Sort (typesetting)
Character printing block
In physical typesetting, a sort or type is a block with a typographic character cast on it, used, when lined up with others, to print text. In movable-type printing, the sort or type is cast from a matrix mold and assembled by hand with other sorts bearing additional characters into lines of type to make up a form, from which a page is printed.
01Background
From the invention of movable type until the invention of hot metal typesetting, printed text was, for the most part, created by selecting sorts from a type case and assembling them line by line into a form used to print a page. When the form was no longer needed all of the type had to be sorted back into the correct slots in the type case in a very time-consuming process called "distributing". This sorting process led to the individual pieces being called sorts. It is often claimed to be the root of expressions such as "out of sorts" and "wrong sort", although this connection is disputed.
During the hot metal typesetting era, printing equipment used matrices to cast type as needed during the typesetting process. The popular Linotype cast entire lines of text at once rather than individual sorts, while the less popular competitor Monotype still cast the sorts individually. Later, when phototypesetting replaced hot metal typesetting, sorts disappeared entirely from the mainstream printing process.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Sort (typesetting)”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Metal type.svg by Unknown author, Public domain
- Sorts on composing stick.jpg by James Arboghast (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0
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