An old engraving of a worker (compositor) at a type ‘case’ in a print workshop or foundry in the 1800s. It is from a Victorian book of the 1880s. A type case is a compartmentalised, wooden box for storing the individual characters used in letterpress printing. It was held in a job case, a wide drawer with compartments for the ‘sorts’ (the letters, symbols and in a font or typeface). The cases were arranged (as shown below) with the capital letters in a case placed above the case with the other letters. Hence capital letters are called ‘upper case’ and the small letters are ‘lower case’.
An old engraving of a worker, called a compositor, at a type ‘case’ in a print workshop or foundry in the 1800s. It is from a Victorian mechanical engineering book of the 1880s. A type case is a compartmentalised, shallow wooden box used to store the individual characters used in letterpress printing. It was held in the printing shop in a job case, a wide drawer with many small compartments for the ‘sorts’ (the various letters, punctuation marks, symbols and ligatures in a specific font or typeface). The most popular and commonly used job case design in USA was the California Job Case. Traditionally the cases were usually arranged (as shown here) with the capital letters stored in a separate case. It was placed above the case holding the other letters. This is why the capital letters are called ‘upper case’ characters and the minuscules/small letters are ‘lower case’.
Size: 2843px × 5315px
Photo credit: © M&N / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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