnatI" would suggest that its author was<BR>married in
1856.<BR><BR>6. See R.B. McKerrow, Introduction to Bibliography for Literary
Students,<BR>Oxford, 1927 (appendix 3) for a brief discussion. Also his fuller
treatment<BR>of 16th-century practices in The Library, 3rd Ser., no.
1.<BR><BR>7. Sometimes referred to as a "backwards C", although the term is
not<BR>strictly accurate. Like modern-day rubber stamps, type used in making
early<BR>books consisted of a raised printing surface (face) cast on a solid
body<BR>(shank) with no reverse-side image. Consequently, it wasn't
physically<BR>possible to turn type over, or backwards, to create an exact
mirror image<BR>such as this:<BR>(image of a backwards C)<BR>Rather, printers
would reverse the C by rotating the type 180 degrees to an<BR>upside down
position.<BR><BR>This is the classic form of the apostrophic C, used throughout
the era of<BR>the handpress and still occasionally found in printed books today.
Digital<BR>technology of course makes it a simple matter to produce backwards,
or<BR>mirror image letters, as can be seen in the Unicode Consortium's
published<BR>standard for the apostrophic C, or ROMAN NUMERAL REVERSED ONE
HUNDRED<BR>(Unicode glyph U+2183, v. 4.0 (.pdf)).<BR><BR>8. Bongo's curious work
on "the mystery of numbers" (or Numerorum Mysteria,<BR>as it was commonly
known), was first published in two parts at Bergamo<BR>(1583-1584) and
frequently reissued. The partial table reproduced here<BR>originally appeared in
the 1614 edition and was scanned from a text<BR>illustration in David Smith's
Rara Arithmetica, Boston, 1908 (see figs.<BR>190-191). Click here to view a
reproduction of the title-page of Bongo's<BR>original work (part 2, dated 1584),
which bears a Roman numeral imprint date<BR>displaying several of the features
under discussion.<BR><BR><BR>Chiara </FONT><BR></DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Every man dies, not every man truly lives - Sir William
Wallace<BR>Slainte Gu Soirraidh - Scottish Gaelic Meaning - Health
Forever</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>