That IS funny.

Talk about being ahead of your time. He didn’t even copyright them!

I think we need more “tyrannical crowd[s] of artists”…was this in response to anything in particular?

I think they’re just having a little joke.

[...] Emoticons from the 1880s from Comics Should Be Good! [...]

[...] Emoticons from the 1880s from Comics Should Be Good! [...]

…I remember when the emoticons started appearing back in the mid;80′s on BBS’s and BITNET relay chats, and someone quoted Keppler back then. Most people didn’t know who he was anymore, and apparently didn’t care that much.

I wonder what the Acronyms were like?

PTMS – Pray tell me, sir…

SSICL – Shifting Slightly In Char Laughing

FSIMI – Fanning Self in Mock Indignation

[...] check out his post on the matter. [...]

No doubt, these were meant to be used on Babbage’s Difference Engine?

And… I think I’m going to have to start using PTMS in ordinary ‘net conversation….

LOL. This is almost as good as when I found out that 1830s New Englanders liked to use “comical misspellings”. If only photography had been more advanced, they may have come up with lolcats on their own.

wow! love it!

[...] in the 1880s?   Pshhh.  Show me some ASCII art and then I’ll be [...]

[...] Comic Book Resources — with thanks to Michael Danziger for the tip] « Large Display [...]

[...] at 21:40 Emoticons sollen eine Erfindung des Internetzeitalters sein? Von wegen. Brian Cronin von Comic Book Resources hat diese aus typographischem Material zusammengebastelten Smilies in einem 127 Jahre (!) alten [...]

[...] of print shops from all over. Awesome. Friday, 28 November 2008 19th Century emoticons. Studies in Passions and Emotions, 100 years ahead of its time. (via Typophile) Tuesday, 25 November 2008 The antique phonograph [...]

[...] Did you think emoticons are a modern phenomena of the Internet? Think again. A long long time ago (~120 years ago to be more precise), in a place not so far away… a typographist sought a new way to communicate emotion with his people and to thwart the threat of evil cartoonists… (HT: Comics Should be Good) [...]

[...] are countless examples of 19thcenturyemoticons. Most examples were oriented adult and down like a unchanging face so they [...]

[...] are numerous examples of 19thcenturyemoticons. Most examples were oriented up and down like a regular face so they look [...]

[...] are numerous examples of 19thcenturyemoticons. Most examples were oriented up and down like a regular face so they look [...]

[...] are numerous examples of 19th century emoticons. Most examples were oriented up and down like a regular face so they look different than the [...]

[...] have roots that date back way before the Internet was invented. There are numerous examples of 19th century emoticons. Most examples were oriented up and down like a regular face so they look different than the [...]

[...] are numerous examples of 19thcenturyemoticons. Most examples were oriented up and down like a regular face so they look [...]

[...] are numerous examples of 19th century emoticons. Most examples were oriented up and down like a regular face so they look different than the [...]

[...] Folks in the 1880′s invented typographical art aka EMOTICONS. Need to tell everyone you’re astonished? What about melancholy? Here you go. [...]