Empty Italic (Job) Case

This U.S. case matches that illustrated in Harpel Typograph or Book of Specimens, 1870 and MacKellar The American Printer 15th ed. 1885 and 17th ed. 1889, though not, for example, 5th ed. 1870, and Curtis & Mitchell Price List, 1878 and 1886, and the Simons case of c.1885 in Pryor: History of the California Job Type Case in Journal of the Printing Historical Society No.7, 1972. It is also shown in Palmer & Rey Type Specimen Book, 1892, and Lockwood American Dictionary of Printing & Bookmaking, 1894 and Cleveland Type Foundry Catalogue and Price List of Type and Material, 1893 and Barnhart Bros & Spindler Pony Specimen, 1890s and Book of Type Specimens No.9, 1907, and American Type Founders Blue Book, 1895 and Desk Book of Type and Printing Materials, 1900, and De Vinne Practice of Typography - Modern Methods of Book Composition, 1904 and 1914, and American Type Founders American Line Type Book, 1906 and Hamilton Manufacturing Company, Modern Cabinets, Furniture and Materials for Printers, Catalog 14 (c.1907) and Gujarati Type Foundry Type Book, c.1928 and as a Hamilton case (nd) in Long Wood Type & Printing Collectibles, 1980. Pryor dates this style of case as from 1836.

The upper case bay has seven equal sized rows of boxes, and a suitable lay is Italic Job. The later version of the case, shown by American Type Founders (1923), Missouri-Central (1959) and American Printing Equipment & Supply Co (1983) differs in having 3 small rows, then 3 tall rows, then 1 small row in the right hand bay, rather than 7 equal rows. De Vinne also shows an (Italic) Job case with 8 boxes, rather than seven, in each upper case row.

Note that the Italic case differs from the otherwise similar California Job case as that case has only five rows in the upper case bay. Hamilton made a three quarter version of the case, in the same configuration as the full-size Italic case, and there is also a Two Third Italic version of the case, in a different configuration and known either as Italic or California.