“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.