Camberwell Double Case

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( )

thn

mid

ffi

;

thicks

quads

The layout is the Improved English lay shown on cards in the printing department at Camberwell College of Arts, London until 2001. It is very similar to the Half Case lay used by Heffer & Sons, Cambridge until the 1970s, except that the thins box is split between thins and mids, and the ffl is stored with ffi, and ; is put where Heffer have ffl. Camberwell and Heffer both have the figures in the top right rows, as do Lindley & Maggs, Basic Printing (rev 1980) although their lay has j q z x v y p w k etc in different positions. Whilst Southward in 1887 has z x and q in the same position as Camberwell, he has figures, etc in a different position, as his case has only five rows in the upper case bay. Atkins' London School of Printing lay (1930s) has seven rows in the upper case bay, but does not use any of these for figures. Whilst z and x are still in the same place, q and k are in different boxes. Millington's Sheffield lay of 1963 does have six rows in the upper case bay, but again does not use these for the figures, and has ligatures, q and k in different boxes.

The typecase configuration is Improved English Double, but this configuration with a divided mid/thin box is not shown in any catalogue and may not be an original construct, but simply created with reglet or rule, with the actual construction being the normal Caslon 1897, Stephenson Blake 1922, Harrild 1970 etc. Improved Double Case.

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 in 2001 by David Bolton and last updated 4 October 2001.