Volume 182402

Typographia: or the printers' instructor, including an account of the origin of printing. With biographical notices of the printers of England, from Caxton to the close of the sixteenth century: a series of ancient and modern alphabets, and Domesday characters: together with an elucidation of every subject connected with the art / By J. Johnson, printer.

  • John Johnson
Date:
1824
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Typographia: or the printers' instructor, including an account of the origin of printing. With biographical notices of the printers of England, from Caxton to the close of the sixteenth century: a series of ancient and modern alphabets, and Domesday characters: together with an elucidation of every subject connected with the art / By J. Johnson, printer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    37/692 (page 17)
    Thus would the sizes of these nine sorts of letter have run, had they been cast one hundred and thirty years ago. And now we have reduced them to the standard which they had at that time. Here follows our counter-table, which will shew how far our pre- sent sizes of letter differ from the former.» Canon's shel EOS S BUSS Two-lines Double Pica .. 20} Two-lines Great Primer. . 254 Two-lines English ..... 32 Two-lines Pica ......s 385 Double Picals.e scbaetee S4id: aGAG ON Koasen si tetelko use « uaAce Great Prime ty <5, 0 sss ee abibea EMOSR As te ek ee ee Od PUG a Ti Ae ee gee eae Ee Stahl, Bicass sive: sth see dates 8S Homey Primer sis ese ese 289 Bungeois « v spa fetes eee: Brevier 072A ese Lee Minion vsti. dh Sar ege ngs 2 Nompareily acu ivsy sscuhe opens Earl xe, sep tacaessecies aa eRe aS LOWED TOS NG bea ewi arse An bies aie 205 This is the state of our modern sizes of letter. The table is drawn up to shew the size which each body of letter, here specified, now has; but Jet us not conclude from thence, that each fount of letter is | always cast to one and the same size in its body. Were this the case, we should not take the liberty to say, that whoever was the author of casting founts of the same body to different sizes, has no room to | boast that he has improved printing; but has done so much hurt to it, that the ill consequences thereof | would be too many here to enumerate. How apparent is the harm and confusion which the * Although we have given the above standard of sizes, sti!] we Must repeat (as we have before observed in the note at page 13, aute,) that none of the founders have a regular standard, but that all of them possess moulds of various sizes.