NAMES AND SIZES OF TYPE.

The principal bodies to which printing letters are cast in England and America are the following:—

1.Diamond.
2.Pearl.
3.Agate.
4.Nonpareil.
5.Minion.
6.Brevier.
7.Bourgeois.
8.Long Primer.
9.Small Pica.
10.Pica.
11.English.
12.Columbian.
13.Great Primer.
14.Paragon.
15.Double Small Pica.
16.Double Pica.
17.Double English.
18.Double Great Primer.
19.Double Paragon.
20.Canon.

Besides the foregoing, a smaller size than Diamond, called Brilliant, is now cast in the foundry of MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan of Philadelphia, the body of which is just one-half of Minion. Even this is surpassed in smallness by a music type cast in the same foundry, named Excelsior, which is precisely one-half the size of Nonpareil. Another size omitted in the list is Minionette, (equivalent to six of the Didot points,) which is next above Nonpareil.

Canon is conceded to have been first produced by a French artisan, and was probably used in some work relating to the canons of the church; to which the German title, Missal, alludes.

Two-line Great Primer, Two-line English, and Two-line Pica, owe their names to the respective bodies of which the depth of two em quadrates answers to one of the double sizes.

Paragon was probably first cut in France. It is known as Text by the Germans.

Pica is universally considered as the standard type, and by it furniture, quotations and labour-saving rules are graduated. A line 83 Pica ems long is equivalent to 35 centimeters. The twelfth part of Pica is the unit, called a Point, by which type-bodies are measured. MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan cast their new borders, ornaments, and job type on Pica, and its subdivisions of Nonpareil, (½ Pica,) and Excelsior, (¼ Pica,) and their multiples.

Great Primer, called Tertia in Germany, is one of the major sizes of type which were early used for printing considerable works, and especially the Bible; on which account some persons term it Bible Text. The French name is Gros Romain.

English is called Mittel by the Germans, and St. Augustin by the French and Dutch; the word Mittel (Middle) intimating that the former sizes of letter were seven in number, the centre of which was English, with Prima, Secunda, and Tertia on one side, and Pica, Long Primer, and Brevier on the other. The name St. Augustin was probably given because the writings of that Father were the first works done in that letter.

Pica is called Cicero by the French and Germans. As the preceding size was distinguished by the name of St. Augustin, so this has been honoured with that of Cicero, on account of the Epistles of that writer having been first done in letter of this size. It is doubtful whether the name was given by the French or the Germans.

Small Pica is a grade below Pica, and is now generally employed in octavo volumes, and is, indeed, almost the only size used for printing legal reports and other law books. The French call this letter Philosophie, which, however, is merely a Pica face on Small Pica body. The Germans call it Kleine Cicero.

Long Primer. Upon the supposition that some bodies of letter took their names from works in which they were first employed, we are induced to believe that the Germans gave the name of Corpus to this character on account of their Corpus Juris being first done in this size. The French call this letter Petit Romain.

Bourgeois is a very useful and convenient size of letter. It is frequently used in double-column octavo pages. The name indicates that it originated in France; although type of this body is now called Gaillarde by French printers. Two lines of this letter are equivalent to one line of Great Primer, or four lines of Diamond.

Brevier was first used for printing the Breviaries, or Roman Catholic Church books, and hence its name. The Germans call it Petit, and Jungfer (maiden letter). It is an admirable type, and cannot conveniently be dispensed with in any considerable printing-office.

Minion follows Brevier, and is commonly used for newspapers, and for notes and indexes in book-work. Its name is due probably to its being smaller than any type in use at the period of its invention. It fills a useful place in a printing-office.

Nonpareil came next in order; and its originator, supposing that he had reached the extreme of diminutiveness, gave it this triumphant title. It is extensively used, though mostly on newspapers, and for notes and indexes for duodecimo books and smaller. It is certainly the smallest type that should be allowed in book-work.

Agate probably arose from the necessities of newspaper publishers. As patronage increased, it became desirable to have a type less in size than Nonpareil, for the advertisements, shipping news, markets, &c.; and Agate was made to meet the emergency. It is now extensively used for pocket editions of the Bible and Prayer Books.

Pearl may be said to have been born of ambition. As punch-cutters became more expert, some one possessed of a keen eye and a delicate mechanical finger determined to surpass in smallness the achievements of his predecessors. Hence the origin of this type. This type is also employed in printing miniature volumes.

Diamond followed, as a matter of course; for human ingenuity, when provoked, seems determined to go to the utmost verge of possibility. This type is so minute that a pound of it will contain more than 3300 of the letter i; yet, to produce each letter of an alphabet, a steel punch has to be cut and a matrix made, in which the types are cast one by one, and, being set up in lines, are rubbed and dressed by the founder for the use of the compositor.

Brilliant. Expert penmen, it is said, have succeeded in writing the Lord’s Prayer upon the edge of a sheet of paper. A type-setter in Berlin, most surprisingly, has formed a type so minute as to be scarcely readable without a good magnifying glass. The type of this paragraph, though not so small as the microscopic letters produced in Prussia, is yet so diminutive that even Diamond is large by comparison. Of the letter i nearly 4600 go to a pound.