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ISO: Type Identification

Via the contact form:

I am just starting to support the usage of an 1873 Peerless letter press for the local Jackson Ella Sharp Museum. First item to be address is that previous operators failed to file the print type after use. My question is: Where can I locate a table relating the “nick” in the type body to its intended font? I have searched on the ‘net for three days w/ no luck. Thanks for your help. Paul Mc

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  1. Paul Moxon, Website Editor 17 October, 2015 at 7:00 pm

    Returning printing type to the proper compartments within the type case is called distribution. Generically, individual characters are called sorts. They’re returned to the proper compartments with the aid of a lay of the case schematic.

    The nick can identify the type foundry, but not the typeface. Typefaces are best designed by pulling a proof, then comparing to a specimen. One great resource for this is American metal typefaces of the Twentieth Century by Mac McGrew.

    See these article on Identifying Metal Type:
    http://www.circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/noncomptype/identifying-metal-type/nicks/index.html
    http://www.circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/noncomptype/identifying-metal-type/pinmarks/index.html

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  2. Stephen O. Saxe 12 November, 2015 at 2:44 pm

    The first step in identifying type is to look for a pinmark. If there is one (mostly on older types) it will identify the foundry that made the type, and looking into that foundry’s type specimen books will take you to the name of the typeface. If there is no pinmark, or just a circular indentation with no text, chances are that the type was made by ATF.

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  3. Paul McEnany 13 November, 2015 at 12:20 pm

    Thank you for the very helpful comments. I really appreciate all the comments/help I can receive.

    Reply

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