An italic ſhort s ligated with t, formerly in Uſe, does not ſeem to have remained long in the Printer’s Caſe; but—perhaps from the Beauty of its Curves—the “
,” both in roman and italic, retains its Popularity, and is found in Fonts of modernized Old Style which have reje
ed the long ſ and its Ligatures. Indeed, we have what are {p199} called “
Books,” in which the deſignating Term is uſed as though it were as needful as “fi,” and the other Combinations of the kerned Letter f.
We conclude this Portion of our Work by preſenting ſome Fac-ſimiles of Old Style, produced by Photogravure. The firſt is Part of a Page from “Annals of King George,” printed in London, in 1717.
The next is a Fac-ſimile of four roman and three italic Lines from T. B. Reed’s “Hiſtory of Printing.” Theſe ſeven Lines were printed from Type caſt in the Matrices made by the elder Caſlon, in 1720. They ſhow an immenſe Improvement when compared with the Page of the “Annals” executed but three Years before.
The third Sample is from Fry & Steele’s “Specimens of Printing Type,” dated 1794; while the fourth, from the Foundry of Caſlon the younger, dated 1796, having dropped the long “ſ” and its Ligatures, informs us of the Period when the Old was giving Place to the New. {p200}