Monotype Fount Synopsis

The standard fount schemes detailed by the National Committee of Monotype Users' Associations in various 'Monotype' caster manuals is given below (and here taken from The 'Monotype' Super Caster Manual published in 1953). The proportions of the body founts are based upon the average recurrence of the various characters in average English literature. The scheme is based upon a strength of 1000 lower case characters. A few characters are shown with a zero number, being characters not listed in the Manual, but which have been added for comparison with other schemes.

 BookJob      BookJob      BookJob             BookJob       
a 74 74 A 8 28 & 8 8 A 8 ¼ 2 4 á 2
b 18 18 B 8 10 . 40 40 B 3 ½ 2 4 à 2
c 34 34 C 5 14 , 50 40 C 4 ¾ 2 4 â 2
d 42 42 D 5 16 : 6 6 D 5 ⅓ 2 2 ä 2
e 118 118 E 12 44 ; 8 12 E 13 ⅔ 2 2 ã 0
f 24 24 F 6 10 - 10 10 F 3 ⅛ 2 2 é 4
g 18 18 G 8 10 ! 2 4 G 3 ⅜ 2 2 è 4
h 50 50 H 10 20 ? 3 6 H 6 ⅝ 2 2 ê 2
i 74 74 I 10 28 ( 12 18 I 8 ⅞ 2 2 ë 2
j 6 6 J 6 6 [ 6 8 J 2 ⅙ 0 0 í 2
k 8 8 K 4 6 " 10 20 K 2       ì 2
l 42 42 L 8 16 £ 6 12 L 5       î 2
m 26 26 M 18 14 — 6 8 M 6 * 6   ï 2
n 66 66 N 8 24 $ 2 2 N 8 † 4   ó 2
o 66 66 O 8 24       O 8 ‡ 2   ò 2
p 20 20 P 8 10       P 3 § 4   ô 2
q 6 6 Q 4 4 1 10 20 Q 2 ‖ 2   ö 2
r 58 58 R 8 22 2 6 12 R 7 6   ú 2
s 66 66 S 12 26 3 6 12 S 8 ⌢ 0   ù 2
t 84 84 T 12 32 4 4 8 T 10 } 0   û 2
u 38 38 U 6 14 5 4 8 U 4 ⌣ 0   ü 2
v 12 12 V 4 6 6 4 8 V 2 { 0   Ç 2
w 20 20 W 8 10 7 4 8 W 3 – 4   ç 2
x 6 6 X 4 4 8 4 8 X 2 … 12   ñ 2
y 20 20 Y 6 8 9 8 18 Y 3 @ 2   ẃ 0
z 4 4 Z 4 4 0 12 24 Z 2 ℔ 0   ŵ 0
ff 3 6 Æ 4 8       Æ 4 Per 2      
fi 4 8 Œ 4 8       Œ 2 % 4      
fl 3 6             & 0 / 6      
ffi 3 6       em 100 100     + 2      
ffl 3 6       en 50 50     - 2      
æ 2 4       thick 200 200     × 2      
œ 2 4       mid 100 100     ÷ 2      
ſ 0 0       thin 100 100     = 2      
ſt 0 0       hair 50 50     a/c 2      
ſh 0 0                 fist 0      
ſſ 0 0                          
ſſi 0 0                          
ſb 0 0                          
ſk 0 0                          
ſl 0 0                          
ct 0 0                          

Some other sysnopses are shown as
Quantities of characters in a fount of type
Quantities of characters in a fount of non-English type
Quantities of characters in a small fount of type
Quantities of type in a typecase
Type Lore
Typefounders Proportions

This page was written in 2014 by David Bolton and last updated 19 October 2014.