Sort (typesetting): Difference between revisions

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{{short description|Block with a typographic character etched on it, which is lined up with others to print text}}

[[Image:Metal type.svg|thumb|right|200px|Diagram of a cast metal sort. '''a''' face, '''b''' body or shank, '''c''' point size, '''1''' shoulder, '''2''' nick, '''3''' groove, '''4''' foot.]]

[[Image:SortsMetal on composing sticktype.jpgsvg|thumb|right|200px|Metal'''Diagram typeof a cast metal sort'''sorts. '''a''' arrangedface, on'''b''' abody [[composingor shank, '''c''' point size, '''1''' shoulder, '''2''' nick, '''3''' groove, '''4''' stick]]foot.]]

[[Image:Sorts on composing stick.jpg|thumb|right|200px|'''Metal type sorts''' arranged on a [[composing stick]]]]

{{mainbroader|letterpressLetterpress printing}}

In [[typesetting]] by hand compositing, a '''sort''' is a piece of metal type representing a particular [[letter]] or [[symbol]], [[cast]] from a [[matrix (printing)|matrix mould]] and assembled with other sorts bearing additional letters into lines of [[text]] to make up a ''forme'' from which a page is [[printing|printed]].

In physical [[typesetting]], a '''sort''' or '''type''' is a block with a [[typographic]] [[character (symbol)|character]] etched on it, used—when lined up with others—to [[printing|print]] [[Written language|text]].<ref>{{cite book |title=TYPESETTING: a primer of information about working at the case, justifying, spacing, correcting, making-up, and other operations employed in setting type by hand |series=Typographic technical series for apprentices{{mdash}}Part II. No. 16 |author=A.A. Stewart |page=92 |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46113/46113-h/46113-h.htm |via=[[Project Gutenberg]] |publisher=United Typothetae of America |date=1919}}</ref> In [[movable-type printing]], the sort or type is [[Casting|cast]] from a [[matrix (printing)|matrix mold]] and assembled by hand with other sorts bearing additional characters into lines of type to make up a ''form'', from which a page is printed.

==Background==

From the invention of [[movable type]] up to the invention of [[hot metal typesetting]] essentially all printed text was created by selecting sorts from a [[type case]] and assembling them line by line into a form used to print a page. When the form was no longer needed all of the type had to be sorted back into the correct slots in the type case in a very time-consuming process called "distributing". This sorting process led to the individual pieces being called sorts. It is often claimed to be the root of expressions such as "out of sorts" and "wrong sort", although this connection is disputed.{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}}

During the [[hot metal typesetting]] era, printing equipment used matrices to cast type as needed during the typesetting process. The popular [[Linotype machine|Linotype]] cast entire lines of text at once rather than individual sorts, while the less popular competitor [[Monotype System|Monotype]] still cast the sorts individually. Later, when [[phototypesetting]] replaced hot metal typesetting, sorts disappeared entirely from the mainstream printing process.

==See also==

* [[hotHistory metalof typesettingwestern typography]]

* [[Linotype machineLetterform]]

* [[MonotypeMatrix Corporation(printing)]]

* [[typefaceTypeface]]

* [[typographyTypography]]

* [[widowTypeface (typesetting)anatomy]]

* [[strut (typesetting)]]

==References==

{{reflist}}

* Nesbitt, Alexander ''The History and Technique of Lettering'' (c) 1957, [[Dover Publications|Dover Publications, Inc.]] ISBN 0-486-20437-8, Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 57-13116. The Dover edition is an abridged and corrected republication of the work originally published in 1950 by Prentice-Hall, Inc. under the title ''Lettering: The History and Technique of Lettering as Design''.

==Further reading==

* {{cite book |last=Nesbitt, |first=Alexander ''|title=The History and Technique of Lettering'' (c) |date=1957, [[Dover|url=https://archive.org/details/historytechnique0000alex Publications|publisher=Dover Publications, Inc.]] ISBN |isbn=0-486-2043720427-8, Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 57-13116.}} The Dover edition is an abridged and corrected republication of the work originally published in 1950 by Prentice-Hall, Inc. under the title ''Lettering: The History and Technique of Lettering as Design''.

==External links==

{{commonscat|Printing letters}}

*[http://typophile.com/wiki/start Typowiki], a type wiki at [http://typophile.com typophile.com]

*[http://typophile.com/wiki/sort Typowiki] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706163339/http://www.typophile.com/wiki/sort |date=2008-07-06 }}, a type wiki at [http://typophile.com typophile.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060418013801/http://www.typophile.com/ |date=2006-04-18 }}

*[http://www.metaltype.co.uk/wpress/ Metal Type - For Those who Remember Hot Metal Typesetting]

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