First Stage
Capitals. Uniform Y-face capitals appear in Eld's
section
(AB, GH, K) except for a few foul-case S-face capitals. The presence of
both S-face and alternate-face capitals in C-F, I, approximates the pattern
of extensive replenishment in Purfoot-Y, and at first glance suggests a
single font. The single major discriminant occurs in the oversized (height:
2.9mm, 96mm letter), awkward, right-leaning 'W' in EF, but its cogency
is undercut by four appearances (F1:16, F4:12,32, F4v:20) of the normal
'W' found in CD, I, which raises the possibility of two sets of
cross-contaminated cases rather than two independent fonts. Similarly, the
few alternate-face symmetrical 'M' cut across the possible CD, I, and EF
boundaries (C3v:18, E1v:19, E4:21, E4v:14, I2:32). However, two
anomalies are limited to CD, I: three appearances of a Guyot 'G' (C2v:14,
D2v:21, I3:18) and the 76mm 'Y' in D and I (D2:34, D4v:15,16,17, I1:21,
I2v:25, I3v:2), which could be interpreted as transient fouling (see
later discussion) of one of two cases. Alternate-face letters 'E K R V Z' are
lacking in CD, I, and 'O S V Z' do not appear in EF, but these omissions
must be viewed cautiously as supplemental evidence, since non-appearance
does not prove non-existence. Both S-face and alternate 'I T' occur in
roughly equal proportions throughout. In general, the evidence of capitals
clearly indicates
a distinction between AB, GH, K, and C-F, I, but is ambiguous regarding
a further split in the latter section. The fact that two different styles of
alternate-face capitals appear in CD, I, and EF cannot be determined from
a reproduction.
Punctuation. Fouling with italic query and black letter
colon, query and period can be dismissed as insignificant, since these occur
throughout the text; similarly, S-face query occurs throughout C-F, I. Eld's
section uses the Y-face query consistently. An obvious discriminant occurs
in the exclusive appearances of Y-face query in CD, I, and the large Guyot
query in EF.
Ligatures. Uniform Y-face ligatures occur in Eld's
section. The evidence is ambiguous in C-F, I, since S-face and
alternate-face variants occur in the ligatures. The S-face ligatures are
obvious, but given the printing quality of Fools, it is
improbable
that the double variants (excluding S-face) in several ligatures would be
detected at this stage, since examination in an original is necessary.
Lower-case. Again, Eld's section uniformly uses Y-face
letters fouled by about a dozen S-face letters. The evidence is ambiguous
with respect to further subdividing C-F, I, since most obvious variants seem
to appear throughout. Except for some S-face g1 (CD, I) and g2 (EF),
differentiating other variants requires examination in an original, including
the bold variants of 'b d f h', condensed and wider variants of 'k p u v x
y', the oversized 't,' the squarish w4 and the bowed outer-stems w3, the
Y-face (CD, I) and Guyot (EF) 'g', and S-face k1 (CD, I) and
poorly-printing or damaged EF-face k1-k2 (EF). Overall, the lower-case
evidence as seen in a reproduction could easily suggest a single font in C-F,
I.
