PRINTING 043 



In the last century, a fount of type weighing 500 Ibs. was considered a good weight; 

 but now, so much has printing increased, it is not an uncommon thing in the principal 



1671 1672 



houses in London to keep a fount of 20,000 or 30,000 Ibs. in common use. The fol- 

 lowing are the names of the types in English, Dutch, French, German, and Italian ; 

 but some of the German names vary in different parts of Germany : 



1. Diamond, the smallest. 



2. Pearl. (Fr. La Parisienne or Se"danoise ; Ger. Perle ; ltd. Occhio di Mosca.) 



3. Euby. 



4. Nonpareil. (Dutch, Nonpareil ; Fr. La Nonpareille ; Ger. Nonpareille ; ltd. 

 Nompariglia.) 



5. Emerald. 



6. Minion. (Fr. La Mignonne ; Ger. Colonel ; ltd. Mignona.) 



7. Brevier. (Dutch,- Brevier ; Fr. Le Petit Texte ; Ger. Petit, or Jungfer ; ltd. 

 Piccolo Testo.) 



8. Bourgeois. (Dutch, Bourgeois ; Fr. La Gaillarde ; Ger. Bourgeois ; Ital. Ga- 

 gliarda.) 



9. Long Primer. (Dutch, Garmond ; Fr. Le Petit Eomain ; Ger. Corpus, or Gar- 

 mond ; ltd. Garamone.) 



10. Small Pica. (Dutch, Dessendiaan; Fr. La Philosophic; Ger. Brevier, or 

 Bheinlander ; ltd. Filosofia.) 



11. Pica. (Dutch, Mediaan ; Fr. Le Cicero ; Ger. Cicero ; ltd. Lettura.) 



12. English. (Dutch, Augustyn ; Fr. Le Saint-Augustin ; Ger. Mittel ; ltd. Silvio.) 



13. Great Primer. (Dutch, Text; Fr. Le Gros Komain; Ger. Tertia; ltd. Testo.) 



14. Paragon. (Dutch, Paragon; Fr. Le Petit Parangon; Ger. Paragon; ltd. 

 Paragone.) 



15. Double Pica. (Dutch, Dubbelde Dessendiaan ; Fr. Le Gros Parangon ; Ger. 

 Text, or Secunda; ltd. Due Liuee Filosofia.) 



16. Two-line Pica. (Dutch, Dubbelde Mediaan ; Fr. Les Deux Points de Cicero, 

 La Palestine ; Ger. Doppelcicero.) 



17. Two-line English. (Dutch, Dubbelde Augustyn; Fr. Le Petit Canon; Ger. 

 Doppelmittel ; ltd. Canoncino.) 



18. Two-line Great Primer. (Dutch, Kanon ; Fr. Les Deux Points de Gros 

 Eomain ; Ger. Kleine Canon ; ltd. Grosso Testo.) 



19. Two-line Double Pica. (Dutch, Groote Kanon ; Fr. Le Trismegiste ; Ger. Grobe 

 Canon.) 



20. Trafalgar. 



21. Canon. (Dutch, Parys Eomeyn; Fr. Le Gros Canon; Ger. Kleine Missal; 

 ltd. Canone.) 



In 1457 cast types were invented by Peter Schoeffer ; in 1800, the lever, or Ameri- 

 can mould, was introduced ; in 1823, Henri Didot's polymatype, still successfully used 

 in France, was worked in London by Pouchee, but failed through the opposition of the 

 associated type-founders; in 1853, Mr. Johnson patented his machine for casting type 

 mechanically without variation of body ; and in the year following, he perfected his 

 process for making hard metal type by substituting tin for lead, entirely or partially, 

 in the ordinary compounds. 



The types are arranged, each sort by itself, in two cases, an upper and a lower, in 

 little cells or boxes. The upper case, having ninety-eight boxes, contains the capital 

 and small capital letters, figures, accents, and other types not used so frequently as the 

 smaller letters ; and in the lower case, having fifty-four boxes, are disposed the small 

 letters, together with the points, spaces, quadrats, &c. The boxes in the cases are 

 arranged in the best possible manner for facilitating the work of the compositor, and 

 enabling him to pick up the types rapidly, the letters most frequently used being 

 placed nearest to his hand. 



In setting up, or composing, the compositor stands opposite to his cases ; and, having 

 received directions respecting the size of the type, the width of the page, the author's 

 wishes as to punctuation, capitals, italics, &c., places his copy or MS. before him, on 

 a spare part of the' "upper case, and holds in his left hand a small instrument called 

 a composing stick, usually made of iron, with a moveable slide, capable, by means of a 

 screw, of being adjusted to the different widths required in miscellaneous printing, as 



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