A paragraph of italic type is more difficult to space evenly than the same lines in roman letters. Usually the average spacing may be about the same as the companion face of roman; but more frequently than in roman types the spaces in a line may need to be of unequal thickness in order to give a uniform appearance to the spacing. Overhanging letters are frequent and when these come at the beginning or end of words they require a little more space than is used for words ending or beginning with small letters. Word pairs with letters like ——fp—— and ——lh—— will in most cases need wider spaces than are used between pairs like ——ew—— and ——sA——.

Some italic capitals have extra shoulder-space on the left of the face, like T, W, V, which should be allowed for by thin spacing when they follow small lower-case letters. This extra shoulder is made on letters of this kind to protect the overhanging kern of an adjoining letter when words are set in capitals.

Where an italic f, j, or other kerned letter comes at the beginning or end of a line a thin space should be placed outside of it to keep it from projecting beyond the side of the page, where it is easily broken off. This is important if the matter is to be moulded for electrotyping.

On account of the frequency of overhanging letters italic types require very careful handling during composition, correcting, and locking up. If the kerns over-ride an adjoining type or are subjected to a slight blow of any kind they are easily broken off.