Punchcutting and counterpunching

To print a letter you need to make a piece of lead type, to make a piece of lead type you need a matrix, to make a matrix you need a letter-punch and to make a letter-punch you need a Punchcutter.



A Punchcutter cuts the punches that punch the letters into soft metal to act as a mold to cast a piece of lead type. The Punchcutter therefore is a Very Skilled Person, using files and saws he creates the letter punch from a bar of hard metal using the drawings of the typeface designer. In the olden days, the designer was wont to cut his own punches - Francesco Griffo did.



To cut the fine detail in the letters, and the insides of an e or a p for instance, the Punchcutter has a counterpunch which punches shapes out of the punch. [Who makes the counterpunch we have yet to ascertain, but - we think it might be a guy called Eddie.]


some letter punches

As a result those little bits in the middle of the letters a b d e o p q and A B D O P Q and R are called counters.

Thanks to Paul Shaw for the photographs of Christian Paput, a contemporary Punchcutter, and his Cabinet des Poinçons in Paris.

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