Empty English Lower Case

This English typecase configuration is the New Lower Case of Johnson: Typographia (1824) and the Present Lower of Hansard: Typographia (1825), the Old and the New Lower of Timperley: The Printers' Manual (1838) and the English Lower of Tomlinson: Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts (1853). It is the Lower of Miller & Richard: Price List (1873), Southward: Practical Printing (1882 to 1900), Oldfield: Practical Manual of Typography (1892 and 1898), Miller & Richard: Catalogue & Price List of Printing Material (1897), Caslon: Specimen of Printing Types (1897), Southward: Modern Printing (1898 and still in 8th ed 1954), and the Book Lower of Jacobi: Printing (5th ed 1913 and 6th ed 1919). It is the Lower of Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th ed 1911), and is in the text of Legros & Grant: Typographical Printing-Surfaces (1916). It is the Lower of Stephenson, Blake & Co: Printing Material & Machinery (1922), Miller & Richard: Printing Machinery & Material (nd but same period) and the old Standard Lower Case of Caslon: Printing Types & Materials (1925). It is the Lower of Aspinall: Handicraft Printing (1936), Tarr: Printing Today (1945), Cefmor: Printers Equipment & Sundries (1955), Wallis: A Short History of the English Case Lay Print in Britain (Nov 1959), Horsfall & Sons: Startype (1978) and the News Lower of American Printing Equipment & Supply Co: Catalog (1983 and 1987). It is used, for example, by Western Australia Education Department (c1960), Heffer (c1970), Alembic Press (1974 to 2009) etc.

Effectively, it is the same case as shown by Smith in 1755, but with the s and long s boxes merged into one, the long s character having fallen into disuse. It is the standard English lower case, and remains in use to this day. Note the 8th box from left in the top row is wide, unlike the US Lower, where it is divided into two. For one of the many normal layouts for the type see the London lay. The companion Upper case remains the pattern used by Moxon.