Note 197 — Chapter IV · LETTER-FOUNDING AS AN ENGLISH MECHANICAL TRADE. 1477–1830.

The origin of type-nicks is doubtful. Some have considered them to have resulted from a modification of the old alleged system of perforation, and to have been intended as a receptacle for the wire or string used to bind the lines together. The types of the first printers were certainly without them, and as late as 1540 French moulds had none. A nick forms part of Moxon’s moulds in 1683. In French founding the nick is at the back of the type, while in England it is always on the front. In Fournier’s day the Lyonnaise types were an exception to the general French rule, and had the nick on the front, as also did the types of Germany, Holland and Flanders. Some of the old founts procured abroad by English founders were struck in the copper inverted, so that when cast in English moulds they have always had the nick at the back.