Old French Lower Case

*ç   é   -'e 12345678
---bc   d    smi
ds
f gh90
aeoe
zlmni opqwk;en
yhrfi:em
xvutthicksar .,quad
rats

The lay is that given in Lockwood: American Dictionary of Printing and Bookmaking (1894) as the case lay used in the country (as distinct from his 18th Century case, which swaps mids and hairs, and has ffi but not ;). The companion Upper case is Lockwood.

Note that j is in the Upper, and é and ç in the Lower. The box with --- is for em dash. The Lower lay is similar to Diderot (1751) except that the long s has been dropped, and for example & has moved to the Upper and w to the Lower. Even as late as 1940, OUP still followed the French pattern of putting i in the box where English/U.S. lays put h.

The actual configuration is the same as Diderot, and differs from English/US cases, eg the style of the w k ; en and --- boxes, and the é box.

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 2005 by David Bolton and last updated 23 January 2006.