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X

SIZES OF TYPES, WITH NOTES ON THEIR USES

THE invention of movable types is often popularly referred to as the invention of printing, since it made cheap printing possible. In some modern (so called) typesetting-machines the individual type is dispensed with, and the line becomes the movable unit. Metal types are cast in a mold, and, according to the point system, now generally adopted, are .918 of an inch in height. They are usually nicked on the lower side, for the convenience of the compositor, or sometimes on two sides, for distribution by a mechanical distributor. Types of large size, as for poster-printing, are made of close-grained wood-as, apple, maple, boxwood, etc.—the end of the grain being placed upward, and subjected to pressure to give it a finish. Rubber types are much in use for hand-stamps, etc., and usually have a metal body half an inch or less in length, and a soft rubber face. Metal type is sometimes copper-faced by electrodeposition, to add to its wearing qualities. Type is high-spaced where shoulder-high spaces are used for electrotyping, otherwise low-spaced.

In typography the unit of measurement is determined by the em quad, the square of the body of any size of type, and is used in estimating the cost of composition, the wages of typesetters, and the sizes of pages. It is used also to designate the length of dashes or spaces, etc.

Formerly it was the practise of each type= founder to establish a standard of his own for the different classes of type he cast, and master printers who purchased fonts from different type= founders found to their dismay that the type of one foundry would not justify with that of another, altho it was designated by the same name in the trade. The inconvenience which this caused led to the devising of a new system by which types cast by different foundries were made interchangeable. This new system is commonly known as the Point System, and is a standard system of sizes (see below) for type-bodies, 996 points of which are equal to 35 centimeters, and one point is .0138 inch, as adopted by the Type= founders' Association of the United States. Under this system the old names of type-bodies -as, nonpareil (now 6-point), bourgeois (now 9-point), etc. are in disuse.

The International Typographical Union, which regulates the affairs of the printers' craft, has adopted the following type standard, which is

based on the measure of the small or lower-case letters of the complete alphabet. In establishing this standard the em quads used were of the same size as the type measured :

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The differences in printing types, as to body or size, are shown in the list below:

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Differences in width render the type fat or lean, or, if quite marked, extended or condensed; differences in face are almost endless.

Among other sizes and names of type not noted in the above list are excelsior, emerald or minionette, ruby, canon, Columbian, and paragon. In the system now passing into disuse, sizes of type larger than four-line pica are usually conformed to a pica standard and named by the multiple contained as, 20-line, 30-line, or 40-line pica. Other sizes are indicated by multiples of sizes above pica-as, double English, double great primer.

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HOW TO COMPUTE THE SPACE THAT A MANUSCRIPT WILL OCCUPY

TO ASCERTAIN the space which a given number of words will occupy, the following rule will be found to be very reliable:

Find the number of "points" to the length of line you desire, and also the depth of the page. There are 72 "points" to the inch, either way. Thus, if a line is to be 3 inches in length, there will be 216 "points" in that line. Divide this by the number of points in the body of the type in which the matter is to be set. For instance, if it is 10-point (long primer), there will be 21.6 ems to the line; 8-point (brevier), 27 ems, and 60 on through all the points. If the length of a page be 5 inches, then there would be 360 "points" in that length, or 36 ems 10-point; 45 ems 8-point, and so on through all the points. Now the square of that for 10-point would be 21.6 × 36777.6 ems (27 X 45 8-point).

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Now divide either product by 3, and you have the approximate number of words to the page,

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