BLACK LETTER. This letter, which is used in England, descended from the Gothic characters: it is called Gothic, by some; and Old English, by others; but Printers term it Black Letter, on account of its taking a larger compass than either Roman or Italic, the full and spreading strokes thereof appearing more black upon paper. On the introduction of the Roman character, its use began to decline, and it was seldom used except in Law works, particularly Statute Law; it was at length expelled from these, and only made its appearance in the heads of Statutes, &c. According to the predictions of all our predecessors, it was reasonable to conclude that it would, ere this, have been banished from every office, and consigned to rest in Oblivion's tomb, with its parent the Gothic, which, in the primitive time of printing, was the established character, and prevailed against the Latin; which had been first introduced in Spain, by Alphonsus VI. 1080, when that Prince put an end to writing in Gothic characters throughout his dominions. This opinion might have been fulfilled, had not our founders produced the above modern Black; which so captivated the printers, that it immediately became in general use, being cast in all the various sizes, both Full-faced and Open. Upon the gradual improvement of metal types, our Founders (emulating each other) in addition to their plain two-line letters, commenced cutting open letters of almost every size: yet here their exertions did not end, they have now taken [nearly] the whole range of Fancy, in bringing forward ornamented letters of every size and description, together with a new character, which they term Egyptian: this latter is all the rage at present, particularly in placards, jobs, &c. THE DIFFERENT SIZES OF PRINTING LETTERS. THE several bodies to which printing letters are cast in England, are nineteen in number, viz. 1. Diamond. 5. Brevier. 6. Burgeois. 7. Long Primer. 8. Small Pica. 9. Pica. 10. English. 11. Primer. 12. Great Primer. 17. Two-lines Great Primer. REGULAR-BODIED LETTER. THE class of regular-bodied letter takes in, viz. Great Primer, English, Pica, Long Primer, Brevier, Nonpareil, and Pearl: but to those which go before them, viz. French Canon, Two-lines Double Pica, Two-lines Great Primer, Two-lines English, Twolines Pica, and Double Pica, we will give the name of 'Title-letters; considering that the first three sorts are used in titles of books, and in jobs, only, to make emphatical words or lines appear more conspicuous. And as to the three other sizes, they are mostly used in heads, and for jobs; though they, and even Twolines Great Primer, sometimes serve for short Dedications, or Prefaces, to works of a large size. Among the Title-letters, Two-lines Pica being looked upon as a letter of no general use, and very apt to be mixed with Double Pica, but few printers are fond of it; especially as they find that the difference between Two-lines Pica and Double Pica, as well in face, as body, is but inconsiderable; and that of the two, the latter is fittest for poems, prefaces, and other introductory parts of a work. That Double Pica is not the right name for that letter, no printer will disown, because its depth an swers to Two-lines Small Pica, and ought, for that reason, more properly to be called Double Small Pica: which gives us room to suppose, that the same letter which now answers to two lines of Small Pica, has been also cast to the depth of two lines of Pica; but, being judged too small-faced for that size, it has been reduced to two lines of Small Pica.* IRREGULAR-BODIED LETTER. THE several sorts of irregular-bodied letters are, Paragon, Primer, Small Pica, Burgeois, Minion, and Diamond. We call them irregular, because they are of intermediate sizes to letter of regular bodies; a standard for which, no doubt, was fixed by former printers and founders. What has been mentioned about Two-lines Pica, may be equally said of Paragon, and the rest of irregular-bodied letter, viz. that they may be spared in a printing-house well provided with fusil materials of regular bodies: for none can well plead their necessity, but such as are sure to reap a benefit from being furnished with them. For the rest, irregularbodied letter is apt to cause confusion in a printinghouse, and is therefore the less countenanced by most printers. But because irregular-bodied letter of the smaller sizes sometimes serves the ends of proprietors of standing and selling copies, this seems one reason that it has been attempted; otherwise the sizes of printing letter would not perhaps have been carried lower than Brevier. Among the irregular bodied sorts of letter none has taken so great a fun as Small Pica; and very considerable works have been done in that character, &c. It is a letter, indeed, which was not taken The London type-founders have latterly cut a letter on Twolines Pica body, which they term a regular size, between Double Pica and Two-lines English, for which see our Specimen. much notice of before it appeared in Chalmers's Cyclopædia; but it has raised its reputation ever since, and is now become the favourite character to do voluminous works in; partly, because it is a round and legible letter, and partly because it takes in considerably more matter than Pica---the very best size for printing letter. In the mean time the purchasers of works printed in Small Pica have the advantage; for they have more than an adequate value for their expenses, especially if the matter is useful and entertaining. DIFFERENCE OF SIZES IN LETTERS. THOUGH all founders agree in the point of casting letter to certain bodies, yet, in the article of casting each body always to one and the same size, they differ; insomuch that not only founders of different places, but of the same residence, and even each in particular, often vary in height and depth; * both In our frequent conversations with type-founders upon this subject, we find that they invariably blame the printers for the errors into which the whole trade has fallen: indeed, we candidly acknowledge that there is too much truth in the charge. The founders ground their argument upon the printers refusing to adopt their suggestion of fixing a standard, at the time the long s was abolished: the latter would not consent, when having new founts, to lose their old spaces and quadrats: thus were the founders compelled to follow their blind, uncertain road, to the great detriment of the printers, We shall give one example in proof of the culpability of the latter, namely, of one of the greatest London printers ordering the late Mr. Jackson to make moulds of every size considerably below the then acknowledged standard to paper, the professed object of which was, to avoid borrowing or lending sorts; this plan is now considerably increased, so that the founders are continually put to the inconvenience of altering their moulds, both as to height to paper and depth of body, in order to accommodate the whim or caprice of this or that particular printer. But this is not the only evil, the latter no doubt are waiting for the sorts during this alteration; the next day comes another printer for imperfections, then the mould is to be re-altered to what it was originally, and he also is compelled to wait the unavoidable delay! thus, with these perpetual deviations, not only is the printer retarded in his business, but he not unfrequently get his sorts cast in some of these wrong moulds, which, when mixed with his fount, prove destructive to the whole. Had the Dutch founders acted upon this plan, how could which seem rather to have increased: but whether the founder (to make his letter more weighty), or the printer, (to grace it with more distance between the lines) has occasioned this digression from the former sizes, we shall not scrutinize; but only suppose that it commenced with the time when English printers were obliged to furnish themselves with good letter from abroad. Few offices, of any extent, are without two or three founts of a particular size letter, cast by different founders. It often occurs, that a sort may be short in one, of which there is a superfluity in the other; but, from their different face, &c. cannot be used together; in this case, not only an expense is incurred, but a delay occasioned to the work from the time it necessarily takes to cast imperfections. This is not the only inconvenience. In the best regulated offices, it is impossible to prevent founts from being mixed, which occasions loss of time to the compositor, who, if he be a careless man, will not take the trouble to put the sorts in their proper places when marked in his proof, but will commit them to the old metal box, for the benefit of the founder, to the serious injury of the printer. Another, and very considerable fault, may be alleged against the founders, who seem to have imperfections, or even founts, have been obtained from them with any degree of accuracy, independent of the delay? No: they had one fixed and undeviating standard, which they copied from the Germans, for all their sizes, and which they continue to this day. We shall close this note with an observation of an experienced practical letter-founder, who, when speaking of the above defects, remarked, that the present system is bad, and most destructive; that the founders were all wroug together; and, in order to obtain perfection, every thing at present in the business should be destroyed, when they should commence again with a settled, firm, undeviating standard for every [aow regular, or irregular] size. Till this is done, we cannot expect to see any thing like perfection; but must acknowledge that the art, instead of advancing has made a retrograde motion: |