Chapter VIII: Old Style

Fonts of movable Types, from their firſt Introduction into England until late in the eighteenth Century, contained—owing principally to the long “ſ” (= s) then in Uſe—far more Ligatures than the Fonts of the preſent Day. Johnſon’s Dictionary furniſhes a Liſt which we here inſert, with their more modern Equivalents:

ct = ct; ſ = s; ſb = sb; ſh = sh; ſi = si; ſk = sk; ſſ = ss; ſt = st; ſſi = ssi; ſſl = ssl: and in italic, _ct_ = _ct_; _ſ_ = _s_; _ſb_ = _sb_; _ſh_ = _sh_; _ſk_ = _sk_; _ſſ_ = _ss_; _ſt_ = _st_; _ſſi_ = _ssi_; _ſſl_ = _ssl_.

It was our good Fortune, at a very early Period of Life, to attend a dame School, where a Book, printed in Glaſgow, in the Year 1756, was put into our Hands. This Book contained the Weſtminſter Larger and Shorter Catechiſms, and a Directory of Public Worſhip,—the Intention perhaps being to teach us good Engliſh and ſound “Kirk” Doctrines at the ſame Time. Fortunately or otherwiſe, the Doctrines were above our Comprehenſion _at that Time_; but the long _ſ_’s and the Ligatures {p196} became Part of our Eye-Vernacular (if we may be pardoned for ſuch an Expreſſion), at which we rejoice. We hope that the Young who have not had the Advantages of antique Catechiſms will peruſe the Old Style Pages of this Chapter until they become ſo familiar with ancient and nearly forgotten Letters as to be able to enjoy the many good Things to be found in old-time Books, whether printed in Glaſgow or elſewhere.

To Printers who have “ſerved their Time” in the Book-offices of the Eaſt or the early ſettled Cities of the South and Weſt, a Chapter like this may ſeem wholly ſuperfluous. But in a Country like ours, where new Towns and Cities are daily ſpringing into Exiſtence, daily Newſpapers ſpringing up with them, it often happens that Boys and young Men who have had but ſcanty Schooling are taken as Apprentices to learn the Art of Arts. Many of theſe become rapid and correct Compoſitors, and in Proceſs of Time drift to Cities where are Printing-offices with more Varieties of Type than the new Comers have been accuſtomed to,—among the reſt, Old Style, both in its ancient and modernized Forms; and it is, in good Part, for the Benefit of theſe that we devote a few Pages to Old Style.

In purſuing our Subject we ſhall paſs by {p197} Caxton, who, as Everybody knows, introduced movable Types into England in the ſeventh Year of the fourth Edward, make but brief Mention of Caſlon (1692–1766), who about the Year 1720, made Matrices and call genuine and beautiful old-ſtyle Type,—and come directly to the Fact that, in 1843, an Engliſh Printer deſired to reprint in Old Style a Book of the Time of Charles II. The old Matrices of Caſlon were found (_v._ Brit. Encyc.), and from them a Font was caſt, which, with improved Preſſes, etc., gave a better Impreſſion than had been obtained in Caſlon’s Time. Since then (1843), the Demand for Old Style has ſteadily increaſed, both in England and America, and our Founders have produced a modernized Old Style; in which, however, it is thought by many that Legibility has been ſacrificed to Beauty and general Effect. Our Purpoſe here is to treat of the earlier Style, which ſtill reaches Printing-offices occaſionally as Copy, and in which Programmes for “Old Folks’ Concerts,” and alſo ſome Pamphlets, are printed even in theſe Days.

In Old Style, _s final_ is a ſhort _s_; in all other Parts of a Word, even if it is the laſt Letter of a Syllable of a Word divided at the End of a Line, the long, kerned “ſ” is uſed. To prevent breaking the Kern the long “ſ” was caſt in the ſame {p198} Matrix with ſuch Letters as it would otherwiſe interfere with,—the two, or in Caſe of double _ſ_ the three, Letters forming one Type; juſt as “f” is now ligated to other Letters, as fi, ffl, etc.

And here, while ſpeaking of Ligatures, we would fain digreſs a Moment,—even at the Expenſe of lengthening our old-ſtyle Chapter,—to remark that there are ſome interfering Combinations for which Ligatures have not been caſt. We have ſeen Book-catalogues in which the Word “_Illuſtrated_” frequently occurred, having the Kerns of the italic _I_ and its Neighbor _l_, one or both, broken off. The ſame happens when the Word “Illinois” is ſet in italic, unleſs the Compoſitor inſert a thin Space to keep the Letters from encroaching on each other’s Territory. The ſame Method muſt be obſerved when the Combination of _f_ with _b_, _h_, or _k_, is met with; as in Hofburg, Hofhoof, and Hoffkirchen; otherwiſe one or more Letters will preſent a mutilated Appearance on the Proof-ſheet.

An italic ſhort _s_ ligated with _t_, formerly in Uſe, does not ſeem to have remained long in the Printer’s Caſe; but—perhaps from the Beauty of its Curves—the “ct,” both in roman and italic, retains its Popularity, and is found in Fonts of modernized Old Style which have rejected the long _ſ_ and its Ligatures. Indeed, we have what are {p199} called “ct Books,” in which the deſignating Term is uſed as though it were as needful as “fi,” and the other Combinations of the kerned Letter _f_.

We conclude this Portion of our Work by preſenting ſome Fac-ſimiles of Old Style, produced by Photogravure. The firſt is Part of a Page from “Annals of King George,” printed in London, in 1717.

The next is a Fac-ſimile of four roman and three italic Lines from T. B. Reed’s “Hiſtory of Printing.” Theſe ſeven Lines were printed from Type caſt in the Matrices made by the elder Caſlon, in 1720. They ſhow an immenſe Improvement when compared with the Page of the “Annals” executed but three Years before.

The third Sample is from Fry & Steele’s “Specimens of Printing Type,” dated 1794; while the fourth, from the Foundry of Caſlon the younger, dated 1796, having dropped the long “ſ” and its Ligatures, informs us of the Period when the Old was giving Place to the New. {p200}

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