Editing Matrix (printing) (section)

{{Short description|Mould used to cast letter blocks (sorts) used in printing}}
{{distinguish|Dot matrix printing}}
[[Image:Jannon Romain de l'Université matrices.jpg|thumb|Matrices created by [[Jean Jannon]] around 1640. The [[Garamond]] typeface installed with most [[Microsoft]] software is based on these designs.<ref name="Jannon FMOC">{{cite web|title=Jannon|url=http://www.garamond.culture.fr/en/page/jannon_the_roman_of_the_imprimerie_royale|publisher=French Ministry of Culture}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Monotype Garamond|url=http://www.fonts.com/font/monotype/monotype-garamond|website=Fonts.com|publisher=Monotype|access-date=4 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Garamond|url=https://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/family.aspx?FID=28|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=4 July 2015}}</ref>]]
In the manufacture of [[metal type]] used in [[letterpress printing]], a '''matrix''' (from the Latin meaning ''womb'' or ''a female breeding animal'') is the mould used to cast a letter, known as a [[sort (typesetting)|sort]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Man |first=John |title=The Gutenberg Revolution: the story of a genius that changed the world |year=2002 |publisher=Headline |location=London |isbn=0-7472-4504-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gutenbergrevolut0000manj }} {{page needed|date=July 2019}}</ref> Matrices for printing types were made of [[copper]].<ref name="Vinne1899">{{cite book|author=Theodore Low De Vinne|title=The Practice of Typography: A Treatise on the Processes of Type-making, the Point System, the Names, Sizes, Styles, and Prices of Plain Printing Types|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=18gDAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA101|year=1899|publisher=Century Company|pages=9–36}}</ref>

However, in [[printmaking]] the matrix is whatever is used, with ink, to hold the image that makes up the print, whether a plate in [[etching]] and [[engraving]] or a woodblock in [[woodcut]].