Saxon

Saxon was a historical type size used in metal typesetting, positioned in the hierarchy between German (18-point) and Norse (20-point) types. It measured approximately 19 points, making it a rare intermediate step in foundry catalogs. The term appears in nineteenth-century type specimen books from British and continental printers, though it was never as widespread or standardized as the named sizes that bracketed it.

The naming convention for these type sizes reflected both regional printing traditions and foundry naming practices. German and Norse designations suggest origins in central European type founding, where regional preferences influenced size nomenclature. Saxon, presumably linked to the German region of Saxony, occupied a practical middle ground for compositors who needed a size between common standards. However, printers more often simply specified point sizes directly or used the more familiar intermediate size designations rather than Saxon.

Why Saxon faded from use

By the early twentieth century, Saxon had effectively vanished from type specimens and compositor manuals. The standardization of point measurement systems (particularly the Didot and later American point systems) made named sizes redundant. Foundries increasingly organized their offerings by clear point increments rather than regional or historical names. A compositor needing 19-point type would simply request 19-point, not hunt for Saxon in a specimen book.

The term survives today only in historical typographic references and in the study of Victorian and Edwardian printing practices. Finding Saxon mentioned in a type catalog is now a reliable indicator of an eighteenth or nineteenth-century document. For modern printers or designers, the name carries no practical meaning; it belongs to the jargon of metal type founding, a trade practice frozen in time.