Re: [TUHS] Reconstructed and newly set UNIX Manual

[Ralph Corderoy <ralph@inputplus.co.uk>]

Hi Milo,

> I'm unaware of any other definitions of a point.

Below is an extract from GNU units 2.17's
/usr/share/units/definitions.units.

#
# Printing
#

fournierpoint           0.1648 inch / 12  # First definition of the printers
                                          # point made by Pierre Fournier who
                                          # defined it in 1737 as 1|12 of a
                                          # cicero which was 0.1648 inches.
olddidotpoint           1|72 frenchinch   # François Ambroise Didot, one of
                                          # a family of printers, changed
                                          # Fournier's definition around 1770
                                          # to fit to the French units then in
                                          # use.
bertholdpoint           1|2660 m          # H. Berthold tried to create a
                                          # metric version of the didot point
                                          # in 1878.
INpoint                 0.4 mm            # This point was created by a
                                          # group directed by Fermin Didot in
                                          # 1881 and is associated with the
                                          # imprimerie nationale.  It doesn't
                                          # seem to have been used much.
germandidotpoint        0.376065 mm       # Exact definition appears in DIN
                                          # 16507, a German standards document
                                          # of 1954.  Adopted more broadly  in
                                          # 1966 by ???
metricpoint             3|8 mm            # Proposed in 1977 by Eurograf
oldpoint                1|72.27 inch      # The American point was invented
printerspoint           oldpoint          # by Nelson Hawks in 1879 and
texpoint                oldpoint          # dominates USA publishing.
                                          # It was standardized by the American
                                          # Typefounders Association at the
                                          # value of 0.013837 inches exactly.
                                          # Knuth uses the approximation given
                                          # here (which is very close).  The
                                          # comp.fonts FAQ claims that this
                                          # value is supposed to be 1|12 of a
                                          # pica where 83 picas is equal to 35
                                          # cm.  But this value differs from
                                          # the standard.
texscaledpoint          1|65536 texpoint  # The TeX typesetting system uses
texsp                   texscaledpoint    # this for all computations.
computerpoint           1|72 inch         # The American point was rounded
point                   computerpoint
computerpica            12 computerpoint  # to an even 1|72 inch by computer
postscriptpoint         computerpoint     # people at some point.
pspoint                 postscriptpoint
twip                    1|20 point        # TWentieth of an Imperial Point
Q                       1|4 mm            # Used in Japanese phototypesetting
                                          # Q is for quarter
frenchprinterspoint     olddidotpoint
didotpoint              germandidotpoint  # This seems to be the dominant value
europeanpoint           didotpoint        # for the point used in Europe
cicero                  12 didotpoint

stick                   2 inches

# Type sizes

excelsior               3 oldpoint
brilliant               3.5 oldpoint
diamondtype             4 oldpoint
pearl                   5 oldpoint
agate                   5.5 oldpoint  # Originally agate type was 14 lines per
                                      #   inch, giving a value of 1|14 in.
ruby                    agate         # British
nonpareil               6 oldpoint
mignonette              6.5 oldpoint
emerald                 mignonette    # British
minion                  7 oldpoint
brevier                 8 oldpoint
bourgeois               9 oldpoint
longprimer              10 oldpoint
smallpica               11 oldpoint
pica                    12 oldpoint
english                 14 oldpoint
columbian               16 oldpoint
greatprimer             18 oldpoint
paragon                 20 oldpoint
meridian                44 oldpoint
canon                   48 oldpoint

# German type sizes

nonplusultra            2 didotpoint
brillant                3 didotpoint
diamant                 4 didotpoint
perl                    5 didotpoint
nonpareille             6 didotpoint
kolonel                 7 didotpoint
petit                   8 didotpoint
borgis                  9 didotpoint
korpus                  10 didotpoint
corpus                  korpus
garamond                korpus
mittel                  14 didotpoint
tertia                  16 didotpoint
text                    18 didotpoint
kleine_kanon            32 didotpoint
kanon                   36 didotpoint
grobe_kanon             42 didotpoint
missal                  48 didotpoint
kleine_sabon            72 didotpoint
grobe_sabon             84 didotpoint

-- 
Cheers, Ralph.
https://plus.google.com/+RalphCorderoy