Bas de Casse

*ç   é   -'e 12345678
bc   d    s2pt
esp
f gh90
aeoe
zlmni opqwk½cd
y1ptfi:cdtn
xvut espaces ar .,cad
rats

This French lay is given in Lefèvre: Guide pratique du composition d'imprimerie (1880). Lefèvre showed an almost similar case in his Recueil complet d'impositions, exécutées en caractères mobiles, suivi d'une nouvelle classification de la casse française of 1838, except 1½pt space and w are replaced by w and ffi, the 1pt space box is empty, and 1pt spaces replace 2pt spaces, which is the same as the 18th Century case of Lockwood (1894). The companion Upper case is Lefèvre.

Note that j is in the Upper, and é and ç in the Lower. 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 empyu case configuration is the same as Diderot, and differs from English/US cases, eg the style of 1½pt space, w, k, demi-cadratin and — boxes, and the é box.

Other empty cases
ie with the boxes left blank
Other type layouts
ie with characters assigned to boxes
Full Index of layoutsGlossary of terms usedSources of the layoutsIntroduction
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and Double Cases
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This page was written in 2006 by David Bolton and last updated 16 August 2013.