Who invented the ``proper quotes"?

I'm pretty sure Knuth didn't, since there was roff before TeX, and I believe proper quotes were already used...

Any EXPERT TYPESETTING HISTORIANS here?

``ASCII proper" quotes?
“Proper” quotes?
"Straight" quotes?

>>19 here
ASCII proper have been around as long as Usenet. Finding the origin would be difficult as fuck.

Proper quotes have been around much longer than computers. Straight quotes were a simplication to save on two characters (left/right single and left/right double compressed into single and double).

Quotes go back to the Baroque, I think… Proper quotes are a result of inverted commas.