Non-English Fount Distribution

This page shows some schemes for founts of metal type, for languages that are not English. The figures give the number of types for each character, within either an overall quantity, or weight. How the type fits into a case is shown either as Quantity in a Case, or as one of the many Type Lays available.

Schemes for English distributions are shown as a separate page.

Where appropriate below, ¦ represents a single dagger, f represents long s, -- represents an em rule, and ' an apostrophe.

German Distribution for 100kg Korpus Antiqua
(Genzmer: Das Buch des Setzers, Frankfurt 1961. Quantities are numbers of type)
a	3000	s	3300	à	100	A	400	S	500	1	500	.	1500
b	1000	ß	300	á	30	B	350	T	300	2	450	,	2000
c	1900	t	3300	â	40	C	200	U	200	3	450	-	1000
d	3000	u	2300	è	80	D	350	V	280	4	400	:	200
e	10500	v	550	é	200	E	300	W	300	5	450	;	200
f	900	w	900	ê	40	F	250	X	120	6	400	!	200
g	1800	x	250	ë	40	G	350	Y	60	7	400	?	200
h	3000	y	200	ì	30	H	300	Z	200	8	400	'	200
i	4600	z	700	í	30	I	400	Ä	80	9	450	*	150
j	250	ä	400	î	30	J	150	Ö	60	0	500	¦	60
k	700	ö	250	ï	40	K	300	Ü	100			§	100
l	2100	ü	450	ò	30	L	250	Æ	20			(	250
m	1500	ff	150	ó	30	M	300	OE	20			[	100
n	6400	fi	100	ô	40	N	200	È	30			»	250
o	1300	fl	100	ù	30	O	200	É	30			--	200
p	500	æ	30	ú	30	P	250	Ê	20			&	80
q	200	oe	30	û	30	Q	60	Ë	20
r	5000			ç	30	R	250	Ç	20

German Distribution for 100kg Korpus Fraktur
(Genzmer: Das Buch des Setzers, Frankfurt 1961. Quantities are numbers of type)
a	3500	s	1050	ff	200	A	450	S	570	1	500	.	1700
b	1150	f	1850	fi	120	B	400	T	350	2	450	,	2100
c	200	t	3300	fl	120	C	170	U	230	3	450	-	1100
d	3500	u	2650	ll	340	D	400	V	230	4	400	:	220
e	12000	v	600	ch	1900	E	300	W	330	5	450	;	220
f	1050	w	1050	ck	200	F	280	X	60	6	400	!	220
g	2000	x	200	fi	340	G	400	Y	60	7	400	?	220
h	1400	y	200	ff	220	H	350	Z	230	8	400	'	220
i	5000	z	800	ft	820	I	150	Ä	90	9	450	*	150
j	300	ä	460	fz	350	J	150	Ö	70	0	500	¦	70
k	700	ö	280	tz	200	K	350	Ü	110			§	100
l	1950	ü	500			L	280					(	280
m	1700					M	350					[	100
n	7300					N	230					»	280
o	1500					O	230					--	250
p	580					P	230					&	100
q	200					Q	60
r	5700					R	280

French Distribution for 100,000 characters (400lb of 12pt)
(Lefevre: Guide Practique de Compositeur d'Imprimerie, Paris 1880. Quantities are numbers of type)
a	5000	s	6500	à	500	A	300	S	300	A	200	S	200	1	300	.	1500
b	1000	t	5500	â	250	B	150	T	300	B	100	T	200	2	200	,	2000
c	2500	u	5000	é	1500	C	250	U	250	C	150	U	175	3	200	-	1000
d	3000	v	1000	è	500	D	250	V	200	D	200	V	125	4	200	:	200
e	11000	x	500	ê	300	E	450	X	75	E	350	X	75	5	200	;	300
f	1000	y	300	ë	50	F	150	Y	50	F	100	Y	50	6	200	!	100
g	1000	z	300	î	150	G	150	Z	50	G	100	Z	50	7	200	?	100
h	1000	ç	100	ï	50	H	150	AE	25	H	100	AE	25	8	200	'	1000
i	5500	ae	50	ô	150	I	300	OE	25	I	250	OE	25	9	200	*	50
j	500	oe	100	ù	250	J	100	W	25	J	100	W	25	0	300	§	50
k	100	w	50	û	150	K	25	Ç	25	K	25	Ç	25			(	150
l	4500	fi	350	ü	50	L	300	É	100	L	200	É	75	e	100	[	50
m	2500	fl	150			M	200	È	75	M	150	È	50	l	100	»	300
n	5000					N	250	Ê	25	N	200	Ê	25	m	100	--	200
o	4500					O	300			O	200			n	100
p	2000					P	200			P	150			r	100
q	1200					Q	150			Q	100			s	100
r	5500					R	300			R	200			t	100

Hebrew Unpointed Distribution
(Legros & Grant, Typographical Printing Surfaces) (London 1916)				(Jerusalem Type Foundry (24pt)) (by Y. Miklaf 2001)
Aleph	70			Aleph	30			.	13
Beth	20			Beth	18			,	11
Gimel	21			Gimel	8			:	5
Daleth	32			Daleth	14			;	4
He	73			He	34			!	3
Vau	84			Vau	56			?	3
Zayin	21			Zayin	7			(	3
Cheth	35			Cheth	15			)	3
Teth	14			Teth	6			{	3
Yod	77			Yod	50			}	3
Kaph	56	final	11	Kaph	16			'	3
Lamedh	70			Lamedh	22			"	3
Mem	56	final	21	Mem	24	final	15	-	4
Nun	35	final	17	Nun	16	final	7	\	4
Samech	15			Samech	8			0	5
Ayin	32			Ayin	17			1	5
Pe	14	final	10	Pe	8	final	5	2	5
Tzadde	11	final	10	Tzadde	8	final	5	3	5
Koph	13			Koph	8			4	5
Resh	42			Resh	23			5	5
Sin	84			Sin	25			6	5
Tau	20			Tau	20			7	5
								8	5
								9	5

Dutch Distribution for display sizes
(Stichting Lettergieten 1983, Westzaan 2000. Quantities are numbers of type)
a	12	n	14	ç	2	A	8	N	10	1	3	.	10
b	12	o	12	ff	2	B	6	O	8	2	3	,	4
c	5	p	4	fi	2	C	6	P	5	3	3	-	4
d	12	q	2	fl	2	D	8	Q	2	4	3	:	4
e	26	r	12	ffi	2	E	16	R	8	5	3	;	4
f	5	s	9	ffl	2	F	5	S	7	6	3	!	4
g	6	t	10	ij	6	G	5	T	8	7	3	?	4
h	6	u	6	ae	1	H	5	U	7	8	3	'	4
i	10	v	6	oe	1	I	9	V	6	9	4	&	2
j	4	w	4			J	7	W	6	0	3	--	3
k	6	x	2	Ç	2	K	6	X	3			(	4
l	8	y	4	AE	1	L	7	Y	3
m	6	z	4	OE	1	M	7	Z	4

It is interesting to note the differences in the order of frequency of the characters. Thus for the lower case:

e n d a o r t i s g h l k m u v b c z w ij f p j y x q (Dutch distribution for a 4500a fount)
e n a b d o r i t s l g h m u v ij c f k j p w y z q x (Dutch distribution for 12a fount, Stichting Lettergieten 2001)
e s t a n r i u o l d p c m v q b g f h x y j z k w (French distribution within 18,000 ens of Cicéro, Lefevre 1880)
e s i r t a n u l o d c m p q b f g h v j x y z k w (French distribution for a 5000a fount, Lefevre 1880)
e n r i s t a d h u l c g m o b f w k z v p ß j x q y (German Antiqua distribution for 3000a fount, Genzmer 1961)
e n r i a d t u g l f m o h b f s w z k v p j c q x y (German Fraktur distribution for 3500a fount, Genzmer 1961)

and contrast these with various schemes for English:

e a i n o r s t c d h l m u b f g p w y j k v q x z (Stephenson Blake 1989)
e a i n o r s c d h l m u b f g p t w y j k v q x z (Startype 1979)
e t a i n o s r h d l u c m f p w y b g v k j q x z (Monotype 1970s)
e a i n o r s t h l d c f m u b g p w y j k v q x z (Riscatype 1960s)
e t a o i s n u h r l w m c f d y g p b v k j z x q (Intertype 1930s)
e a i n o r s t h l d c m u b f g p w y j k v q x z (Southward iro ATF 1933)
e t a i n o s r h d l u c f m w y p b g v k q j x z (Southward 1887)
e t a i n o s h r d l u c m f w y g p b v k q j x z (MacKellar 1870)
e t a i n o s h r d l u c m f w y g p b v k j x q z (Savage 1841, from Caslon)
e t a i n o s h r d l u c m f w y g p b v k q j x z (Hansard 1825)
e a s i o t r n d l u h c m w y p g f b v k q j x z (Stanhope c1800)
e a t o h n r d i l f s m u w y c g b p v k x j q z (Smith 1755 improved)
e a t h i n o r d l m s u c f b g p w y k v j q x z (Smith 1755 traditional)

but note that ligatures and accented letters can make a difference, ie MacKellar has fi equal to q and ff equal to x (and above z). Hansard has fi equal to q, ff to j, fl to z (and é above z, and à â ê equal to z). Smith also includes long s ligatures in his schemes, which for example would move s above i in his traditional scheme, if the fount had no ligatures. The Dutch scheme has ij as shown, but also é above y and ó à è fl ä ö ü fi í ì above x and ò û â above q. Similarly, in the French scheme, é is above p, fi above y, fl and ç above k, etc., but also note how few k and w were in use at that time. In the German Antiqua scheme, ü and ä are above j and ö is above q and in the Fraktur scheme, ü and ä are above j and ö is above c .

Other empty cases ie with the boxes left blank		Other type layouts ie with characters assigned to boxes
Full Index of layouts	Glossary of terms used	Sources of the layouts	Introduction
Quantities in a fount of type		Quantities in a case of type
Notes about Job and Double Cases	Notes about Upper cases	Notes about Lower cases	Alembic home page

This page was written by David Bolton and last updated 19 June 2005.