''The World's Writing Systems'' is a

reference book A reference work is a document, such as a Academic publishing#Scholarly paper, paper, book or periodical literature, periodical (or their electronic publishing, electronic equivalents), to which one can refer for information. The information ...

about the world's

writing system A writing system comprises a set of symbols, called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which the script represents a particular language. The earliest writing appeared during the late 4th millennium BC. Throughout history, each independen ...

s. The book is edited by

Peter T. Daniels Peter T. Daniels (born December 11, 1951) is a scholar of writing systems, specializing in typology. He was co-editor (with William Bright) of the book '' The World's Writing Systems'' (1996). He was a lecturer at University of Wisconsin–Mi ...

and

William Bright William Oliver Bright (August 13, 1928 – October 15, 2006) was an American linguist and toponymist who specialized in Native American and South Asian languages and descriptive linguistics. Biography Bright earned a bachelor's degree in lin ...

and was first published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

in 1996. ''The World's Writing Systems'' systematically explores most of the world's

s from the earliest times onwards. There are seventy-four signed articles, arranged in thirteen groups, with seventy-nine contributors (some articles have shared credit, while others merely consulted).

References

1996 non-fiction books Books about writing Oxford University Press books {{Ref-book-stub