Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 1

The Aliquot or American System

The Aliquot or American System.

The earliest reference we have to this system is in the Chicago Specimen (Marder, Luse, & Co,) of 1879. The loss of their moulds and gauges in the fire of 1871, and the necessity of commencing de novo, gave that firm the opportunity of introducing a harmonious system. The pica em was divided into twelve equal parts or points, and the relative sizes adjusted as they now stand. But the article, by a strange oversight, omits to state the size of the pica. We think we are justified in assuming it to be one-sixth of the inch precisely; in which case the system is identical with that of Mr N. C. Hawks.

Mr N. C. Hawks (says the Pacific Printer), formerly a job printer of Milwaukee, Wis., recognizing the necessity of a true system of justification, first suggested to the American founders the plan of multiple bodies, which should agree also with the standard inch; thus rendering superficial measurements of matter easy and certain, by the use of the mechanics' square and rule. The plan is similar to the French system of Didot, the only difference being the standard of measurement.

The following is the table of sizes:

American. (1) This is the unit of measurement, and is 1/12 of pica, or 1/72 of an inch. It is, of course, too small for a type body, but is used in leads and rules. Some series of letter require the American lead in lining the faces, where two or more sizes are used together in the same line; although its double, the saxon lead, will accomplish this in most cases.

German (l½) is ⅛ of pica and ¼ of nonpareil.

Saxon (2) is ⅙ of pica and ⅓ of nonpareil. It is the most useful of the lead and rule bodies. Four saxons are equal to a brevier; five are eq al to a long primer; six are equal to a pica.

Norse (2½) is ¼ of long primer.

Brilliant (3) is ¼ of pica and ½ of nonpareil.

Ruby (3½) is ½ of minion and ¼ of english.

Excelsior (4) is ½ of pica and ½ of brevier.

Diamond (4½) is ½ of bourgeois and ¼ of great primer.

Pearl (5) is ½ of long primer and ¼ of paragon.

Agate (5½) is ½ of small pica.

Nonpareil (6) is ½ of pica and ⅓ of great primer. Twelve nonpareils make lin. exactly.

Minion (7) is ½ of english.

Brevier (8) is ½ of Columbian and ⅔ of pica.

Bourgeois (9) is ½ of great primer and ⅔ of pica. It is exactly ⅛ of an inch.

Long Primer (10) is ½ of paragon.

Small Pica (11) is ½ of double small pica.

Pica (12) is ⅙ of an inch.

English (14) is two-line minion; a nonpareil and a brevier; an excelsior and a long primer. A pica and a saxon lead justify with it.

Columbian (16) is two-line brevier; a nonpareil and a long primer; an excelsior and a pica, &c.

Great Primer (18) is two-line bourgeois; three-line nonpareil; a brevier and a long primer. A great primer three-to-em space is the same as a nonpareil three-em quad. Great Primer is exactly ¼ of an inch.

Paragon (20) is two-line long primer; a brevier and a pica; a nonpareil and an english, &c.

Double Small Pica (22) is two-line small pica; a long primer and a pica; a nonpareil and a columbian. A great primer and two saxon leads justify with it.

Double Pica (24) is two-line pica; four-line nonpareil; three-line brevier; a nonpareil and a great primer; a long primer and an english, &c. It is exactly ⅓-inch.

Double English (28) is two-line english; a long primer and a great primer; a pica and a Columbian, &c.

Double Columbian (32) is two-line columbian; an english and a great primer; a brevier and a double pica, &c.

Double Great Primer (36) is two-line great primer; three-line pica; six-line nonpareil; four-line bourgeois, &c. It is exactly ½-inch.

Double Paragon (40) is two-line paragon; four-line long primer; five-line brevier; eight-line pearl, &c.

Canon (44) is two-line double small pica; four-line small pica, &c.

Four-line Pica (48) is two-line double pica; three-line Columbian; six-line brevier; eight-line nonpareil, &c. It is exactly ⅔-inch.