Today, your word processing program ran out of the lowercase letter "t" as you were attempting to complete the final paragraph of an essay. What do you do?
a. Cry.
b. Stare blankly at the screen in disbelief.
c. Bang at the "t" key repeatedly.
d. Switch fonts.
I managed to avoid options a and c when Goudy Old Style, 12 pt, left me seven "t"s short in the final stanza of my poem. Option a was particularly difficult to avoid.
What I did do:
- ransacked the basement for another case of my font
- feverishly compared the letter "t" from Goudy Old Style to "t"s from Caslon Old Style, Goudy Handtooled, and a number of other fonts, hoping that they'd be close enough to match
- finished setting the poem with seven Caslon Old Style "t"s
Marian, Olivia, and Lindsay, my trusty Advanced Workshop comrades, swore up and down that they could barely notice a difference. I had to make note of which "t"s were from which case, because I myself could hardly see the difference. But Mike's keen eye nabbed the differences right away, differences that only leaped under my eye once I proofed the poem on paper. The Caslon "t" is slightly smaller, slightly higher on the sort, and the sweep of the curve at the bottom bears minute differences to that of the Goudy "t".
The solution? I'll print everything but the final stanza, and then take "t"s from the rest of the poem to fix that stanza. Then I'll send the broadsides through the press again to add the last stanza. Twice the printing? Twice the fun!
Remember when publishing was complicated?
He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book. ~Benjamin Franklin
4 comments:
i keep wanting to write something witty, but i can only think WOW. with every single post you show me more and more how much work goes into printing something with a press. i am constantly amazed. and i am equally amazed at your dedication. i think your solution is a brilliant idea. i would hate to lose my t key.
I would have immediately and passionately gone with option a. I am impressed by your calmness.
e) Allocate additional heap space.
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