Re: "Kerning?"

[Robert Holmgren holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to note from "..."  Tue, 18 Feb 1997 18:23:40 -0500 (EST)
 
> In foundry type (usually only large sizes) combinations such as WA and To,
> YA, Ye, etc., were kerned by physically cutting away part of their metal
> bodies with a circular saw so that the two adjacent pieces of type would
> interlock and bring the printing surfaces of the letters closer.

May be. I remember many pigeonholes in the composer's lettercase
that contained only multi-character types. Some pieces may have been
just interlocked. Most looked like they were cast that way. The ligatures,
like ij (which in English evolved into "y" with diaeresis, then just monosyllabic
y) and ffi, were almost certainly cast. Although now I would look much more
closely (maybe at the Great Compositor's case in the sky -- except that he
worked mostly in stone).


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Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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