Blurb:

This chapter provides an overview of historical paragraphing practices starting with early Greek usage, moving on to Latin paragraphing, and ending with paragraphing practice in various historical forms of English up to the end of the 19th century. The author provides a summary and critique of Lewis’ (1894) book A History of the English Paragraph, and suggest that his explanations for why paragraphing practice changed over hundreds of years are inadequate, arguing for a much wider set of considerations to be taken into account to interpret these changes.