:: :: University of Virginia Library

The commentary accompanying each plate includes approximately the same kind of information. The first entry gives the name of the printer or printers using the font; the eighteenth-century name for the font; its twenty-line measurement in millimeters except for that of the titling type where the height of the capital is given; and the terminal dates of use of a particular font by one or more printers.

The second entry, "Key Letters," offered for all but the Caslon fonts, includes descriptions of individual characters useful in identifying the font quickly. The aim usually has been to designate characters which make it possible for the scholar at a glance to distinguish the Franklin letter from the same letter in fonts used by his contemporaries.

The third entry, "Comment," includes information concerning the years during which the font was regularly in use and in some instances the transference of a font from one printing house to another. This entry often includes also in a second paragraph the names of printers other than Franklin using a like font during the same years.

The final entry, "Occurrences," lists a sampling of imprints wherein the particular font has been used. A number preceded by "C" refers to the entry of the work in W. J. Campbell's A Short-Title Checklist of all known Franklin Imprints; a number preceded by "E" refers to the entry in C. Evans' American Bibliography; and a number preceded by "H" refers to the entry in C. R. Hildeburn's A Century of Printing: the Issues of the Press of Pennsylvania, 1685-1784.

PLATE No. 1

FRANKLIN Long Primer No. 1 67 mm. 1728-1743
Key Letters: (Roman) the lower case r with blunt ear, the letter when set between e's or i's falling appreciably short of the mean-line; (Italic) the lower case w characterized by the sweeping downward curving of its head.
Comment: This font Franklin used from the spring of 1728 until May 3, 1739, when he acquired his Caslon long primer. Thereafter the non-Caslon letter appears sporadically in Franklin printing until its discard late in 1743; it continues in use, however, in the standing type of the Poor Richard Almanacks until 1747.
Type identical with Franklin's long primer No. 1 occurs from January 8, 1732 until March 10, 1733, in The South-Carolina Gazette, printed by Thomas Whitmarsh, Franklin's partner in Charleston; on March 17, 1733,
198

the roman letter with its distinctive lower case r is replaced by another roman font, but the italic like Franklin's persists in the printing of Whitmarsh and his successors, Louis and Peter Timothy, until March 9, 1747.
Occurrences: 1728: C1, E3104. 1730: C16, E3252. 1732: C46, E3503. 1733: C49, E3710; C59, E3625. 1734: C66, H479. 1735: C71, E3783; C87, E3901; C90, E3905. 1736: C98, E3986. 1742: C237b, E5033. 1728-1739: Pa. Gazette, passim. 1733-1747: Poor Richard Almanacks.

PLATE No. 2

FRANKLIN Pica No. 1 84 mm. 1728-1738
Key Letters: (Roman) the capital G with sheared serif on upper arm and lower armed spur, the capital S with upper armed barbed serif; (Italic) the capital G with lower armed spur, the distinctive swash capital J and P, the lower case w with center loop and head with sheared inverted terminal.
Comment: Franklin used this font from the spring of 1728 until May 4, 1738, after which date the earlier font disappears. See comment for Franklin's English No. 1.
Type identical with Franklin's pica No. 1 occurs from January, 1732 until March 9, 1747, in The South-Carolina Gazette.
Occurrences: 1728: C1, E3104. 1731: C25, E3388. 1732: C35, E3500. 1735: C88, E3902. 1736: C98, H536. 1737: C106-107, E4138-39. 1729-1738: Pa. Gazette, passim.

PLATE No. 13

KEIMER — HARRY Pica 83 mm. 1725-1730
Key Letters: (Roman) the lower case w with the two inner stems joining only at apex; (Italic) the lower case w with head terminals linking apex and stems.
Comment: This is Samuel Keimer's lone pica font acquired in 1725, and turned over to his successor, David Harry, who used it in Philadelphia from 1729 to 1730, before taking it with him to Barbados.
Occurences: KEIMER — 1728: E3051; E3905. 1728-1729: Pa. Gazette, Nos. 1-39. HARRY — 1730: E3323, E3350.

PLATE No. 14

BRADFORDS Pica No. 3 82 mm. 1736-1757
Key Letters: (Roman) lower case g with medium bowl, vertical ear, and thinning lower arc of biased loop; (Italic) the lower case w with unlooped inner stems and pointed biased lower apices.
Comment: This pica, the third used by Andrew Bradford since he had begun printing in 1713, appeared first in the American Weekly Mercury on December 9, 1736. Cornelia Bradford, Andrew's widow, used the font from 1742-1746. It passed to William Bradford, Jr. in the early 1750's.
Occurrences: A. BRADFORD — 1737: E4142. 1738: E4246. 1740: E4499, E4537. 1736-1746: Am. Weekly Mercury, passim. C. BRADFORD — 1743: E8005. W. BRADFORD, JR. — 1751: E6658. 1753: E6952, E6968, E7063, E7112. 1754: E7152. 1757: E8005.

199

PLATE No. 15

FRANKLIN English No. 1 95 mm. 1728-1742
Key Letters: See descriptions under Franklin's Pica No. 1.
Comment: The face of this English font is the same as that of Franklin's Pica No. 1. Franklin used this font from the spring of 1728 until late in 1742. He acquired his first font of Caslon English probably in the summer of 1740; it first appears in the Gazette on September 18, 1740. He used his old and new fonts concurrently from 1740 to 1742.
Type identical with Franklin's English No. 1 occurs from January, 1732 to March 9, 1747, in The South-Carolina Gazette. The same type badly rubbed occurs in E6954 dated 1753 with the Newport imprint of Franklin's nephew James. The pica of this font — Franklin's Pica No. 1 — also markedly worn occurs in an unsigned 1757 broadside announcing a Rhode Island lottery. I have not yet made an extensive examination of the Franklin Newport imprints, but the occurrence of these worn fonts in Rhode Island printing suggests the possibility that some years after B. Franklin had purchased his new Caslon English and pica he may have sent his earlier non-Caslon fonts to Newport where in 1738 his brother's widow took over the shop until her son James could be educated and trained to the printing business in Philadelphia by his uncle.
Occurrence: 1733: C49, E3710; C50, E3711. 1735: C84, E3884. 1736: C99, E4061. 1738: C126, E4327. 1741: C187, E5033. 1742: C237b, E5033. 1743: C283, E5272. 1729-1740: Pa. Gazette, passim.

PLATE No. 16

KEIMER - HARRY English No. 2 92 mm. 1726-1730
Key Letters: (Roman) the capital C with its stubby rounded finials; (Italic) the lower case g extending above the mean-line.
Comment: This is Keimer's second font of English, not the first "small, wornout font of English" which Franklin found in the shop when he applied to Keimer for a job in October, 1723. Keimer turned over the font to David Harry, who used it in 1729-1730 before taking it with him to Barbados.
Occurrences: KEIMER — 1728: E3051. 1728-1729: Pa. Gazette, Nos. 1-39 passim. HARRY — 1730: E3323.

PLATE No. 17

FRANKLIN Double Pica No. 1 Cap. 5 mm. 1728-1741
Key Letters: (Roman) capital C with barbed beaks, the small bowl of the lower case g, the lower case v with the apex frequently above the base-line, and lower case y extending above the mean-line; (Italic) swash capital J, heavy stemmed with markedly rounded foot and head terminals, backward tilt of bar in capital H and of head serif on capital L, rounded terminal on head of lower case w.
Comment: This font acquired in the spring of 1728 Franklin used often as text type for broadsides and for section headings in printing the Provincial
200

laws as well as for titling type. Once he had acquired his large assortment of Caslon titling type in 1741 and his Caslon fonts of great primer and paragon, his use of double pica in either non-Caslon or Caslon became negligible.
Type identical with Franklin's Double Pica No. 1 occurs in The South-Carolina Gazette from January, 1732 to March, 1747.
Occurrences: 1729: C7. 1730: C16, E3252. 1733: C49, E3710; C59, E3625. 1734: C62, E3822. 1735: C77, E3862; C90, E3905. 1736: C98, E3986; C99, E4061. 1738: C123, E4298. 1740: C148, E4524; C163, E4600; C183, E4651. 1741: C200, E4722; C209, E4792.

PLATE No. 18

BRADFORDS Double Pica No. 2 Cap. 5 mm. 1728-1758
Key Letters: (Roman) lower case g with large bowl and elongated curved ear; (Italic) capital G with spur, and lower case w with lengthy sheared head.
Comment: A. Bradford acquired this font in 1728, Cornelia used it until 1746, and then turned it over to W. Bradford, Jr., who by the early 1750's had combined it with his own double pica.
Occurrences: A. BRADFORD — 1728: E3086. W. BRADFORD, JR. — 1758: E8205

PLATE No. 19

FRANKLIN Black Letter Long Primer 66 mm. 1734-1766
Key Letters: the capital and lower case S's may be used to distinguish this font from that used by Andrew and William Bradford, Jr., and from Franklin's brevier black letter.
Comment: Franklin used this font first on October 31, 1734, and consistently thereafter until September 2, 1742, when he began using his Caslon brevier black letter either alone or in conjunction with the long primer.
Occurrences: 1734-1766: Pa. Gazette, passim. 1735-1747: Poor Richard Almanacks. 1737: C106, E4138.

PLATE No. 10

BRADFORDS Black Letter Long Primer 67 mm. 1723-1748
Key Letter: Capital S.
Comment: A. Bradford acquired this font early in the 1720's, Cornelia used it until 1746, and turned it over to W. Bradford, Jr., by September 3, 1747.
Occurrences: A and C. BRADFORD — 1723-1746: Am. Weekly Mercury, passim. W. BRADFORD, JR. — 1747-1748: Pa. Journal, Nos. 250, 290.

PLATE No. 11

FRANKLIN Black Letter Brevier 54 mm. 1742-1766
Foundry: Caslon.
Comment: Franklin first used this font in the Gazette on September 2,
201

1742, and thereafter principally in advertisements written in the German language until 1766.
Occurrences: 1742-1766: Pa. Gazette, Nos. 716, 743, 756-57, 773, 814, 818, 820, 880, 899, 972, etc.