Specimen of Printing Types Made by the Lindsay Type Foundry
The pattern
This still is filed under Specimen as proof.
Define
A specimen (type, material, finish) is shown so the product proves itself under comparison.
Mechanism
Controlled display. Same conditions, side by side, no adjective required. The sample is the sentence.
Verdict
Buyers choose by eye or by hand and we can put the real thing in front of them.
Why it works
The specimen copy is the buyer's own inventory of jobs, not filler. Auction bills, homestead lots, summer residences, carpet sales, cable transfers and public vendue notices mean a printer is not judging an abstract letterform, he is seeing next week's order already set and priced. Putting the price in the same eye-span as the showing collapses evaluate, enquire and quote into one step and removes any reason to write a letter before deciding. The sharpest move is running the foundry's own sales arguments as classified ad blocks inside the text-face demonstration: the case for hard metal and deep counters is set in the very type it is arguing for, so the claim and the evidence are one object. Repeating the imprint at the foot of all 212 pages means no page can circulate, be torn out or be filed without carrying the source.
Steal this when
When a sample has to work as a price list as well as a demo, and the buyer's real question is whether the thing will do his specific job. Show the product performing the customer's own work rather than a neutral test, and print the price in the same eye-span so nothing has to be asked for.