A History of the Old English Letter Foundries / with Notes, Historical and Bibliographical, on the Rise and Progress of English Typography.

by Talbot Baines Reed

	MOX­ON, 1683	SMITH, 1755	CAS­LON, 1841	FIG­GINS, 1841	THOR­OW­GOOD, 1841	WIL­SON, 1841
Canon	17 1⁄2	18 and G. P.	18	18	18	18
2-line Double Pica	—	20 3⁄4	20 3⁄4	20 3⁄4	20 1⁄2	20 3⁄4
2-line Great Primer	—	25 1⁄2	25 1⁄2	25 1⁄2	26	25 1⁄2
2-line English	33	32	32	32	32 1⁄4	32
2-line Pica	—	35 3⁄4	36	36	36	36
Double Pica	38	41 1⁄2	41 1⁄2	41 1⁄2	41	41 1⁄2
Paragon	—	44 1⁄2	44 1⁄2	44 1⁄2	—	44 1⁄2
Great Primer	50	51 and an r.	51	51	52	51
English	66	64	64	64	64 1⁄2	64
Pica	75	71 1⁄2	72	72 1⁄2	72	72
Small Pica	—	83	83	82	82	83
Long Primer	92	89	89	90	92	89
Bourgeois	—	102 and space.	102	101 1⁄2	103	102
Brevier	112	112 1⁄2	111	107	112	111
Minion	—	128	122	122	122	122
Nonpareil	150	143	144	144	144	144
Pearl	184	178	178	180	184	178
Diamond	—	—	204	205	210	204

This list does not include Trafalgar, Emerald, and Ruby, which, however, were in use before 1841. The first named has disappeared in England, as also has Paragon. The Printer’s Grammar of 1787 mentions a body in use at that time named “Primer,” between Great Primer and English.

It is not our purpose to pursue this comparison further or more minutely; nor does it come within the scope of this work to enter into a technical {35} examination of the various schemes which have been carried out abroad, and attempted in this country, to do away with the anomalies in type-bodies, and restore a uniform invariable standard. The above table will suffice as a brief historical note of the growth of these anomalies.

As early as 1725, in France, an attempt was made to regulate by a public decree, not only the standard height of a type, but the scale of bodies. But the system adopted was clumsy, and only added to the confusion it was designed to remove. Fournier, in 1737, invented his typographical points, the first successful attempt at a mathematical systematisation of type-bodies, which has since, with the alternative system of Didot, done much in simplifying French typography. England, Germany, and Holland have been more conservative, and therefore less fortunate. Attempts were made by Fergusson in 1824,[61] and by Bower of Sheffield about 1840,[62] and others, to arrive at a standard of uniformity; but their schemes were not warmly taken up, and failed.

Before proceeding to a brief historical notice of the different English type-bodies, we shall trouble the reader with a further table, compiled from specimen-books of the 18th century, showing what have been the names of the corresponding bodies in the foundries of other nations,—premising, however, that these names must be taken as representing the approximate, rather than the actual, equivalent in each case[63]:—

	ENGLISH.	FRENCH.	GERMAN.	DUTCH.	ITALIAN.	SPANISH.
1.	French Canon.	Double Canon.	Kleine Missal.	Parys Kanon.	Reale.	....
2.	2-line Double Pica.	Gros Canon.	Große Canon.	Groote Kanon.	Corale.	Canon Grande.
3.	2-line Great Primer.	Trismegiste.	Kleine Canon.	Kanon.	Canone.	Canon.
4.	2-line English.	Petit Canon.	Doppel Mittel.	Dubbelde Augustyn.	Sopracanoncino.	Peticano.
5.	2-line Pica.	Palestine.	Roman.	Dubbelde Mediaan.	Canoncino.	....
6.	Double Pica.	Gros Parangon.	Text or Secunda.	Dubbelde Descendiaan (or Ascendonica).	Ascendonica.	Misal.
7.	Paragon.	Petit Parangon.	Parangon.	Parangon.	Parangone.	Parangona.
8.	Great Primer.	Gros Romain.	Tertia.	Text.	Testo.	Texto.
9.	(Large English.)	Gros Texte.	Große Mittel.	....	Soprasilvio.	....
	English.	St. Augustin.	Kleine Mittel.	Augustyn.	Silvio.	Atanasia.
10.	Pica.	Cicero.	Cicero.	Mediaan.	Lettura.	Lectura.
11.	Small Pica.	Philosophie.	Brevier.	Descendiaan.	(Filosofia.)	....
12.	Long Primer.	Petit Romain.	Corpus or Garmond.	Garmond.	Garamone.	Entredos.
13.	Bourgeois.	Gaillarde.	(Borgis.)	Burgeois or Galjart.	Garamoncino.	....
14.	Brevier.	Petit Texte.	Petit or Jungfer.	Brevier.	Testino.	Breviario.
15.	Minion.	Mignone.	Colonel.	Colonel.	Mignona.	Glosilla.
16.	Nonpareil.	Nonpareille.	Nonpareille.	Nonparel.	Nompariglia.	Nompareli.
17.	Pearl.	Parisienne or Sedan.	Perl.	Joly.	Parmigianina.	....
		Perle.		Peerl.
	(Diamond.)	Diamant.	Diamant.	Robijn.	....	....
				Diamand.

{36}

A few notes on the origin of the names of English type-bodies will conclude our observations on this subject.

CANON.

Passing the next four bodies, which with us are merely reduplications,[64] we note that—