Type: A Primer of Information About the Mechanical Features of Printing Types / Their Sizes, Font Schemes, &c. with a Brief Description of Their Manufacture

by A. A. Stewart

Other extra characters, not included in ordinary fonts but which may be added when required, are accented letters (â é ë ī ō û etc.), fractions ¾ ⁵⁄₁₃ etc.), mathematical signs (+ × ÷ = etc.), superior (^{ab 42}) and inferior (_{ab 12}) letters and figures, leaders (…………), commercial signs (@ ℔ ⅌ ℀ ¢), and many other characters for special kinds of printing.

Fonts of advertising, jobbing, and display types usually consist of the capitals, lower-case letters, figures, and points, with occasionally a few extra characters. For many recent styles of heavy faces the founders furnish fractions, accented letters, and other special characters to match in boldness of face, but these are not included in ordinary letter-fonts.

The quantity of each character apportioned to a regular font is the estimated average required for ordinary composition in the English language. It is rare that more than a fraction of a small font can be used in any piece of composition. No general scheme can meet the needs of every kind of work; tables and statistical matter will need extra figures, directories and other lists will call for surplus capitals, dialogue matter will need more than the usual portion of commas and apostrophes for quote-marks; even plain descriptive composition will often call for extra “sorts.” For these and other peculiar kinds of composition extra quantities of some characters, as well as other material, must be provided.

Ordinary roman and other faces used in large quantities are measured by weight. The proportion of letters in a 100-pound font, showing the proportions of each character, is given on the next page. Miscellaneous faces used in small quantities are put up in fonts containing a certain number of each letter, the size of the font being designated by the number of capital A’s and lower-case a’s it contains.

Scheme for 15-A 30-a Job Font of 12-Point[4]
CAPITALS A 15 B 6 C 10 D 8 E 18 F 7 G 7 H 8 I 15 J 5 K 5 L 10 M 8 N 15 O 15 P 8 Q 3 R 15 S 15 T 15 U 8 V 5 W 6 X 3 Y 6 Z 3 & 6	LOWER-CASE a 30 b 12 c 16 d 18 e 40 f 12 g 12 h 20 i 30 j 8 k 8 l 20 m 16 n 30 o 30 p 12 q 6 r 30 s 30 t 30 u 16 v 8 w 12 x 6 y 12 z 6 fi 3 fl 3 ff 3 ffi 2 ffl 2	POINTS period 31 comma 31 colon 6 semi-colon 6 hyphen 9 apostrophe 13 ! 9 ? 8 ( 6
		FIGURES 1 5 2 4 3 4 4 4 5 4 6 4 7 4 8 4 9 5 0 6 $ 4 £ 5

A WEIGHT FONT

Proportion of Letters &c. in 100 lb. of Roman Type
CAPITALS oz A 8½ B 5 C 7½ D 6½ E 10 F 5 G 5½ H 6½ I 6 J 4½ K 4 L 6 M 7½ N 7½ O 7½ P 6 Q 2½ R 8 S 8 T 9 U 5 V 3½ W 7 X 2 Y 4½ Z 2 Æ ¾ Œ ¾ & 3½ ——— 10 lb	SMALL CAPS. oz A 2½ B 1½ C 2 D 2 E 3½ F 1½ G 1½ H 2 I 1¾ J 1¼ K 1¼ L 2 M 2¼ N 2½ O 2½ P 1¾ Q ¾ R 2¼ S 2¼ T 2½ U 1½ V 1 W 2 X ¾ Y 1¼ Z ½ Æ ¼ Œ ¼ & 1 ——— 3 lb	LOWER CASE lb oz a 4 6 b 1 - c 1 14 d 3 - e 6 8 f 1 1 g 1 4 h 3 8 i 2 12 j - 5 k - 8 l 1 8 m 2 10 n 4 6 o 4 4 p 1 6 q - 5 r 3 5 s 3 6 t 3 12 u 2 2 v - 14 w 1 10 x - 5 y 1 4 z - 4 æ - 1 œ - 1 fi - 5 ff - 4 ffi - 4 fl - 3 ffl - 3 —————— 58 12	FIGURES oz 1 8 2 6½ 3 5½ 4 5 5 6½ 6 5 7 5 8 5 9 5 0 10 $ 2 £ ½ ——— 4 lb
			POINTS lb oz period 1 - comma 1 8 colon - 2 semi-colon - 3 hyphen - 9 apostrophe - 4 ! - 2 ? - 2 — - 3 ( - 2 [ - 1 —————— 4 4
TOTALS lb Capitals 10 Small Capitals 3 Lower-case 58¾ Figures 4 Points 4¼ Spaces and quads 20 ——— 100 lb			SPACES AND QUADS lb oz hair - 2 5-to-em - 10 4-to-em 1 - 3-to-em 6 - en-quad 2 4 em " 1 10 2-em " 4 2 3-em " 4 4 —————— 20 lb

Weight fonts of body type are usually put up by the founders in sections or parts of fonts as given in the above summary of totals, so that one or more of these sections may be obtained to supplement a font already in use.

It will be noted that braces, dashes, and reference-marks are omitted in the above list. These characters, like fractions, commercial signs, etc., are not now considered parts of ordinary fonts, but are put up in separate packages and must be specially ordered when wanted.