The Manicule: The little hand that's everywhere

Familiar to anyone who pays attention to vintage aesthetics, I’m embarrassed to say it’s taken me 40 years to learn the name of the beloved typographic symbol that been guiding the way for centuries. Alas, that beloved inked symbol in the shape of a pointing hand (often used to draw attention to a section of text) is known as the manicule. Elegant name, n’est ce pas. Once you know the name, this little hand that has survived the march of time can take you down the rabbit hole from the age of quills to the era of cursors. So let’s follow the hand… Picture a dimly lit old library somewhere in Europe once upon a time. A monk sits over his medieval manuscript and his eyes are drawn to the margin, where a tiny inked hand with an outstretched index finger is pointing insistently at a line of text. Medieval readers drew these manicules as personalized highlights, effectively the medieval equivalent of a highlighter pen​. The practice dates back at least to the Middle Ages: the Domesday Book ... Read full article.