A Bill of Pica Roman, and Half a

ROMAN.

..200 ...250

a...8500fff....400, ...4500|A ...600|A ....300] b...1600 fi....500; ....800 B...400 B c...3000 fl....200: ..200....600 C ...500 c d...4400m...100. ..100....2000 D...500D. .12000 fi 150-...1000 E ..1000 E...600le f...2500...100?....200 F...400 F

e

g...1700 e

h...6400

..250 ...300

...200

...60

....150 G

150 G ...400 G

..200

1510

Bill of Italic, weighing 800lbs.

ITALIC.

a...1700..80...204...120 b....320 fi..100é ...50 B ....80 c....600..40i ...20 C...100 d.... 880..206...20 D...100 e...2400 ffi..30ú...20 E...120 ..500@..20 à...20 F....80 g....340 e..12...20 G....80

Spaces.

A plan has been suggested, and we believe acted upon by some master printers, in ordering a fount of letter---to desire a certain portion of it to be sent home complete---while the other part they reserve to be cast afterwards, as imperfections---by which means they are enabled to ascertain the state of their fount in an early stage, and make it perfect without going beyond the weight they originally intended, or incurring additional expense.

This mode carries with it strong grounds for recommendation; but we shall leave it to the judgment of those who may think it worthy their attention, as we have not seen it carried into execution. We mention it, conceiving it essentially necessary, in a work of this nature, to let no observation pass unnoticed that may, in the remotest degree, be considered useful or important.

Printers divide a fount of letter into two classes.

The upper case sorts are capitals, small capitals, accented letters, figures and references.

The lower case consists of small letters, double letters, points, spaces, quadrats, &c. each of which we shall treat of under distinct heads.

CAPITALS.

THE use of capitals has been considerably abridged of late years; and the antiquated method of using them with every substantive, and sometimes even with verbs and adverbs, is now discontinued. They are considered, in the present day, as necessary only to distinguish proper names of persons, places, &c. There are, however, some particular works in which authors deem it essential to mark emphatical words with a capital; in such cases, and there can be no

general rule to guide the compositor, we would recommend the author always to send his copy properly prepared in this particular, to the printer, or he will become liable to the charge the compositor is allowed to make for his loss of time in following his alterations. The method of denoting a capital, or words of capital letters in manuscript, is by underscoring it with three distinct lines.

Capitals, of whatever body, if they are well proportioned, look well in titles, inscriptions, &c. but it requires taste and judgment in the compositor to display them to advantage.

The mode of spacing lines set in capitals is now laid aside: in some particular instances it may be necessary, in order to prevent two lines from being the same length in a title-page.

SMALL CAPITALS.

SMALL CAPITALS are in general only cast to Roman founts, and are used for the purpose of giving a stronger emphasis to a word than can be conveyed to it by its being in Italic.

They are likewise used for running heads, heads of chapters, &c. instead of Italic, according to the fancy of the printer. The first word of every section or chapter is generally put in small capitals, after a small neat cock-up letter. They are likewise of considerable service in the display of a title-page, particularly in setting the catch lines.

The small capitals c, o, s, v, w, X, Z, so closely resemble the same letters in the lower case,t as to

* Some of our founders cast Italic Small Capitals to most, if not the whole of their founts.

+ Smith has suggested, in order to prevent the mixture of the above with the lower-case, that they should either be cast somewhat thicker, or have a different nick: in support of which, he mentions having seen a letter at Dantzic, which had the nick on the uppercase sorts placed higher than that on the lower.

require particular care to prevent their mixing, as the difference can only be ascertained by their being cast thicker than the others.

In manuscript, small capitals are denoted by having two lines drawn under them.

ACCENTED LETTERS.

THOSE which are called accented by printers, are the five vowels, marked either with an

Those who call accented letters all that are of a particular signification, on account of their being distinguished by marks, reckon the French ç, the Spanish ñ, and the Welch ŵ and ŷ, in the class of accented letters, though not vowels. As the longs and shorts are used only in particular works, they are not cast to a fount of letter unless ordered.

VOWELS MARKED WITH AN ACUTE.

THE five Vowels marked with acutes over them, it is probable, were first contrived to assist the ignorant monks in reading the church service, that by this means they might arrive to a proper and settled pronunciation in the discharge of their sacerdotal functions; and, by accenting the vowels afterwards in printed books, instruct others to conform to them in giving words their proper sound; which, though it seems to be an ancient institution, is still observed in France, where the vowels in the Latin columns of their common prayer-books are accented, in order to support, an uniformity in the