Typesetting / A primer of information about working at the case, justifying, spacing, correcting, making-up, and other operations employed in setting type by hand

A Simple Spacing Table

Taking 60 as the common denominator of the five blanks, including the em quad, which would be 60/60, the en quad is 30/60, the 3-space is 20/60, the 4-space is 15/60, and the 5-space is 12/60. By combining the various spaces the following fractions of the em square may be obtained:

5-space	=12-60ths	en and 4-space	=45-60ths
4-space	=15-60ths	3-4-5-spaces	=47-60ths
3-space	=20-60ths	4 5-spaces	=48-60ths
2 5-spaces	=24-60ths	en and 3-spaces	=50-60ths
4-space and 5-space	=27-60ths	4-space and 3 5-spaces	=51-60ths
en quad	=30-60ths	2 3-spaces and 5-space	=52-60ths
3-space and 5-space	=32-60ths	en and 2 5-spaces	=54-60ths
3-space and 4-space	=35-60ths	2 3-spaces and 4-space	=55-60ths
3 5-spaces	=36-60ths	3-space and 3 5-spaces	=56-60ths
4-space and 2 5-spaces	=39-60ths	en, 4- and 5-spaces	=57-60ths
2 3-spaces	=40-60ths	3-space, 4-space and 2
en and 5-space	=42-60ths	5-spaces	=59-60ths
3-space and 2 5-spaces	=44-60ths	em quad	=60-60ths

With a supply of the regular spaces at hand it will be seen that for average work there is ample opportunity for careful spacing and proper justification. The trouble often comes, however, because of an insufficient supply of the thinner spaces. Unfortunately in many places these are not supplied in right quantities and the usual boxes for holding them are inadequate for a proper supply. Improper distribution of the thin spaces is also responsible for the lack of a proper supply, as well as for great loss of time in sorting and hunting during composition.

The point system of widths has been applied to spaces, the thickness being graduated by points and half-points, instead of the fractional division of the em. In a font of 10-point, for instance, the four ordinary spaces 5-space, 4-space, 3-space, and en quad, are respectively 2, 21/2, 31/3, and 5 points thick. In the point system there are five spaces within these limits, namely: 2, 21/2, 3, 4, and 5points thick. The extra space and two intermediate widths between the 4-space and the en quad give many advantages in spacing for good composition; though as yet the use of these point-width spaces is not general in hand composition. The lack of proper boxes to keep them in the ordinary type cases is a serious drawback to their economical use.

The following table shows the widths of point spaces in six common sizes of type:

POINT SYSTEM OF SPACE WIDTHS
	6-to- em	5-to- em	4-to- em	3-to- em	Patent space	en quad	em quad
6-point 8-point 10-point 12-point 14-point 18-point	1 1 11/2 2 2 2	— 11/2 2 21/2 3 3	11/2 2 21/2 3 4 4	2 21/2 3 4 5 6	21/2 3 4 5 6 —	3 4 5 6 7 9	6 8 10 12 14 16

When type composition is to be used regularly for making moulds for electrotypes; high spaces, quads, leads, and slugs are employed instead of the ordinary low spaces and quads. These reach nearly as high as the shoulder of the type and, unlike low spaces, do not leave small holes and crevices between the words and lines into which the moulding wax is forced when moulding. Although a great deal of miscellaneous job work is moulded for electrotyping with low spaces and other blanks, the electrotyper finds it difficult to obtain the best results with forms made up in this manner. The high blank spaces make a better moulding form and are used in composing rooms where the major part of the work is electrotyped.

Large hollow quads, known as quotation quads (quotation furniture, in the larger sizes), are used in place of solid quads where there are many large blanks in the form. These have the advantage of lightness in comparison with regular quads. They should be set in the form with the hollow space down, so as not to catch dirt and small particles that will be likely to come out later on the ink rollers when the form is on the press. There are occasionally places where it will be an advantage to use them hollow-side up for ease in picking them out when changing the form; but the form should never be sent to press or to the electrotype foundry with the hollow spaces up.

In a font of typewriter type all characters are cast on bodies of the same width. Only one kind of space is used (or need be used) for spacing the lines. This space is the same width as the letters, so that each line contains exactly the same number of pieces. The usual size for this kind of type is 12-point and the width of the letters and the space is a little more than the en. The apprentice should notice that the 12-point typewriter space and the 12-point en quad are not the same.

Script types usually need spaces and quads that are beveled on two sides near the top. The bevels are to allow for the overhanging kern of the letters. The spaces and quads are cast to fit the particular design of the face.

The general practice of slug-casting machine composition is to justify the lines by increasing the spaces, which explains the customary wide-spaced appearance of machine-set matter. As the same space-bands are used for all sizes on the machine, a 6-point size is spaced relatively much wider than a 10-point face.

Note. The system of spaces here considered is that of regular foundry type fonts. Linotypes and Monotypes have systems of spacing which differ considerably from this. In Monotype composition a special unit system is used. There are 18units in a quad, which, unlike the em quad of foundry type, in the smaller sizes is not usually an exact square. The space is 6units, approximating the foundry 3-to-em space; the 5-unit space equaling the 4-to-em space; and the 4-unit usually a little less than the 5-to-em space. These are cast from matrices and represent fixed widths. But in the process of composition the expanding or justifying space is used to fill out the line. When the keyboard operator sees that another word or syllable can not go into the line the keys indicating the width of the spaces to fill the line are struck, the result being that all spaces are spread equally to fill the line. The actual spaces cast may be any number of units in width.

On the Linotype there are three fixed spaces: the em quad, the en quad (or figure space), and the thin space, equal to a fourth of the em. The regular space is made by space-bands which can be used to make any size between a 3-to-em and double this thickness. If anything smaller than the thin space is needed, it must be put in by hand.

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