En
Half the breadth of an em, in any body of type. In reckoning the work done by compositors, the en is considered as the equivalent of a letter. Thus, if the measure of a page be twenty ems Pica, there are forty ends in it, and the breadth of an en being taken as the average breadth of a type, the compositor is paid for setting up forty letters. But if a work is set up in any other type that may cause it to be a thick space more than the number of even ens in the width, an extra en is charged. Likewise, in casting up the length of a page, an en counts for an extra em, if it is that much over the number of even ems.
It is a rough-and-ready system, but not at all an accurate one, as a very little experimenting will show. A whole fount, upper and lower, varies in breadth from a thick space to about an em; all the capitals, except the I, being more than an en, while a large majority of sorts in the lower-case, excepting the m, w, ffi, ffl, and a few sorts equal to an en quadrat, are less than an en. If a capital letter was used in every word, the en might be nearly the average, but as nearly all the composition comes out of the lower case, compositors are certainly losers by the present method of casting up matter.
For example, take the type in which this Dictionary is set (Brevier); the five vowels being the most frequently used, it will be found that instead of making five ens, as they ought, they require a thin space to make them so. In this case there are six pieces composed and only five charge; a loss to the compositor of one sixth, which is brought out more plainly as follows:—The space between the colons is the space which ought to be occupied by the words, were the en the true average of the breadth.
: Sure my true love’s natal day should inspire a thrilling lay. :
In this case, sixty-one pieces have been lifted, but as the space they occupy is only that of fifty five ens, and the compositor is paid for only that number of letters, he loses one tenth by the present system. In bastard founts the difference is still greater; but if when the scale was altered, at the time of the Advance of Wages Movement, a provision was made that an extra charge per thousand should be made on founts whose lower-case alphabet occupied less space than twenty-six ens. A committee of compositors was appointed in 1847, in London, to devise a better mode of casting up type, but failed in its object, the present mode of averaging being preferred to any other than suggested.
En
Half the breadth of an em, in any body of type. In reckoning the work done by compositors, the en is considered as the equivalent of a letter. Thus, if the measure of a page be twenty ems Pica, there are forty ends in it, and the breadth of an en being taken as the average breadth of a type, the compositor is paid for setting up forty letters. But if a work is set up in any other type that may cause it to be a thick space more than the number of even ens in the width, an extra en is charged. Likewise, in casting up the length of a page, an en counts for an extra em, if it is that much over the number of even ems.
It is a rough-and-ready system, but not at all an accurate one, as a very little experimenting will show. A whole fount, upper and lower, varies in breadth from a thick space to about an em; all the capitals, except the I, being more than an en, while a large majority of sorts in the lower-case, excepting the m, w, ffi, ffl, and a few sorts equal to an en quadrat, are less than an en. If a capital letter was used in every word, the en might be nearly the average, but as nearly all the composition comes out of the lower case, compositors are certainly losers by the present method of casting up matter.
For example, take the type in which this Dictionary is set (Nonpareil); the five vowels being the most frequently used, it will be found that instead of making five ens, as they ought, they require a thin space to make them so. In this case there are six pieces composed and only five charge; a loss to the compositor of one-sixth, which is brought out more plainly as follows:—The space between the colons is the space which ought to be occupied by the words, were the en the true average of the breadth.
: Sure my true love’s natal day should inspire a thrilling lay. :
In this case, sixty-one pieces have been lifted, but as the space they occupy is only that of fifty-seven ens, and the compositor is paid for only that number of letters, he loses one fifteenth by the present system. In bastard founts the difference is still greater; but if when the scale was altered, at the time of the Advance of Wages Movement, a provision was made that an extra charge per thousand should be made on founts whose lower-case alphabet occupied less space than twenty-six ens. A committee of compositors was appointed in 1847, in London, to devise a better mode of casting up type, but failed in its object, the present mode of averaging being preferred to any other than suggested. In the United States composition is charged by ems only.