# Sort (typesetting)

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sort_(typesetting)
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sort_(typesetting).md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sort_(typesetting)
> Source revision: 1347709487
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Character printing block

Diagram of a cast metal sort. a: face. b: body or shank. c: point size. 1: shoulder. 2: nick. 3: groove. 4: foot.

Metal type sorts arranged on a [composing stick](/source/Composing_stick)

For broader coverage of this topic, see [Letterpress printing](/source/Letterpress_printing).

In physical [typesetting](/source/Typesetting), a **sort** or **type** is a block with a [typographic](/source/Typographic) [character](/source/Character_(symbol)) etched on it, used—when lined up with others—to [print](/source/Printing) [text](/source/Written_language).[1] In [movable-type printing](/source/Movable-type_printing), the sort or type is [cast](/source/Casting) from a [matrix mold](/source/Matrix_(printing)) and assembled by hand with other sorts bearing additional characters into lines of type to make up a *form*, from which a page is printed.

## Background

From the invention of [movable type](/source/Movable_type) until the invention of [hot metal typesetting](/source/Hot_metal_typesetting), printed text was, for the most part, created by selecting sorts from a [type case](/source/Type_case) and assembling them line by line into a form used to print a page. When the form was no longer needed all of the type had to be sorted back into the correct slots in the type case in a very time-consuming process called "distributing". This sorting process led to the individual pieces being called sorts. It is often claimed to be the root of expressions such as "out of sorts" and "wrong sort", although this connection is disputed.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

During the hot metal typesetting era, printing equipment used matrices to cast type as needed during the typesetting process. The popular [Linotype](/source/Linotype_machine) cast entire lines of text at once rather than individual sorts, while the less popular competitor [Monotype](/source/Monotype_System) still cast the sorts individually. Later, when [phototypesetting](/source/Phototypesetting) replaced hot metal typesetting, sorts disappeared entirely from the mainstream printing process.

## See also

- [History of western typography](/source/History_of_western_typography)

- [Letterform](/source/Letterform)

- [Matrix (printing)](/source/Matrix_(printing))

- [Typeface](/source/Typeface)

- [Typography](/source/Typography)

- [Typeface anatomy](/source/Typeface_anatomy)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Stewart, A.A. (1919). [*TYPESETTING: a primer of information about working at the case, justifying, spacing, correcting, making-up, and other operations employed in setting type by hand*](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46113/46113-h/46113-h.htm). Typographic technical series for apprentices—Part II. No. 16. United Typothetae of America. p. 92 – via [Project Gutenberg](/source/Project_Gutenberg).

## Further reading

- Nesbitt, Alexander (1957) [1950]. [*The History and Technique of Lettering*](https://archive.org/details/historytechnique0000alex). [Dover Publications](/source/Dover_Publications) – via archive.org. ([ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-486-20427-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-486-20427-8)) This Dover edition is an abridged and corrected republication of the work originally published in 1950 by Prentice-Hall, Inc. under the title *Lettering: The History and Technique of Lettering as Design*.

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Printing letters](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Printing_letters).

- [Metal Type - For Those who Remember Hot Metal Typesetting](https://metaltype.co.uk/wpress/)

v t e Letterpress printing History of printing Printer Ways to make impressions Movable type Type casting Type metal Punchcutter Matrix Wood type Blocks and plates Stereotype Flong Logographic printing Wood engraving Electrotype Zinc etching Typesetting Manual typesetting Type case Composing stick Sort Slug Strut Reglet Furniture Leading Quoin Chase Forme Hellbox Hot metal typesetting Linotype machine Monotype system Ludlow Typograph Intertype Machine Paige Compositor Printing press Parts of a press Platen Frisket Tympan Bed Inking Offset ink Ink ball Composition roller Types of presses Hand press Stanhope Columbian Albion Jobbing press Golding & Company Chandler & Price Colt's Armory Cylinder press Rotary press Other equipment Folding machine Paper cutter Addressograph Related arts Typography Bookbinding Printmaking Papermaking

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sort (typesetting)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sort_(typesetting)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sort_(typesetting)?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.