«Praise for Judith Flanders' previous book, Christmas: A Biography: 'A catalogue of colourful information, and as surprising an assortment of items as any you might find heaped up under a tree.'»

Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Observer

«Marvellous . . . I read it with astonished delight . . . It is equally scholarly and entertaining.»

Jan Morris

«Quirky and compelling . . . She is a meticulous historian with a taste for the offbeat; the story of the alphabet suits her well . . . Fascinating.»

Dan Jones, Sunday Times

«A library and academic essential.»

Libby Purves, The Times

«One of the many fascinations of Judith Flanders’s book is that it reveals what a weird, unlikely creation the alphabet is.»

Joe Moran, Guardian

«Judith Flanders’s A Place for Everything presents itself as a history of alphabetical order, but in fact it is more than that. Rather, as the title suggests, it offers something like a general history of the various ways humans have sorted and filed the world around them – a Collison –level view of the matter, in which alphabetical order is just one system among many.’»

Dennis Duncan, The Spectator

«Judith Flanders has a knack for making odd subjects accessible . . . In A Place for Everything, the popular historian paints alphabetisation as one of our most radical acts. . . Flanders retains a sense of fun . . . finds contemporary resonance in humanity's search for order.»

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