Handbills

A branch of job work. They are small bills intended for circulation by hand, as distinguished from placards, which are intended for displayal on walls. Any variety of type is permissible in a handbill, except the most ornate and complicated letters, which are not easily read, and are therefore unsuitable for this class of work.

There is this difference between a handbill and a circular: in the latter the Bizes of the types in the different lines should be duly proportioned to each other, according to the importance of the words, and the whole should possess a certain harmony of appearance, both in regard to the character of the founts employed and the thickness of the strokes of the letters. But in a handbill a few lines may be “thrown up” out of all proportion to the rest, and their comparative importance may thus be advantageously exaggerated. The object of this is, that on a casual glance the reader may be at once struck with the novelty, usefulness, necessity, or advantage of the thing or occasion thus advertised.

Handbills are now required in such large numbers, at so short notice, and at so low a cost, that it is seldom remunerative to print them at a hand-press. When very long numbers of such jobs are ordered, one forme is set-up, stereotypes taken, and a large sheetful worked at a machine.