London Lower Case

This English layout is shown in Atkins: Art & Practice of Printing, vol I, Sayers & Stuart: The Composing Room (1930s) as that in use at the London School of Printing. It is very similar to Oldfield's lay of the 1890s, except that hair spaces replace & (which is in the Upper case) and ; replaces : which moves to its normal position (at least since Moxon), thus moving j to replace ' with ' replacing ; and thins come from the Upper to join mids. The location of k above the . box was first proposed by Johnson in 1824, having moved q to be nearer the u box. Southward's Old Lower of 1882 first showed the figures in the Lower case, and although subsequently also shown by Oldfield, Tarr, et al., most of the later versions, e.g. Southward's Improved Lower, keep the figures in the Upper case.

The companion Upper is London, and the empty case configuration is the New Lower of Johnson (1824).