“Names of Different Kinds of Type” (from Robert Merry’s Museum, March 1842; p. 91)
[Great Primer] I will now tell you something
[English] about printing. It may be useful to
[Pica] spend a few lines in giving you an idea of
[Small Pica] the names which are applied to the different sorts
[Long Primer] of type employed in the printing of books. This I shall
[Bourgeois] do by putting against each line of the present paragraph the
[Brevier] name of the type in which it is printed. I shall not attempt to
[Minion] explain the origin of these odd terms, but content myself with giving
[Nonpareil] you a notion of the proportion which one type bears to another; so as to enable
[Pearl] you, when you become author, to give instructions to your printer as to the type you wish him to use.
[Condensed] And by the way of enlarging your vocabulary of types, I will
[Full-face] add a few examples of fancy letters, adapted to the title-
[Antique] pages of books, show bills of various
[Gothic Condensed] kinds, business cards, visiting cards, and many other
[Black] purposes. If you will go to Mr. Dickinson’s printing-office,
[Script] No. 52 Washington Street, Boston, you will see a
[Extended] great variety
[Gothic] of fancy type; and you will
[Gothic Outline] also see how they are set
[Tuscan Shade] up, and how they are
[Full-face (Capitals)] printed, with what he calls a
[Phantom] rotary press.
[Condensed (Capitals)] You will also see presses worked by steam, and en-
[Full-face Italic] gaged in printing books, newspapers,
[Extra Condensed] pamphlets, magazines, and many
[Shaded] other things. If you will
[Shaded] go to No. 66 Congress Street,
[Ornamented] you will find where
[Title Letter] Merry’s Museum
[French Shade] is stereotyped.