The OED Compact Edition was printed from exactly the same typeset
output as the OED Second Edition, photographically reduced. For the Second
Edition, the typesetting system composed complete three-column pages at full
size, complete with headlines, which were output on a Monotype Lasercomp, with
a resolution of 1000 lines per inch. These bromide pages were sent to the USA
for printing. For the Compact Edition, the bromide pages were returned to the
UK and pasted up on to boards with nine pages to view per board. The first and
last headline words for the whole board were then typeset and pasted on to the
boards above the pages to act as the headlines for the Compact Edition. The
artwork boards were sent back to the USA, where they were photographically
reduced to 37% linear on to film. This film was used to make the printing
plates of the Compact Edition. The this use of first-generation Lasercomp
output, with only one intermediate film reduction stage, helps explain the sharpness
of the type in the Compact Edition.
The proportions of Monotype Imprint (left) and Imprint A, used in the OED
The main type use for the Second Edition was Monotype
Imprint A, a variant of the Imprint typeface optimized for setting at 6 and 7
point. Two sizes were used: the main part of each entry was set in a nominal
size of 7.5 pt with line spacing of 7.75 pt (in shorthand, 7.5 on 7.75 pt), the
quotation banks were set in 6 on 6 pt. The 37 per cent linear reduction means that the ‘point
sizes’ of the type in the Compact Edition are therefore 2.775 on 2.8675 pt and
2.22 on 2.22pt. But these figures are difficult to comprehend, because
typefaces with the same nominal point size can have different appearing sizes,
depending on the weight and proportions of the letterforms. It may be easier to
express the sizes in relation to normal reading text. A normal Oxford academic
book of the same period might be set in 11 on 12 pt Imprint (the normal version
of Imprint). This has a cap-height of 2.586 mm and an x-height of 1.6 mm. (Cap-height
is the height of the letter H, x-height the height of the letter x.) The cap-height
and x-height of the larger type in the Second Edition are 1.875 mm and 1.155 mm.
The figures for the Compact Edition are 0.693 mm and 0.428 mm, so the larger
type is about a quarter of the size we normally expect to read.
It should be remembered that the Compact Edition was
supplied with a magnifying glass, and was not intended to be read unaided. The legibility
of the Compact Edition is helped by the very short column width. I find that I
can read both the larger and the smaller type in the Comact Edition unaided,
but that it is tiring. I find it easier to read the shorter paragraphs in the
larger type, but I find it difficult to read the smaller type without skipping
or re-reading lines. So, for me, the practical limit for reading in terms of
x-height is about 0.4 mm. Other readers may find they have different thresholds.
