Specimen of Printing Types, Caslon and Catherwood
A specimen book of about 108 pages from Caslon and Catherwood, letter-founders of Chiswell Street, London, printed by T. Bensley of Bolt Court, Fleet Street.
What it is
A specimen book of about 108 pages from Caslon and Catherwood, letter-founders of Chiswell Street, London, printed by T. Bensley of Bolt Court, Fleet Street. It prints no prices, terms or address to the trade. It opens with display letters: two-line capitals in plain, open and ornamented forms, then Five-line and Four-line Pica, Two-line Double Pica and Two-line Great Primer. Book sizes follow from Double Pica through Paragon, Great Primer, English, Pica, Small Pica, Long Primer, Bourgeois, Brevier and Nonpareil to Pearl, each in roman then italic on Cicero's speech against Catiline, with rival cuts of one size numbered No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3. Several showings carry a date, from August 1802 to May 1805, and a footnote records that a Nonpareil was renumbered since the October 1803 specimen. Four-line Pica black letter and pages of flowers and borders close the book.
Why read it now
The book argues nothing in words, and that is its method. One fixed passage runs through every cut, so the only thing that changes from page to page is the type. That is the logic of a controlled comparison, and it still serves anyone selling variants to an expert buyer: finishes, paper stocks, plan tiers. Two smaller devices matter more to a marketer. Dating individual founts (August 1802, July 1804, April 1805) answers the buyer's question about whether the range is current without making a single claim. The footnote about a renumbered Nonpareil respects customers who order by number from an older catalogue. What has dated: there are no prices, no ordering terms and no persuasion, so the book assumes a buyer who already trusts the house and knows what he wants, and the Latin says nothing to anyone outside the trade. Use it this way: date each new item in your catalogue or rate card, and when you rename or renumber a product, tell existing customers in the place where they look it up.
Passages worth keeping
SPECIMEN OF PRINTING TYPES, CASLON & CATHERWOOD, Letter-Founders, CHISWELL STREET, LONDON.
صفحة العنوان تذكر اسم المسبك وعنوانه فقط، بلا شعار ولا وعد، فالكتاب يترك العينات تتكلم عنه.
Quousque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra?
مطلع خطبة شيشرون ضد كاتيلينا، ومعناه: إلى متى تستغل صبرنا يا كاتيلينا؟ وهو النص الثابت الذي يتكرر في كل مقاس حتى تكون المقارنة بين الحروف وحدها.
Brevier, No. 1. on Bourgeois Body.
حرف البريفير الصغير مصبوب على جسم البورجوا الأكبر، فتأتي السطور بمسافة أوسع بينها دون إضافة فواصل، وهو خيار جاهز يوفر على الطابع وقتًا.
This Fount was marked No. 2, in the Specimen of Oct. 1803.
تنبيه بأن هذا الخط كان يحمل رقمًا آخر في كتاب العينات السابق، حتى لا يخطئ العميل الذي يطلب بالأرقام القديمة.
T. BENSLEY, PRINTER, BOLT COURT, FLEET STREET, LONDON.
اسم المطبعة التي نفذت الكتاب، وذكره يربط جودة الطباعة نفسها بالدليل على جودة الحروف.
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
If this library is useful, leave an email
We send new patterns, ads, and notes when we add them. Name and phone are optional.
You are on the list
We will write when we add more library material.