Traditional point-size names
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Chambers_1908_Type_Sizes.png/220px-Chambers_1908_Type_Sizes.png)
(1) Great Primer (18 pt, 6.35 mm),
(2) English (14 pt, ≈4.939 mm),
(3) Pica (12 pt, ≈4.233 mm),
(4) Small Pica (11 pt, ≈3.881 mm),
(5) Long Primer (10 pt, ≈3.528 mm),
(6) Bourgeois (9 pt, 3.175 mm),
(7) Brevier (8 pt, ≈2.822 mm),
(8) Minion (7 pt, ≈2.469 mm),
(9) Nonpareil (6 pt, ≈2.117 mm),
(10) Pearl (5 pt, ≈1.764 mm) and
(11) Diamond (4.5 pt, 1.5875 mm).
Fonts originally consisted of a set of moveable type letterpunches purchased from a type foundry. As early as 1600, the sizes of these types—their "bodies"[1]—acquired traditional names in English, French, German, and Dutch, usually from their principal early uses.[2] These names were used relative to the others and their exact length would vary over time, from country to country, and from foundry to foundry. For example, "agate" and "ruby" used to be a single size "agate ruby" of about 5 points;[2] metal type known as "agate" later ranged from 5 to 5.8 points. The sizes were gradually standardized as described above.[3] Modern Chinese typography uses the following names in general preference to stating the number of points. In ambiguous contexts, the word hào (t 號, s 号, lit. "number") is added to the end of the size name to clarify the meaning.
Note that the Chinese font sizes use American points; the Continental systems traditionally used the Fournier or Didot points. The Fournier points, being smaller than Didot's, were associated with the names of the Didot type closest in size rather than identical in number of points.[citation needed]
Comparison table
Point | Metric size |
American system | Continental system | Chinese system | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
American[4] | British[1] | French[5] | German[6] | Dutch | Character | Pinyin | Meaning | ||
1 | ≈ 0.353 mm | American[a] | Achtelpetit | Achtste petit | |||||
1+1/2 | ≈ 0.529 mm | German | Achtelcicero | Achtste cicero | |||||
2 | ≈ 0.706 mm | Saxon | Non Plus Ultra[8] Viertelpetit |
Non plus ultra[9] Vierde petit |
|||||
2+1/2 | ≈ 0.882 mm | Norse | Microscopique[9] | Microscopique[8] | Microscoop Microscopie |
||||
3 | ≈ 1.058 mm | Excelsior[10][b] | Minikin[10] | Diamant | Brillant[8] Viertelcicero |
Kwart cicero | |||
3+1/2 | ≈ 1.235 mm | Ruby Brilliant[12] |
|||||||
4 | ≈ 1.411 mm | Brilliant | Perle | Diamant Halbpetit[8] |
Robijn Diamant Halve petit |
||||
4+1/4 | ≈ 1.499 mm | Gem | |||||||
4+1/2 | ≈ 1.588 mm | Diamond | |||||||
5 | ≈ 1.764 mm | Pearl | Parisienne Sédanoise |
Perl | Parel Parisienne |
八 | Bā | "Eight" | |
5+1/2 | ≈ 1.940 mm | Agate | Ruby[13][14] | 七 | Qī | "Seven" | |||
6 | ≈ 2.117 mm | Nonpareil | Nonpareille | Nonpareille | Nonparel Nonpareil |
||||
6+1/2 | ≈ 2.293 mm | Minionette[15] | Emerald[15] | Insertio | Insertio | 小六 | Xiǎoliù | "Little Six" | |
7 | ≈ 2.469 mm | Minion | Mignonne | Kolonel | Kolonel Mignon |
||||
7+1/2 | ≈ 2.646 mm | Petit-texte | 六 | Liù | "Six" | ||||
8 | ≈ 2.822 mm | Brevier | Gaillarde Petit-texte[12] |
Petit Jungfer[12] |
Petit Brevier[12] |
||||
9 | ≈ 3.175 mm | Bourgeois[c] | Petit-romain Gaillarde[16] |
Bourgeois Borgis[17] |
Borgis Burgeois[16] |
小五 | Xiǎowǔ | "Little Five" | |
10 | ≈ 3.528 mm | Long Primer | Philosophie | Korpus Garmond[17] |
Corpus Garmond[18] |
||||
10+1/2 | ≈ 3.704 mm | 五 | Wǔ | "Five" | |||||
11 | ≈ 3.881 mm | Small Pica | Cicéro | Rheinländer Discendian[17] |
Mediaan Rheinländer |
||||
12 | ≈ 4.233 mm | Pica | St.-Augustin | Cicero | Cicero Augustijn |
小四 | Xiǎosì | "Little Four" | |
14 | ≈ 4.939 mm | English | Gros-texte[d] | Mittel | Grote cicero Grote augustijn Mediaan[19] |
四 | Sì | "Four" | |
15 | ≈ 5.292 mm | Gros-texte[d] | 小三 | Xiǎosān | "Little Three" | ||||
16 | ≈ 5.644 mm | Columbian Exchange | Gros-texte[d] | Tertia | Tertia | 三 | Sān | "Three" | |
18 | ≈ 6.350 mm | Great Primer | Gros-romain | 1+1/2 Cicero | Paragon Tekst[20] |
小二 | Xiǎoèr | "Little Two" | |
20 | ≈ 7.056 mm | Paragon[2][4] | Petit-parangon | Text Secunda[8] |
|||||
22 | ≈ 7.761 mm | Double Small Pica[2][4] | Gros-parangon | 二 | Èr | "Two" | |||
24 | ≈ 8.467 mm | Double Pica | Palestine | Doppelcicero | Dubbele cicero Palestine |
小一 | Xiǎoyī | "Little One" | |
26 | ≈ 9.172 mm | 一 | Yī | "One" | |||||
28 | ≈ 9.878 mm | Double English | Petit-canon | Doppelmittel | Dubbele mediaan | ||||
30 | ≈ 10.583 mm | Five-line Nonpareil | |||||||
32 | ≈ 11.289 mm | Double Columbian | Kleine Kanon Doppeltertia[21] |
Dubbele tertia | |||||
36 | 12.7 mm | Double Great Primer | Trismégiste | Kanon Canon[8] |
Kanon | 小初 | Xiǎochū | "Little Initial" | |
40 | ≈ 14.111 mm | Double Paragon | Doppeltext[22] Große Kanon[e] |
||||||
42 | ≈ 14.817 mm | Seven-line Nonpareil | Große Kanon[e] | Grote Kanon | 初 | Chū | "Initial" | ||
44 | ≈ 15.522 mm | Canon | Gros-canon[f] | Missal[23] | Parijs Romein[24] | ||||
48 | ≈ 16.933 mm | Four-line Pica French canon |
Canon | Gros-canon[f] | Kleine Missal | Konkordanz Kleine missaal |
|||
54 | ≈ 19.050 mm | Missal | Missaal | ||||||
56 | ≈ 19.756 mm | Double-canon | |||||||
60 | ≈ 21.167 mm | Five-line pica | Große Missal | Sabon | |||||
66 | ≈ 23.283 mm | Große Sabon[8] | Grote sabon | ||||||
72 | 25.4 mm | Six-line pica Inch |
Double-trismégiste | Sabon Sechscicero[8] Kleine Sabon[22] |
6 cicero | ||||
84 | ≈ 29.633 mm | Seven-line pica | Siebencicero[8] Große Sabon[22] |
7 cicero | |||||
88 | ≈ 31.044 mm | Triple-canon | |||||||
96 | ≈ 33.867 mm | Eight-line pica | Grosse-nonpareille | Achtcicero[8] Real[22] |
8 cicero | ||||
100 | ≈ 35.278 mm | Moyenne de fonte | |||||||
108 | 38.1 mm | Nine-line pica | Imperial[22] | 9 cicero |
See also
Notes
- ^ The existence of such small bodies was only notional in the age of metal type.[7]
- ^ Note that the American name for 3-point type was initially "Brilliant"[4] and the English name was initially "Excelsior".[2] The American "Excelsior", meanwhile, was originally 4-point type.[4][11] The situation subsequently changed.
- ^ Pronounced "burjoyce".[16]
- ^ a b c The French gros-texte referred indifferently to type sizes between 14 and 16 points.[5]
- ^ a b The German Große Kanon referred indifferently to 40- or 42-point type.
- ^ a b The French gros-canon referred indifferently to type sizes of 44 or 48 points.[5]
References
- ^ a b Southward, John (1888), "Typography", Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. XXIII (9th ed.), New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 698.
- ^ a b c d e Romano, Frank (Summer 2009). "The History of the Typographic Point" (PDF). APHA Newsletter (171): 3–4.
- ^ "Type", Sizes.com, Santa Monica: Sizes Inc., 2004.
- ^ a b c d e Pasko, Wesley Washington, ed. (1894), American Dictionary of Printing and Bookmaking, Containing a History of These Arts in Europe and America, with Definitions of Technical Terms and Biographical Sketches, New York: Howard Lockwood & Co., p. 522.
- ^ a b c Pasko (1894), p. 215.
- ^ Bauer, Friedrich (1929), Die Normung der Buchdrucklettern: Schrifthöhe, Schriftkegel, und Schriftlinie in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwichlung, Leipzig: Deutscher Buchgewerbeverein, p. 64. (in German)
- ^ Pasko (1894), p. 18.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bauer (1934).
- ^ a b De Vinne, Theodore Low (1900), The Practice of Typography: A Treatise on the Processes of Type-Making, the Point System, the Names, Sizes, Styles, and Prices of Plain Printing Types, New York: The Century Co., p. 68.
- ^ a b "minikin, n.¹ and adj.¹", Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
- ^ "excelsior, n."'", Oxford English Dictionary (1st ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1894.
- ^ a b c d Pasko (1894), p. 70.
- ^ "ruby, n.¹", Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011
- ^ Pasko (1894), p. 11.
- ^ a b "minionette, n.", Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
- ^ a b c Pasko (1894), p. 65.
- ^ a b c Pasko (1894), p. 229.
- ^ Reed, Talbot Baines (1887). A History of the Old English Letter-Foundries. London. pp. 38–39.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Pasko (1894), p. 172.
- ^ Pasko (1894), p. 238.
- ^ von Bauer, Friedrich (1934), Handbuch für Schriftsetzer, Frankfurt: Verlag von Klimsch & Co.. (in German)
- ^ a b c d e Fromm, Helmut (1980). Rechenbuch für die Druckindustrie (in German) (14th ed.). Itzehoe: Verlag Beruf und Schule. ISBN 3-88013-155-4. Mentioned in "Type size names (German style)". briarpress.org.
- ^ Pasko (1894), p. 79.
- ^ Pasko (1894), p. 213.