MacKellar U.S. Lower Case

ffifl5m4m'ke 12345678
jbcdisfgff9
?fi0
!lm nhoyp,wenem
z
xvu    t      3 em      a        r    ;:quads
q.-

This U.S. typecase lay is that given in MacKellar: The American Printer (2nd ed 1866, 5th ed 1870 and still 17th ed 1889) and Harpel: Typograph or Book of Specimens (1870), Southward: Practical Printing (3rd ed 1887 and 4th ed 1892), as that in use in America. It matches American Type Founders (1906) and subsequent lays, except that they all reverse w and , unlike all the English patterns of lay, eg Luckombe (1771) up to Tarr (1945). It is also close to that of Barnhart Bros & Spindler: Pony Specimen (1890s) except that again w and , are reversed, and fl replaces hairs.

Southward's illustration omits the ff and fi, and leaves those boxes empty, but as they are not shown in the Upper case either, this is presumably an error.

The companion Upper case is MacKellar. The empty case configuration is U.S.Lower. Note the divided box above the i box (for 1 and 2), whereas English cases have a single wide box (for thins or mids).

Other empty cases
ie with the boxes left blank
Other type layouts
ie with characters assigned to boxes
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This page was written in 1997 by David Bolton and last updated 16 April 2009.