Saturday, February 27, 2016

Van or van

I finally noticed: our Penguin paperback The Letters of Vincent van Gogh switches between Vincent van Gogh and Van Gogh . The Chicago Manual of Style explains. Section 8.10 in the sixteenth edition (2010):



Note: “usually capitalized.” One can find both Van Gogh and van Gogh in recent books about the artist. The Art Institute of Chicago exhibition Van Gogh’s Bedrooms follows the Chicago Manual ’s recommendation: Vincent van Gogh, Van Gogh.

comments: 2

Richard Abbott said...

I learned some while ago that over here in the UK, at least for academic use, van would be capitalised only at the start of a sentence. So "In 1995, van der Veen said..." but "Van der Veen said in 1995..." But details of style are an ever-changing minefield anyway

Michael Leddy said...

Yes. I was happy to see Van Gogh’s (or van Gogh’s ) name among the Chicago examples. No need for me to choose.