Abbreviations

I love coming across details in 19th century newspapers that you don’t see anymore. Here are two examples.

This market rates column uses a symbol to represent the word “per”. At least, that’s what it appears to mean. The word “per” is also used in the column so perhaps the symbol has a more specific meaning? Also, the “lb” abbreviation for pound has a horizontal line across the two letters.

 

And here’s a nifty abbreviation for et cetera: