uring the printing. A case in which
to hold the type, however, was a first and obvious necessity.

The early type cases are shown in pictures of the time as made of a
single tray containing all the characters of the font and resting in a
slanting position on a rude frame or "horse," at which the compositor is
usually seated. All the boxes of the case are represented as of the same
size, which probably was not the fact even in early practice any more
than it is today. Early designers and artists no doubt overlooked or
ignored what they considered an unimportant detail, just as today they
often persist in misrepresenting the true outline of the printer's
lower-case. One does not need to take much thought or to have much
experience to understand that in all printed languages some characters
are used more than others and therefore more types of these letters and
larger boxes to hold them should be provided.

For a long time the large single case with boxes for the entire list of
characters was used, and these are still common in many European
composing rooms. In English and American workshops, however, the pair of
cases, one above the other, for many years has been the rule for large
fonts in book and news work. These cases, being smaller and holding but
a part of the font, are more convenient for storing and for moving from
place to place about the room as they are needed for use.

The cases described by Moxon in 1683 are in pairs, and the arrangement
of the letters in the lower case, as shown in his illustrations, bear a
close similarity to the plan of English cases of today.

[Illustration: Fig. 1. Early Type Case.]

Early American cases came from England and naturally they conformed to
the customs of the time and place of origin. Probably in no other
important particular has the tendency of printers to hold to past
methods been more strongly emphasized than in their refusal to adopt any
important change in the style of the most used type cases and the
arrangement of the types in the boxes. Force of habit and dislike for
innovation have kept practically unchanged for two and a half centuries
the relative positions of the chief characters in the case. At the same
time there has been universal acknowledgment that the adoption of some
of the suggested improvements would add greatly to convenience and
economy; and further, that many of these improvements could be adopted
with an effort and expense so small as to be out o