type-body

“Roughly speaking, a point is one-seventy-second of an inch, so that in three-point type, for example, the thickness of the type-body, from the top to the bottom of the letter on its face, is one-twenty-fourth of an inch.”

A Librarian's Open Shelf

“The various attempts to standardize type-sizes and to adopt a suitable notation for them have been limited hitherto to the sizes of the type-body and bear only indirectly on the size of the actual letter.”

A Librarian's Open Shelf

“But on this type-body the face may be large or small -- although of course, it cannot be larger than the body, -- and the size of the letters called by precisely the same name in the point notation may vary within pretty wide limits.”

A Librarian's Open Shelf

“Capitals occupy more of the type-body than lower-case letters and consequently words or lines set entirely with capitals need wider spacing and leading than the lower-case to make composition readable.”

Capitals A Primer of Information about Capitalization with some Practical Typographic Hints as to the Use of Capitals

“Some printers go so far as to miter or shave the type-body of initials to make them, when printed, seem to cling more closely to the following text.”

The Booklover and His Books