Sort (typesetting)
In
Background
From the invention of movable type up to the invention of hot metal typesetting essentially all printed text was created by selecting sorts from a type case and assembling them line by line into a form used to print a page. When the form was no longer needed all of the type had to be sorted back into the correct slots in the type case in a very time-consuming process called "distributing". This sorting process led to the individual pieces being called sorts. It is often claimed to be the root of expressions such as "out of sorts" and "wrong sort", although this connection is disputed.[citation needed]
During the hot metal typesetting era, printing equipment used matrices to cast type as needed during the typesetting process. The popular
See also
- History of western typography
- Letterform
- Matrix (printing)
- Typeface
- Typography
- Typeface anatomy
References
- ^ A.A. Stewart (1919). TYPESETTING: a primer of information about working at the case, justifying, spacing, correcting, making-up, and other operations employed in setting type by hand. Typographic technical series for apprentices—Part II. No. 16. United Typothetae of America. p. 92 – via Project Gutenberg.
Further reading
- Nesbitt, Alexander (1957). The History and Technique of Lettering. Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-20427-8. The Dover edition is an abridged and corrected republication of the work originally published in 1950 by Prentice-Hall, Inc. under the title Lettering: The History and Technique of Lettering as Design.
External links
- Typowiki Archived 2008-07-06 at the Wayback Machine, a type wiki at typophile.com Archived 2006-04-18 at the Wayback Machine
- Metal Type - For Those who Remember Hot Metal Typesetting