Desk Book of Type Specimens, Borders and Ornaments, Brass Rules and Cuts, Catalogue of Printing Machinery and Printers' Supplies, Vol. 1
The American Type Founders Company's 1902 desk book is a priced catalogue of everything the firm cast, and its opening page says it is meant for the printer's desk, for daily use and reference.
What it is
The American Type Founders Company's 1902 desk book is a priced catalogue of everything the firm cast, and its opening page says it is meant for the printer's desk, for daily use and reference. After an address to the printer, a list of branch houses in 17 cities and a classified index of 22 parts, this first volume runs Parts I to X, printed pages 1 to 576: body type shown size by size with the opening of the Declaration of Independence, then circular, script, italic, jobbing, ornamental, two-colour, old style, antique and Clarendon faces. Every showing gives the point size, the number of capitals and lowercase letters in a font, and the price. A few pages carry sales copy: Theodore De Vinne's 1896 note on the Century Roman, a Yost typewriter face for imitation letters, and Jenson Italic pages that argue their case in their own letters.
Why read it now
This is a reference to consult, not a book to read, and its value for a marketer is in how it sells. First, it shows text type at reading length, a full paragraph in every size, because the buyer's real decision is how a face reads over many lines, and a one-line sample would hide that. Product demonstrations still work best when they match the length and conditions of real use. Second, every showing carries a price and a character count, so the specimen doubles as an order form. Third, the display pages are written about the type in the type itself, and the Jenson Italic copy meets the price objection head on by calling better type an investment. What has dated: the sample sentences are filler, and the claims of superiority come with no evidence. De Vinne's Century note holds: wider letters did not read better in narrow columns, which still matters when choosing a face for mobile screens. Use: when you build a product catalogue or rate card, show each item doing its real job at real size, with the price beside it.
Passages worth keeping
THIS BOOK OF TYPE SPECIMENS AND PRINTING INFORMATION IS FOR THE PRINTERS’ DESK
يقدّم الكتاب نفسه أداة عمل يومية على مكتب الطبّاع، لا كتالوجًا يُتصفح مرة ثم يوضع على الرف.
Experiments made with broad letters proved that increased expansion did not always secure increased legibility.
أثبتت التجربة أن توسيع الحرف لا يزيد سهولة قراءته دائمًا، فالشكل الذي يبدو أجمل في الصفحات الواسعة قد يفشل في الأعمدة الضيقة.
The aim of writers of advertisements is naturally to attract business to themselves, and that can only be done by attracting the great mass of readers to those who advertise
كاتب الإعلان يكسب عمله حين يجذب جمهور القرّاء إلى المعلن، ولهذا يبيع المسبك الحرف على أنه أداة لجذب الانتباه.
In figuring on the cost of new type do you regard it as an unnecessary expense or in the light of a good investment to buy the best?
تواجه الصفحة اعتراض السعر بسؤال مباشر: هل الحرف الجديد مصروف زائد أم استثمار؟ ثم تقود القارئ إلى الجواب الثاني.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
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