Belgian French Lower Case

kç   é   -'e 12345678
wbc   d    sha
ir
f gh90
aeoe
zlmni opqflfflemen
yfiffi
xvutspacear ,.quad
rats

This Belgian layout is the Casse Ordinaire bas de casse shown by Dumont: Vade-Mecum du Typographe (1894 and 4th ed 1915), as used at the Brussells School of Typography. It is fairly close to the French Lower of Muller: Nouveau Manuel de Typographie (nd but c.1910), except that em and en spaces take up larger boxes, ffl and fl come down from the Upper, k replaces w and w replaces em rule, and the ; remains in the Upper. The companion Upper is Belgian French Upper.

Hair (or thin) spaces are espace fines, em spaces are cadratins, en spaces demi-cadratins, and quadrats are cadrats. Note that j is in the Upper, and é and ç in the Lower. Note also the location of the i box. Even as late as 1940, OUP also put i in the box where U.K./U.S. lays put h.

The empty case configuration is Lower, and is the same as the Laagen Ascendonica Romein case on view in the Plantin-Moretus Museum.

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 13 November 2008.