Note 79 — APPENDIX II WORKS IN THE FRENCH LANGUAGE

M. Reyne, proof-reader in the National Government Printing-Office, Paris, tells me that there is no uniformity of practice in French printing-offices in regard to the accentuation of capital letters generally, although there is a consensus of opinion as to retaining accents for the letter E. As to the grave accent on the capital letter A, the two extracts which follow are sufficient authority:

‘The letter A, when a capital, standing for à, is never accented by French printers. This, I know, is a rule without exception; and one of the reasons given is that the accented capital is “ugly”. A better reason is that the accent often “breaks off”.’—Mr. Léon Delbos, M.A., late Instructor in French to Royal Naval Cadets in H.M.S. ‘Britannia’.

‘The practice of omitting the grave accent on the preposition A (whatever the reason of it may be) is all but universal.’—Mr. E. G. W. Braunholtz, M.A., Ph.D., Reader in the Romance Languages in the University of Cambridge. [H. H.]