This is an encyclopedia of writing systems, scripts and orthographies of all the world's major languages, past and present. It provides both a fully illustrated description of over 400 writing systems and an account of the study of writing in many different disciplines, from anthropology to psychology.

Florian Coulmas is Professor of Sociolinguistics at Chuo University, Tokyo. He was previously Professor of General Linguistics at Dusseldorf University and Research Fellow of the National Language Institute, Tokyo. He has been visiting Professor at Georgetown University and Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Study, Berlin. His principle fields of interest are the study of writing and sociolinguistics.