Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/871

 PRINTING 847 lines go to a foot. Then follow small pica, 80 lines; long primer, 89'79 ; bourgeois, in which this Cyclopaedia is printed, 100-79; brevier, 113-13 ; minion, 126-99 ; nonpareil, half the size of pica, and the smallest size usually found in books, 142-54. Several smaller sizes are occa- sionally used, especially for very small Bibles and in newspapers. Among these are agate, 160 lines to a foot; pearl, half the size of long primer; and diamond, 201-58 lines to a foot. Brilliant, next below diamond, has been used in this country for marginal notes in Bibles. Smaller sizes still have been made, chiefly as curiosities. A page of nonpareil will contain about four times as much matter as one of the same size in pica; a page of pearl four times as much as one in long primer. Types larger than pica were formerly and are yet occasionally used in books. Among these are English, 63 '49 lines to the foot, and great prim- er, 50*39. Still larger sizes, used in show bills, are usually named from their size as compared with pica ; as two-line, four-line, six-line pica, and so on. In the following list the different sizes are exhibited, each with its own name : Great Primer, English, Pica, Small Pica, Long Primer, Bourgeois, Brevier, Minion, Nonpareil, Agate, Pearl, Diamond, Briiiiut. The different letters vary in thickness. The m, which was originally square, is with us taken as the standard for measuring the quan- tity of matter in a page, and in that relation written " em." In England and most Euro- pean countries the standard is the " en." A thousand ems is the space which would be oc- cupied by 1,000 squares of a type of the font. Compositors are usually paid by the thousand ems, or in Europe by the thousand ens. Types average in thickness about two and a quarter to an em or square, so that 1,000 ems are about 2,250 characters of solid matter. A line of this Cyclopaedia measures 21 ems, and there are 132 lines to a page, which thus contains 2,772 ems. A font of type is a collection of all the characters, each apportioned in quanti- ty to the work for which it is intended ; and the pieces of whatever kind are designated as " sorts." The size of a font varies from a few pounds up to several tons in weight. The pro- portion of the different sorts in a font varies greatly. For an ordinary work in English, say a history or a novel, the relative ratios of the different "lower case " or small letters is about as follows: z, 1 ; k, j, q, x, 3; b, v, 7; g, p, w, y, 10; c,f,u,m, 12; d, 1, 20; h, r, 30; a, i, n, o, s, 40 ; t, 45 ; e, 60 ; total, 532. The compos- itor's " case " is a shallow box, 32 in. long and 16| in. wide, though smaller ones are gradu- ally coming into use. Two such cases are re- quired, which are placed in a sloping position on a stand or " frame." The lower case, as ar- ranged for ordinary work in English, has 54 compartments or "boxes" of different sizes This suffices for the 26 small letters (hence des- ignated "lower case" letters), the numerals, marks of punctuation, and spaces. The last consist of blank pieces of metal lower than the type, of eight sizes, varying from "hair spaces," six or seven to an em, to "three-em quads" (quadrats), i. e., pieces equal in length to three ems, used for filling out blanks. The upper case, which is placed on the frame in a more sloping position, is divided into 98 boxes of equal size; in these are the capitals and small capitals, which, including the diphthongs, number 60, leaving 38 for various other sorts. In the lower case the sorts are so arranged as to place those in most frequent use as near as possible to the hand of the compositor. In the upper case the letters are usually arranged in alphabetical order. The entire number of sorts (capitals, small capitals, low- er case, numerals, punctuation marks, spaces, &c.) is about 140 for ordinary work. For special works, such as a dictionary in which are used letters marked for special purposes, accented letters, mathematical and chemical symbols, &c., 100 or more additional sorts are required, which are .usually kept in separate cases. The Italic letters, capitals and lower case (Italic small capitals not being usually furnished), are kept in a separate pair of cases arranged as in the Roman cases. French, Ger- man, Spanish, and other European languages require about the same number of sorts as English ; so does Greek, when printed without accents and breathings, but with them about 200 regular sorts are required. The early type founders, trying to imitate calligraphy, intro- duced into their Greek fonts many contrac- tions and combinations, raising the number of sorts to about 750 ; but these have long since been abandoned. Many of the early printers also made their own type ; but this has now become a separate trade. (See TYPE.) The letters, each of which is cast separately, must be "true" in every way. If one were too low by ^-^o of an inch, it would not appear in printing ; if so much too high, its impression would be heavier than those adjacent to it. If the body of the type were not mathemat- ically accurate, a great number of them, when made up into a page, could not be held together in a solid mass. Composition. The tools used by the compositor in setting type consist only of a composing "stick" and a "rule." The former is a frame of metal, generally steel (though for very large work wood is used), with a bottom and three sides, one of which is movable, so that by a screw it can be ad- justed to lines of any length. For ordinary work it is about 6 in. long and will hold about 14 lines of bourgeois. The rule is a piece of smooth metal of the length of the line, and as high as the type, with a projecting nib at the right-hand corner for convenience in shifting. Besides these, a bodkin is used for picking out letters in correcting proofs. The compositor