First Part of a Specimen of Printing Types
A short 1796 specimen from the foundry of S. & C. Stephenson at Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, labelled the first part, with the punches credited on the title page to R. Austin.
What it is
A short 1796 specimen from the foundry of S. & C. Stephenson at Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, labelled the first part, with the punches credited on the title page to R. Austin. The title page says the English, Pica and Minion specimens are still at press, and offers printers' joiners' work and every other article a printing office needs. The display showings run from Eight Lines Pica, plain and ornamented, through Six Lines Pica to Double Pica. The text faces, Paragon down to Brevier, each set the same passage of Cicero's first speech against Catiline in roman and then italic, with capitals and figures, so sizes can be compared line for line. Numbered plates of cast ornaments, brass rules and wood engravings, led by the royal arms, follow, and the book ends on a price list in shillings and pence.
Why read it now
Two moves here still work. The first is the control text: the same Cicero passage runs at every size and in both roman and italic, so the buyer compares like with like and sees only the variable being sold. Product comparisons, pricing pages and before-and-after shots work better when the sample is held constant. The second is the named maker: crediting R. Austin as punchcutter on the title page stakes the product on a known craftsman, the same logic as a named chef or architect today. The catalogue card also records that the largest display fount sets the foundry's own name, so the demonstration and the brand line are one object. Prices wait for a plain list at the back, after the work has made the case. What has dated: Latin control text meant little to most buyers even then, and a modern buyer expects the sample in their own language and their own use. One use: when you show options, fix one sample and change only the thing being judged.
Passages worth keeping
THE PUNCHES CUT BY R. AUSTIN. 1796.
صفحة العنوان تذكر اسم نحّات القوالب صراحة، فتربط جودة الحروف بسمعة صانع معروف بدل أن تبقى مجهولة المصدر.
The Specimens of ENGLISH, PICA, and MINION, are at Press.
يعلن المسبك أن عينات مقاسات أخرى قيد الطبع، فهذا جزء أول سيتبعه غيره، وهي طريقة لإبقاء المشتري في انتظار المزيد.
Orders for Printers' Joiners' Work, and every Article requisite in Printing Office, will be carefully and expeditiously executed.
المسبك لا يبيع الحروف وحدها، بل يتعهد بتنفيذ كل ما تحتاجه المطبعة من نجارة وأدوات بعناية وسرعة.
Quousque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra?
مطلع خطبة شيشرون ضد كاتلين، ومعناه: إلى متى تسيء استغلال صبرنا يا كاتلين؟ ويتكرر النص نفسه في كل مقاس لتكون المقارنة عادلة.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
Read the original archive.org
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