There remains finally the need to discuss the pattern of the accompanying series of plates
and of the digest of known fact concerning each font exhibited, for these plates and their
related commentary constitute the basic evidence by which future bibliographers may test the
validity of the conclusions presented in the earlier sections of this paper and carry on
independent research in eighteenth-century American printing among the Middle Colonies.
There are in all twenty-four plates, seven showing a variety of fonts widely used by
Franklin's competitors during the years when Franklin was sole master of his establishment,
fifteen reproducing the text fonts used by Franklin or by Franklin and Hall, and two offering
selected samples of the Franklin titling type plus his very limited holdings of English
scriptorial and pica Greek letter.
In each plate exhibiting a text font it was my intention to achieve two objectives: (1) to
reproduce at actual size a twenty-one line segment of the font with representative samplings
of both the roman and italic letter, and (2) to present considerably enlarged a key selection
of characters designed to assist the scholar in identifying a particular type. The first
objective has not been fully realized in every plate, but since the fonts owned by Franklin
and his Philadelphia competitors often differ markedly, the samples pictured should offer the
scholar a reasonably workable basis for positive identification.
Several obstacles stood in the way of achieving the first objective. The limited size of the
plate prohibited the inclusion of a twenty-one line segment of the larger fonts, the double
pica and paragon. Also it was not always possible to find among extant copies of Franklin's
imprints set in smaller fonts twenty-one line segments combining representative settings of
both the roman and italic letter, or where such examples were found, uneven impression in the
original printing or defects such as extreme warping, faded inking, and tears, stains, or
distorting repairs made satisfactory photographic reproduction unfeasible. Among the black
letter fonts, it was difficult or on occasion impossible to find extended passages from which
to choose a suitable example. With each segment of type in mass, regardless of size, I have
appended a millimeter rule so that the scholar may test for himself the degree of accuracy
with which the letter has been reproduced at life size and make compensations where the
enlargement varies a millimeter or two.
The second objective, that of reproducing much enlarged and truly characteristic a series of
letters useful in identifying a specific font, was likewise a task beset with difficulties.
Any enlargements as great as those offered on the plates will of necessity involve a certain
amount of distortion, the smaller the characters as those reproduced from the fonts of brevier
and bourgeois, the greater the distortion.
Furthermore, those letters recurring frequently in a font designed for setting copy written
in English may be cast from a series of matrices, rather than from a single one, and therefore
may differ slightly in tilt depending on how the puncheon was held when the matrix was struck;
hence, despite my careful scanning of many occurrences of the same letter before selecting
what was considered a truly characteristic example, it is possible that I may have reproduced
only one typical casting where several are present in a given font. Another complication in
selection arose from the fact that it was not possible consistently to present reproductions
of letters in settings which exhibited the font fresh from the foundry. And even where this
was possible, the user of the plates must be wary of what changes in appearance may occur in
individual characters after years of use when the sharpness of line is blunted, the terminals
distorted, and tails, ears, finials, and beaks damaged.
Two other points need brief words of explanation. First, key letters have been presented
greatly enlarged in order that one may perceive more easily the distinctive design of the
characters: the curvature of bowls, contour of arms, and variation in terminals. The letters
in enlargement are not to be considered an accurate basis for judging the relative size of one
character to another. Use rather the sampling of the font in mass as the basis for making that
judgment. Second, the characters enlarged include many more capitals than lower case letters.
The reasons for such a selection are that: (1) in the Franklin period it was compositorial
practice to capitalize all important nouns; hence capitals abound in the texts under
consideration; (2) many of the capitals exhibit distinctive variations, especially in arms,
stems, beaks, finials, and spurs; and (3) these characteristics may be the more readily
discerned in the larger capitals than in the lower-case letters.
In the enlarged reproduction of characters in the black letter fonts, of which Franklin and
the Bradfords had clearly limited supplies and which they employed most frequently in setting
advertisements in their newspapers, hastily printed on inferior grades of native paper, I had
the greatest difficulty in discovering wholly satisfactory examples; since, however, almost
every character in Franklin's long primer font differs
from that in the
Bradfords, I have chosen to offer the characters as I found them and have refrained from
retouching them in order to suggest their original full design.
