Font character counts
Eris Alar
Posts: 455
I've been looking over some type specimens from the 1930s, particularly ATF ones, and it seems the fonts had very few characters, with no accents. Is this true, or is there a piece of the puzzle I'm missing? How did they typeset for other languages, or names that use accents etc?
0
Comments
-
Most old type specimens were catalogs distributed only within one nation. So they generally only showed letters needed for setting type in the local language, and did not include anything needed for typesetting math, financial data, annotations, etc.. If a typesetter came to a and accent and didn’t have it, he just used the unaccented letter. The larger ATF (1912 and 1923), Linotype (~1939), and Intertype (~1925) specimens do have collections of accented letters, fractions, superior/inferior figures, and various symbols tucked away in the back of the book.1
Categories
- All Categories
- 44 Introductions
- 3.8K Typeface Design
- 817 Font Technology
- 1.1K Technique and Theory
- 635 Type Business
- 451 Type Design Critiques
- 549 Type Design Software
- 30 Punchcutting
- 139 Lettering and Calligraphy
- 86 Technique and Theory
- 53 Lettering Critiques
- 500 Typography
- 309 History of Typography
- 117 Education
- 74 Resources
- 520 Announcements
- 84 Events
- 107 Job Postings
- 160 Type Releases
- 168 Miscellaneous News
- 271 About TypeDrawers
- 53 TypeDrawers Announcements
- 117 Suggestions and Bug Reports