Ronald Kingsley Read (19 February 1887 – February 1975) was one of four contestants chosen in 1959 to share the prize money for the design of the Shavian alphabet, a completely new alphabet intended for the writing of English. In 1960, he was appointed sole responsible designer of the alphabet.
In the early 1960s, Read produced the quarterly journal Shaw-script, which was printed using the Shavian alphabet.
In 1966, after extensive testing of Shavian with English speakers from around the world, Read introduced Quikscript, a revised form of his Shavian alphabet. Quikscript, also known as the "Read alphabet", has more ligatures than Shavian, which makes it easier to write by hand. Its appearance is more cursive than Shavian.
A few days before his death, he completed a new alphabet called Soundspell (now Readspel), based, probably for increased chances of popular acceptance, on the Latin script. He was an architect.
References
- ^ "Kingsley Read Alphabet Collection". University of Reading Special Collections. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
- Shaw, Bernard (1962). Androcles and the Lion: Shaw Script Edition. Penguin Books. pp. 9, 10.
- "Shavian English alphabet - Everything2.com". everything2.com. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
External links
- Kingsley Read's Scripts at the Wayback Machine (archived June 21, 2006)
- Quikscript io group
- Shavian Yahoo Group
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