Here are some images and a letterpress specimen sheet from the article "Casting Five-Line Pica from Sanspareil Matrices" by Stan Nelson, Jim Walczak, and Ellen McKee of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, published in Matrix 23 (Winter 2003), pp. 121-129, and printed at John and Rosalind Randle’s Whittington Press in Risbury, Herefordshire, England in an edition of 800 copies.
Five-line pica is equivalent to 60-point type, which is quite sizable. The larger the type, the more difficult it is to make matrices for it by striking them in copper with steel punches. One way to make large fonts is to cast them in sand, which is labor intensive because the sand mold is broken with every casting. In the early 19th century, a new method was devised by casting large fonts in sanspariel matrices, where the shape of the letter is cut as a stencil in a plate of copper or brass and another plate is attached to the back of the stenciled plate with rivets. This creates the matrix that can be fitted into a mould. Shown above are:
A letterpress-printed specimen sheet of type cast by the authors.
A photograph of the sanspariel matrices used for casting.
A picture of the mould within which the matrix is held.
A matrix for the numbers 9 and 6.
Stan Nelson's "jet-breaking" device, used to crack off the flange produced in the casting process before dressing the type.
The type as cast, one with the "jet" still attached.
A 1829 specimen page from the New England Type Foundry.
The National Museum of American History holds three sets of sanspariel matrices in a slab-serif typeface known as Antique (also called Egyptian). Stan Nelson, typecaster, typographer, and long-time Museum Specialist in the Graphic Arts Collection at the Smithsonian, wrote the introduction to the experience of casting type from sanspariel matrices. Jim Walczak, proprietor of Sycamore Press & Typefoundry in Williamstown, Massachusetts discusses the casting process. Ellen McKee, letterpress printer and long-time volunteer at the Smithsonian, describes the type-dressing process.
Our copies of Matrix are another donation from our late friend Jerry Buff (1931-2025).
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