Up To Date Business by Seymour Eaton

PICA is universally considered as the standard type, just as the _foot_ is the standard of measurement. The twelfth part of a pica is the unit, called a _point_, by which type bodies are measured. In many printing offices the type is known as _6-point_, _8-point_, _10-point_, _etc._, instead of as _nonpareil_, _brevier_, _long primer_, _etc._ The following specimens show the sizes of the type in common use: [Illustration: Sample type faces pearl, agate, nonpareil, minion, brevier, bourgeois, primer, small pica, pica, English, primer.] The student must bear in mind the fact that these names refer to the _size_ of the type. For instance, there may be a dozen different styles of brevier or of pica; a particular specimen of printing may be entirely in long primer, yet some words may be capitals, others italic, others boldface, and so on. AGATE is the size of type used in measuring advertisements. There are fourteen agate lines in an inch. A complete series of type of a particular size is called a _font_; as a font of brevier, or of pica. Such a font would include: CAPITALS SMALL CAPITALS lower-case _ITALIC CAPITALS_ _italic lower-case_. Also _figures_, _fractions_, _points_, _references_, _braces_, _signs_, _etc._ Printers divide a font of letters into two classes: