Types

Types (Gr. typos, 'an impression' or 'stamp') are pieces of metal, wood, or other material, on one end of which is cast or engraved a character, sign, &c. Provided that black ink and white paper are used, the character printed by the type will be in black, in which case it will be raised or in relief, or in white, when it will be incised or in intaglio, when the surrounding parts will print. The latter kind of letters is only used for decorative purposes. The word 'type' is held to include many characters which are not letters, such as punctuational signs, astronomical signs, ornaments, pieces of borders, musical characters. A necessary complement to types are the spaces which divide words and fill up openings in composed 'forms.'

A font (see PRINTING) of Roman and Italic comprises no less than 227 different characters or 'sorts,' as they are called. The Roman capitals, including diphthongs, number 28; small capitals, 28; lower case and ligatures, 34; ordinary accents, 21; points and references, 16; figures and £ mark, 11; Italic capitals and diphthongs, 28; lower case and ligatures, 34; ordinary accents, 21; points, 6. Ligatures are types cast together, as fi, fl, ffi. Other kinds of types are logotypes, or word-types—the letters of a word, an affix or prefix, in frequent use, such as the, and, ing, con, which are sometimes cast in one piece in order that they may be picked up by one motion from the cases, instead of being lifted separately. The economy of using logotypes has never been satisfactorily demonstrated. Certain type-composing machines cast whole lines of letters forming a bar, but these are not classed as types. Types are short letters (a, e, o), ascenders (which go above the line of the shorts, as b, d, h), or descenders (g, p, y). The sizes of types are designated by different names in respect of their 'body'—i.e. the depth of the 'face' which comes in contact with the ink plus the 'bevel' and 'beard'—or nearly the whole square at the end of the 'shank' on which the 'body' is formed (see fig. 1 in PRINTING); for there may be several sizes of face on one size of body. Below is a list of the number of lines to the foot of the respective bodies as made in metal types, large wooden types being otherwise described:

The figures are not absolutely accurate; a type of the same name may be at one foundry cast slightly larger than at another; but the discrepancy is very minute. Many pages of type are 'leaded,' have spaces or leads between the lines, and to such this table will not apply, unless the width of the lead is known. The present page is 'solid,' not 'leaded,' and the body of the type can be readily identified. In America types are designated according to the number of 'points' of which the body consists. The point is $\backslash frac\{1\}\{72\}$ of a Pica; Nonpareil would accordingly be called six points. On the continent of Europe the point is $\backslash frac\{1\}\{72\}$ of a Cicero, a body between Pica and English. The following specimen lines show the usual bodies used in the text of books and newspapers; (1) being set in English, (2) in Pica, (3) in Small Pica, (4) in Long Primer, (5) in Bourgeois, (6) in Brevier, (7) in Minion, (8) in Nonpareil, and (9) in Pearl.

• (1) Chambers's Encyclopædia.
• (2) Chambers's Encyclopædia.
• (3) Chambers's Encyclopædia.
• (4) Chambers's Encyclopædia.
• (5) Chambers's Encyclopædia.
• (6) Chambers's Encyclopædia.
• (7) Chambers's Encyclopædia.
• (8) Chambers's Encyclopædia.
• (9) Chambers's Encyclopædia.

Types vary greatly in width; indeed in a complete font, including spaces, &c., there are no less than 190 different widths or thicknesses between f, i, j, l and m and w. These widths are arbitrary, and in some cases are the result of accident. To meet the requirements of newspaper printing several letters have been made broader of recent years, as may be seen from the Times, in which some ordinarily thin letters have a larger proportion of space at the side than the others.

Type-metal is composed of tin, antimony, copper, and lead; for average purposes the proportion may be given as lead, 100 lb.; antimony, 35 lb.; tin, 15 lb.; copper, 4 lb. But type-founders have certain secrets jealously guarded. The antimony gives hardness (and brittleness); and as it expands on solidifying in the mould, ensures sharp faces. Tin gives toughness and makes the metal flow more easily. Copper slightly hardens and toughens. Old type, stereotype, &c. are sometimes utilised, but are rather adulterants. The faces of types are sometimes electroplated with copper, nickel, &c. For resisting great tear and wear brass types are made to a limited extent, both for letterpress printing (labels, advertisements, &c.) and for bookbinders' 'blocking' work. Large wooden types, which are cheaper, lighter, and not so easily fractured by a fall, are cut or engraved either by hand or by a machine which combines the principles of a Pantagraph (q.v.) and an engraver's 'routing' machine.

Various substitutes for type-metal have been proposed, mainly by non-practical inventors—potter's clay, moulded wood, paper pulp, sawdust, glass. Vulcanised rubber has been largely used (since 1868) for making the upper face of single letters and of small casts to be used as stamps. The letters of Type-writers (q.v.) are generally of india-rubber. And for large letters an elastic surface has been used which has glue for its chief ingredient.

In type-founding there are five principal processes—(1) cutting the punch, (2) sinking and adjusting the matrix, (3) compounding the type-metal, (4) casting the type, (5) finishing and dressing the type. A well-tempered steel punch is engraved with the design of the character in relief. This is next struck or punched into a piece of soft metal—finely-burnished copper; a separate piece being required for each character, which, when finished and justified, becomes the matrix. A cheaper kind of matrices is made from ordinary type or specially engraved type by a process of electrotyping. In founding the matrix is fitted to the mould, an ingenious mechanism in two parts, each constructed of several pieces of steel screwed together and fitting closely everywhere except in the centre, where an opening remains of sufficient extent to form the body of the type. The hand-mould, as distinguished from the machine-mould, is further enclosed in a wooden box to save the workman's hand from injury. Attached to the mould is a spring to hold the matrix in position. A spoonful of molten metal is quickly poured into the opening of the mould, which receives at the same time an upward jerk or throw, the matrix removed, the mould opened, and the newly-cast type pulled out.

In 1838 David Bruce of New York invented the type-casting machine which has revolutionised the art of type-founding. By the hand-casting process from 2000 to 3000 ordinary body types was considered a good day's work; by the machine the quantity produced is increased at least fourfold, the method of casting is also much simplified and the labour of the caster rendered less arduous. In place of the many motions necessary in hand-casting, the simple turning of a crank-handle produces a letter in a marvellously short space of time. The mould for the machine has, however, undergone little change beyond being adapted to a new position in the apparatus. In 1862 J. R. Johnson and J. S. Atkinson of London patented a machine in which all operations subsequent to punch-cutting and matrix-justifying were performed automatically; and this was afterwards improved by Mr P. M. Shanks.

Styles of Types.—The earliest books were printed with types resembling the styles for book-writing then popular in the middle of the 15th century. Pointed Black Letter (q.v.) was preferred for church service-books; but for books for the laity a simpler form of black letter was preferred (lettre de somme, semi-Gothic, or better, pointed Gothic). Neither form was popular in Germany, and in 1486 Rewich took the departure which led to the German character in which most German printing is still done. The first printers of Italy, themselves Germans, Sweinheym and Pannartz (1465-73), began works with new types of the Roman form, but with many features of the black letter. In 1467 a rival German printer, Hahn, began printing in another Roman letter, which also showed a preference for the Gothic form. The first really good form of Roman, adopted everywhere by the suppression of all others, was made by Jenson of Venice, and shown in his Eusebius of 1470. Accepted by the educated, it was, however, rejected by the common people, who were just beginning to buy books; and Jenson had to print popular books in Gothic characters; and the most beautiful contemporary books of Paris, the Netherlands, and England were in pointed letters. The first book printed in England in Roman type was Henry VIII.'s treatise which secured for him the title of 'Defender of the Faith'; so printed by Pynson possibly in deference to Italian taste and in compliment to the pope. Aldus Manutius (see ALDINE EDITIONS) added a new style, the Italic, based on a written style then popular with copyists. The Italic, first shown in the 1501 Virgil, differed from modern Italic in several respects, notably in the fact that the capitals are upright and stand apart from the text. Aldus's Italic and others imitated from it was soon found to be less readable than Jenson's Roman, and was relegated to the work of a 'display letter'—to distinguishing foreign or emphatic words in a sentence (even for this purpose its use is now diminishing).

The Lyons founders, moved by the popularity of Italic, soon after produced the Cursiv-Francois or Civilite, an unreadable letter. The disuse of black letter in France was largely due to the fantastic schemes of Tory of Paris, as illustrated in his book, Champ Fleuri (1526). The patronage of Francis I. led to the beginning of the great printing house which, as 'Royal,' 'Imperial,' or 'National,' has survived till now, and in its school of typography most great French punch-cutters, including Garamond, 'the father of type-founders,' were trained. In 1561 Le Bé's foundry was most famous, and made the types for Plantin's Antwerp Polyglot (1573). The most notable Dutch founders were Van Dijck, whose types, wrongly called Elzevirian, went out of fashion before 1770; and Fleischman, a German in the employ of the Enschedes at Haarlem, whose types on French models satisfied the type buyers of England and Holland for many years.

The first book in the English language—Caxton's Recuyell of the Histories of Troy—was printed in the Netherlands. The type resembles that attributed to Colard Mansion, a printer of Bruges. Whether Caxton made the types he afterwards used in England or had them brought over from the Netherlands is not ascertained; their style was distinctly Flemish. His immediate successors, De Worde, Pynson, and Faques, were of French birth, and had French tastes, and their types resembled the black letters of the printers of the day of Paris and Rouen. Black letter maintained its popularity in England and in the Netherlands after it had fallen into disuse in France. There was no English foundry of note before the time of John Day (printed 1546 to 1584), and English printers had for the time to accept Dutch types with their mannerisms. English readers, in fact, showed a marked preference for black letter, which was used in some of the most popular books such as the first edition (1525) of Tyndall's New Testament, Coverdale's Bible (1535), Cranmer's Great Bible (1540), and the authorised prayer-books. In the reign of the Roman Catholic Mary Roman was the proper text for books of devotion; but under the reign of Protestant Queen Elizabeth prayer-books in black letter had the preference. Fox's Acts and Monuments (1560) was in black letter. Soon after the printers evinced a partiality for Roman for English classics: the writings of Shakespeare and Bacon appeared in Roman. Black letter was out of fashion at the close of the 16th century. It is now only a display letter.

The first English type-founder of note was Joseph Moxon, who founded from 1659 to 1683. His types could not be compared with those of his rivals in France and Holland. The first English founder who was really able to compete with these foreign houses was William Caslon (1692-1766). His types were not novel in design, but their merit consisted in their technical excellence—their careful cutting and good founding. They were especially readable. The style retained its supremacy in Great Britain for more than half a century. Baskerville of Birmingham (1706-75) was another eminent founder. His first types followed the style of Caslon; afterwards he developed a style of his own. His Roman was remarkably round, open, and clear, and is to many book-lovers the embodiment of all that is beautiful in type. Before the 18th century had closed the styles of both Caslon and Baskerville had lost favour, and the publishers called for a character less angular and more curved. Jackson, a pupil of Caslon, introduced a new style, shown in the magnificent Bible printed by Bensley for Macklin. Vincent Figgins, who commenced founding on his own account in 1792, cut fonts in exact imitation of those of Jackson, and his types were very favourably regarded by the publishers. When improvements were made in presses, paper, and ink, light-faced and delicate types were again in the ascendant for book-work. For ordinary work and for newspapers such types were, however, not effective, and Robert Thorne introduced the style known as bold-faced.

Alexander Wilson, the first founder in Scotland, who began in 1742, was undoubtedly ahead of his rivals in making types that were at once useful and elegant. They were used by Andrew and Robert Foulis (q.v.) in books that for excellence of typography will favourably compare with those of the vaunted French printer Barbou or the even more celebrated Didot. Wilson's sons maintained the reputation of their father's foundry, and 'Scotch type' was soon regarded throughout the kingdom as the synonym of the highest merit. The new Scotch style was everywhere imitated—even in France it was known as the style Écossais. Before long publishers began to regard the character as too ornate and feminine. A stronger and more austere face then obtained preference, and has maintained its supremacy to the present day. It has had to contend with one most notable competitor. About 1850 the London publisher Pickering induced the printer Whittingham to procure a font of types from the ancient and then altogether disused matrices of the first Caslon. These were brought out of the limbo in which they had remained for many years, and types were cast from them by modern methods. These proved an extraordinary success. Thus was originated the revival of the 'old style' faces in which so many of our best books are now printed. Other founders, such as Messrs Miller & Richard of Edinburgh, who had no antique matrices, cut faces in imitation of those of Caslon, and by some these are regarded as better than the originals. The two styles—the 'modern' after that of Jackson and the 'old' style after that of Caslon, are those in which nearly all present-day books are printed in Great Britain. A good deal of type is, however, imported from France, and it displays the peculiarities of the French founders of the last century. The Dutch type of the Enschedes of Haarlem is very graceful, but little used at the present day. Several very meritorious adaptations of the Caslon faces to modern fashion have been produced in America, especially by the Mackellar foundry of New York.

The chief qualities which constitute good type are, according to Southward's Practical Printing, the quality of the metal from which it is made; its smoothness, sharpness of angle, and perfection of finish; sufficient depth of face and the clean formation of the feet and groove; accurate range with all the other letters of the same font, both in height and width and depth of body; strength of part supporting the 'kern,' if any, and the character of the design of the face, including regularity of gauge, exactness in lining and setting, evenness in 'colour' (equalising of the thickness of the strokes), and due apportionment of space to the 'counter,' producing a harmonious general effect in the impression.

Legibility of Type.—Prolonged experiments made in France about 1882 by means of inquiries instituted among people quite unacquainted with the technics of type-founding and in no way connected with printing, showed that reading was done with less fatigue according as the letters are (1) rounder, (2) more equal in thickness, (3) the up-strokes are shorter, (4) each letter is unlike the others, (5) the long letters are well proportioned to their own body. These conditions, it was held, are best fulfilled by the Elzevir, the Baskerville, and the Didot or 'old style' faces.

See the works cited at PRINTING, many of which deal also with type-founding; Monet, Les Machines et Appareils Typographiques (Paris, 1879); the Caston Circular, an English periodical established in 1875; for the history of English type-founding, Talbot B. Reed's History of the Old English Letter Founders (1887); and for a general survey of other founders, Theo. L. De Vinne's Historic Printing Types (New York, 1886), on which the history given above is based. See also PROOFS (CORRECTION OF), ALPHABET, BLACK LETTER, BOOK, BIBLIOGRAPHY, WRITING.