Specimen of the Last Modern Cut Printing Types
A 53-page specimen from A. Bessemer and J. J. Catherwood, letter-founders at Hitchin, Hertfordshire, dated 1825.
What it is
A 53-page specimen from A. Bessemer and J. J. Catherwood, letter-founders at Hitchin, Hertfordshire, dated 1825. The title page adds that Catherwood was late of the Chiswell Street Letter-Foundry in London, the Caslon house. After Five-Line Pica display pages the OCR cannot read, each text size gets its own page: Paragon, Great Primer, English, Pica, Long Primer, Bourgeois, Brevier, Minion, Small Body Nonpareil, Large-faced Pearl and Diamond, plus large-faced Long Primer and Brevier. Every page sets the opening of Cicero's first speech against Catiline in roman, then capitals, a line of paired figures and the italic. Pope's verse fills the smaller sizes, and Large-faced Pearl carries a Chancery notice of April 1820 about a 500 pound legacy. Antique and black letter show a statute passage, then come metal dashes and numbered flowers. A footline naming the partners closes each page.
Why read it now
The book is a controlled test. The copy never changes, so the only thing a printer compares from page to page is the type: its size, colour and how many words it fits. That is the discipline of a fair comparison page or an A/B test: change one variable and hold the rest. Printing roman and italic of the same size on one page answers the real buying risk, whether the pair match. The large-faced sizes put a bigger letter on the same body, more legibility in the same space, a trade-off still argued over for small screens. The title page borrows credibility: a new country foundry names its partner's former employer, the best-known foundry in London. A real, checkable pedigree still persuades; implying more than the fact supports does not. What has dated: Latin filler says nothing about how a face performs in English copy, and later specimens moved to working text. Use it when buyers choose between versions of one thing: fix the content, vary one element, and put your name on every page.
Passages worth keeping
J.J. Catherwood, late of the Chiswell Street Letter-Foundry, London.
صفحة العنوان تذكر أن كاثروود كان يعمل سابقًا في مسبك شارع تشيزويل بلندن، فيستعير المسبك الجديد سمعة المسبك القديم المعروف.
SPECIMEN of the Last Modern Cut PRINTING TYPES
العنوان يقدم الحروف على أنها أحدث ما قُطع، فالجِدّة هي أول ما يبيعه الكتاب.
Quousque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra?
معناها: إلى متى يا كاتيلينا تستغل صبرنا؟ وهي افتتاحية خطبة لشيشرون، وكانت نص الحشو المعتاد في كتب العينات كما يُستعمل نص الحشو اللاتيني في التصميم اليوم.
For fame, impatient of extremes, decays Not more by envy, than excess of praise.
بيتان لألكسندر بوب معناهما أن السمعة تذبل بالمديح المفرط كما تذبل بالحسد، وهو تنبيه صالح لكل من يبالغ في مدح منتجه.
Catherwood and Bessemer, Letter-Founders, Hitchin, Herts.
سطر في أسفل كل صفحة باسم الشريكين وبلدتهما، يعمل توقيعًا يمنع نسبة الصفحة إلى مسبك آخر إذا انتُزعت من الكتاب.
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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