Page:The practice of typography - a treatise on the processes of type-making, the point system, the names, sizes, styles and prices of plain printing types by De Vinne, Theodore Low, 1828-1914.djvu/19

 type; (2) Ascending letters, like A, b, h, d, that occupy the upper three-fourths of the body; (3) Descending letters, like p, y, g, q, that occupy the lower three-fourths of the body; (4) Short letters like a, 0, that occupy about one-half of the Huis in the middle part; (5) Small capitals, that are sometimes in height more than one-half of the body, but not as high as the ascending letters; (6) Irregular characters, like the *, that have no arbitrary height, but do have a definite position.

The punch-cutter begins his work of practical design by drawing a geometrical framework, on which he determines the proper position of every line and the height of each character. A small margin is left at top and bottom of the face to prevent the touching of a descending letter against an ascending letter in the next line, as well as to prevent the wear of exposed lines cut flush to the edge of the body.