The Language Of Printers

Tickets available for The Gentle Author’s Tour Of Spitalfields this Saturday and for The Gentle Author’s Tour Of The City Of London on Bank Holiday Monday. Click here to book for all The Gentle Author’s tours. Charles Pertwee of Baddeley Brothers, the longest established specialist printers and envelope makers in the City of London & the East End, lent me his copy of John Southward’s ‘Dictionary of Typography’ from 1875, which lists all the relevant terminology. Today, I have selected some of my favourite entries – as much for their arcane poetry as for the education of my readers. . . ABRIDGEMENT – An epitome of a book, made by omitting the less important matter. ADVERSARIA – Commonplace books: a miscellaneous collection of notes remarks and extracts. APPRENTICE – An apprentice is a person described in law books as a species of servant, and so called from the French verb apprendre – to learn – because he is bound by indenture to serve a master for a certain term, receiving in return…