Type cutter
The font Schneider (also die cutter ) is an old, now virtually disappeared craft profession whose activities of the engraver is similar. The type cutters cut the patrices according to their own or someone else's designs . These steel stamps were given to the type caster , who used them to produce the matrices for the lead letters required in letterpress printing .
In the 16th century, German book printers supplied Frankfurt am Main and Nuremberg in particular with matrices. Claude Garamond (around 1500–1561) and the Didot family were famous in France, while in England William Caslon (1692–1766), from whom his splendid Antiqua gained popularity, and John Baskerville (1706–1775) were at work.
The term can still be found today in the word font style as a designation for subspecies of a font family , e.g. B. Italic style , bold style , etc. To improve legibility, font styles were produced in different sizes with different proportions and each printed letter was placed on the font so that the typeface was even, with undercuts of numerous pairs of letters (e.g. VA, Pe, fo) were taken into account. The thickness and the position on the font were therefore individual for each character in a font style.
Individual evidence
- ^ Johann Andreas Ortloff: Thorough presentation of the arts and crafts: a technological textbook for schools and for private use . Bibelanst., 1823 ( google.de [accessed July 10, 2018]).
- ↑ See the Lexicon of Lost Professions by R. Palla, keyword "Schriftschneider", p. 289.
