Check Letters II

In several plates, a "P" was mis-entered in the "R" row. Rather than erase the whole row, and re-punch, the tails of the "R" were cut by hand by the workman responsible for finishing the plate. Each of these "R"s is thus unique and identified to its plate.

Plate 30	Plate 32	Plate 33

The normal paractice in entering the check letter was to punch all the lower left squares first (by rows) then resume with the lower right squares (by columns). If interrupted, a diferent set of letter punches might be selected for the continuation of the work. In extreme cases a letter might be left out, and later added by punch or by hand. Normally the differences in the punches are minute, but sometimes they produce a striking contrast, as here in Plate 22. Note the recut serif to the left "H".

A "J" punch having a manufacturing defect or blemish keeps appearing now and then from Plate 10 until Plate 75! Depending upon the angle of the strike, the flaw is found from just barely visible to a strength suggesting a doubled letter. It is likened to a small comma positioned at the right of the stem of the "J".

Plate 22

Sometimes through manufacturing flaws of the punches, othertimes through recutting, the serifs of the check letters become enlarged or distorted, creating the 'Extended Serif' variety. In the second section above, the left "H" is an example of a severely recut serif. Wear of the punch may also cause breakage of the fine serifs, giving rise to the 'Defective Serif' variety.

Plate 98	Plate 30	Plate 26
"D" Extended Serifs	"T" Defective Serif	"J" Defective Serifs