Specimen of Printing Types, Caslon Letter Foundry (Caslon and Livermore)
A 391-page specimen from the Caslon Letter Foundry in Chiswell Street, London, then run as Caslon and Livermore.
What it is
A 391-page specimen from the Caslon Letter Foundry in Chiswell Street, London, then run as Caslon and Livermore. An opening Advertisement tells printers the house also holds the founts of its founder, William Caslon, among them Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, Script and Music, and that the old specimen is nearly out of print. Display founts follow, printed sideways and mostly unreadable in the OCR. Antique founts carry a passage against the State Lotteries. The text founts pair Cicero's Latin with English copy: a news report on Russia and Moldavia, a puff for Vauxhall Gardens on rainy nights, and the foundry's own notice to newspaper publishers about new news founts. Black letter sets a statute; script sets an election address and a letter to printers about a smaller script. It ends with priced labels, cheque patterns, ship cuts, Masonic signs, flowers and priced wood-engraved cuts.
Why read it now
Two moves still hold. The first is heritage without apology: one paragraph claims the founder's name and stock, and the rest of the book sells new display faces. The note that the old specimen is nearly out of print makes the older founts feel scarce and a visit to Chiswell Street a privilege. The second is setting type in copy printers really print, a news report, a pleasure-garden puff, a notice to publishers, so a buyer judges each fount on work like his own. The notice to newspaper publishers promises founts 'equal, if not superior' to any before and vouches for the metal, the hidden spec that decides how long type lasts. The script letter, garbled in the OCR, seems to say the smaller script was cut because customers found the earlier one too large; presenting a change as a reply to buyers still works. One irony: the lottery passage condemns puffing, and a few pages later the Vauxhall copy is pure puff. What has dated: most pages are Latin, and the display pages carry no selling copy. Use: fill every demo with your buyer's real content, not filler.
Passages worth keeping
The PRINTERS are respectfully informed, that, in addition to the contents of the following Modern Specimen, this Foundry includes the Works of the justly celebrated WILLIAM CASLON, by whom it was originally established.
الإعلان الافتتاحي يخبر الطابعين أن المسبك يملك، إلى جانب محتوى هذا الكتاب الحديث، أعمال مؤسسه ويليام كاسلون، فيجمع بين الإرث والتجديد في جملة واحدة.
Specimens of the original Caslon Foundry may be seen in Chiswell Street; but, being nearly out of print, cannot be generally circulated.
كتاب عينات المسبك الأصلي لا يُرى إلا في المقر لأن نسخه توشك أن تنفد، فيصبح الاطلاع عليه امتيازًا لمن يزور.
their aim has been to combine the beauty of the Modern with the clearness and durability of the Ancient style of Typography, and to produce types at once handsome, legible, and useful.
هدف حروف الصحف الجديدة أن تجمع جمال الطراز الحديث مع وضوح الطراز القديم ومتانته، فتكون جميلة ومقروءة ونافعة معًا.
redeemed their pledge of rendering their Newspaper Founts equal, if not superior, to any that have hitherto appeared.
المسبك يقول إنه وفى بوعد سابق بأن تساوي حروف الصحف أفضل ما ظهر أو تتفوق عليه، ويقدم الكتاب نفسه دليلًا على الوفاء.
the system of puffing, fraud, and fallacy by which the former Lotteries were supported and disgraced, would no longer be required.
نص العينة يرى أن اليانصيب لو صار أعدل لاستغنى عن التهويل والخداع والمغالطة التي قام عليها وشوّهت سمعته، وهو نقد مبكر للدعاية المضللة.
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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