Inventory / important type Tuesday April 21 2009 10:15 am
Kerned type / Excelsior Script
During our basic type composition workshops one of the projects we do is a specimen card. This helps us put samples from our collection down on paper and gets our participants to really look at a job case. This past Sunday one of our participants was composing with Excelsior Script, originally from the McKellar, Smiths, & Jordan typefoundry in Philadelphia. I think the pin mark on these had an AT on it (I’ll go and look that back up). It was the first time we had used this type.
As it turned out it has quite an odd architecture to the sorts. We hope we can find someone that can explain the logic.
The type is an ornate face which requires a great deal of kerning, requiring many of the letters to overhang their neighbors. Normally when letters overhang like this the overhang is flat and physically rests on the shoulder of the adjacent sort. In the instance of Excelsior Script the bottoms of the overhang aren’t flat, but supported by a triangular buttress you can see below.
The obvious question is why have that angular support versus the flat overhang that would gain support from the adjacent letters? And why would they be at different angles? That seems like a lot of work to go to and also magnifies the potential for damage to the type.
We broke two Ts trying to do the specimen sheet and decided to quit before we completely ruined the font. We weren’t using much impression at all. Our font has no capital Ws to start. Anyone reading this have a W or maybe a whole font (especially if it is from McKellar, Smiths & Jordan) they would part with just so we have a complete version?
Anyone know of any other typefaces that use this kerning strategy?
One Response to “Kerned type / Excelsior Script”
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on 04 Oct 2009 at 6:25 pm 1.BarbHauser said …
Hi Ray et al.,
Typo Script is cast just like this. The first time I used it I broke an uppercase L, and I was using just a hair over a kiss impression. I was heartbroken! In a panic, I developed a method for supporting the kerns: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7929005@N07/sets/72157622461135128/, which I posted to Letpress for comments. You can search the archives for “protecting kerns.”
Soon afterwards, I received a private email from someone with the highest credentials in typecasting. He said:
“Do NOT try to support the kerns of foundry types. This is the surest way to break them. No, you will not break them off unless you try to emboss into binder’s board. You can even hot-stamp and not break them. All foundry kerns are trimmed under the overhang so it does not touch the shoulder of the type following. They are much stronger than you think…The Typo Script kerns will not break in normal use, even if you impress them into a soft mold-made paper like Rives.”
So apparently that trim under the overhang has nothing to do with supporting the kern. The trimming was done to provide maximum strength to each particular kern. That’s why there’s no consistency in the angles.
Looking back, I’m thinking that maybe the L that broke was weak to begin with. Also, there’s the possibility that over time typemetal could become more brittle. I think this is the case at least with the antimony, I’m not sure.
Subsequent to my first experience with the Typo Script, I used it for two 50-print jobs, both with a hair over kiss impression on Crane’s Palette cover, one with some clay supports and one without. Both jobs were completed without incident (whew!). Maybe I was lucky, though, so in the future I’ll heed my advisor’s wisdom and use the Typo Script, unsupported, for kiss-impression work on soft, preferably dampened moldmade paper.
Thanks so much for drawing attention to this issue!
Barbara Hauser