PRINTING AND BOOKMAKING.
 

FAD
 

F
 

^ THE sixth letter of the alphabet, is the only
v^^.^^ kerned letter in Roman. The top hangs
over and is very liable to break off. Some
of the type-founders are in the habit of pro¬
viding an undue quantity when the font is
sold, to avoid the necessity of casting imperfections for
it ever afterwards. To prevent the beak from being
broken off this letter is cast in a ligature with most of
the other tall letters which possibly may crowd against
it, as ff, fi, fi, ffi and ffi. In cases where a tall letter other
than f, i or 1 strikes against it a hair space is used to set
it off. This is also done at the end of lines in stereotyp¬
ing which close with f, so that the electrotype or stereo¬
type finisher may not cut off the projecting part when
he shaves the edge. An Italic/is both ascending and
descending, and is kerned at each end. Several attempts
have been made to put the beak of the f upon its own
body, by cramping the projection, but the proposal has
met with but little favor. Lord Stanhope advocated it
ninety years ago, and fifty years later one of the Cincin¬
nati foundries made an unsuccessful attempt to induce
printers to accept the altered shape. This letter is, usu¬
ally speaking, about the thickness of the third of an
em. The capital bears little resemblance to the small
letter. The Romans for a time used F inverted, thus,
A, for V consonant, as TERMINAvilT for TERMINA-
yiT. In Italian and Spanish f is used for ph, as in
filosofia and Filadelfia. This was sometimes done by the
Romans. F was branded by them upon the forehead of
fugitive slaves, signifying fuga. F as a number signi¬
fied among the Romans 40 ; with a dash over it 40,000.
F on engravings or pictures stands for fecit (made). In
jurisprudence ff signifies the Pandects. This abbrevia¬
tion originated in the early period of the art of printing,
when no Greek characters had yet been cast, and ff was
used for it, the first letter of the Greek word. On medals
and monuments F stands for Fabiiis, Furius, Filius,
Felix, Faustus, &c. With merchants it signifies folio,
page ; on documents, fiat, let it be done. Fl. is the
abbreviation for florin ; f. or fr. for franc ; ff., in Ger¬
man, for folgende, following. In music it is forte, loud ;
ff,, very loud ; standing by itself as a capital it indicates
the fourth note in the scale of C.

Fac.—Before the introduction of printing into Eu¬
rope and its application to the production of books there
were artists whose business it was to paint and ornament
manuscripts, who were called illuminators ; the writers
of books first finished their part, and the illuminators,
blanks having been left, filled them with ornamental
letters and paintings. Blanks are frequently found in
manuscripts which never have been filled up. When the
art of printing was first applied in Europe to the pro¬
duction of books they were in imitation of manuscripts,
but the difference could readily be recognized. Blanks
were left at the beginning of the respective divisions of
the work for the illuminator to fill in with the proper
letters and ornaments, as was usual in manuscripts, and
so close was the imitation that, even in our own time, it
has required the assistance of a chemical test to ascer¬
tain which was manuscript and which was print. After¬
wards ornamental letters of a large size were introduced
and printed with two colors, generally red and blue, the
letter being of one color, and flourishes extending the
 

whole length of the page; in the other, so as to have
the appearance of being done with a pen. Then suc¬
ceeded various grotesque figures in attitudes to resemble
letters ; afterwards small Roman capital letters, with or¬
naments around them forming a square design. Subse¬
quently the block was pierced so that any letter could
be introduced and the ornamented part be used for any
initial. The next descent was for the letter-founders to
cast the ornament in type metal and pierce it for general
use. These cast ornaments for letters were called facs,
as an abbreviation. Savage believes, for fac-similes. TThe
last descent was to the extreme, putting a plain Roman
capital letter, frequently extending four or five lines in
depth, where the ornaments had previously been.

Fac-Simile.—An exact reproduction ; a copy which
cannot easily be distinguished from the original; usu¬
ally applied to works of art, engravings, printed pages
or books which closely resemble older pages or books.
Fac-similes of ancient printed work are very unfaithfully
represented by engravings after them on wood or cop¬
per. In the latter case the methods are entirely unlike;
in the former the weight of the hand of the engraver or
some trifling inattention will make a marked difference.
The most faithful reproductions are those by process
work ; yet from the wrinkles and dirty spots on the pa¬
per, the blackness of the original, and the limitations of
the art, while the form is preserved too frequently the
spirit is lost. Lithography is frequently used to execute
fac-similes. As an example of this on a large scale may
be pointed out the Paleographic Examples from the an¬
cient manuscripts contained in the library of the Vatican
at Rome, at once faithful and beautiful.

Face.—That part of a type which prints, as distin¬
guished from the shank and the shoulder, which support
it. It is also employed in expressing one variety of type
as distinguished from another. Thus we say plain face
and copper face, heavy face and light face. The type
that is used in a given book should always be of the same
series, although perhaps of different sizes. The faces
must harmonize.

Face of the Page.—The upper side of the page,
from which the impression is taken.

Faced Rule.—Brass rule with the ordinary thin face
somewhat thickened.    An English expression.

Facetiae.—Humorous writings or sayings, but now
by a perversion applied to books which gratify an erotic
taste. Large collections of this kind have been made,
and such books are a specialty with some booksellers,
always being distinguished on their catalogues under
this head.

Fach (Ger.).—A box of the case.

Facistol (Sp.).—Standing galley.

Factor.—The business manager or the foreman in a
printing-office in Germany. It is never used in this
sense in typography in England or America, although
the word is employed in the mother country to represent
an agent with power almost equal to his principal.

Fading Colors.—Many inks, particularly the ani¬
line inks, lose their colors when exposed for some time to
the sun or even to daylight. Purples are peculiarly liable
to this defect, and more or less all of the bright colors.

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