Editing Point (typography) (section)

=== French points ===
{{hatnote|See also: [[Units of measurement in France]] for the units used in this section, particularly [[Units of measurement in France before the French Revolution|those used before the French Revolution]].}}

{{anchor|Truchet|Truchet point}}
The '''Truchet point''', the first modern typographic point, was {{frac|1|144}} of a [[French inch]] or {{frac|1|1728}} of the [[pied du Roi|royal foot]]. It was invented by the [[Ancient Regime|French]] [[Catholic Church in France|clergyman]] [[Sébastien Truchet]]. 
During the [[history of the metric system|metrication of France]] amid its [[French Revolution|revolution]], a 1799 law declared the [[meter]] to be exactly 443.296&nbsp;[[French line]]s long. This established a length to the [[pied du Roi|royal foot]] of {{frac|{{val|9000}}|{{val|27706}}}}&nbsp;m or about 325&nbsp;mm. 
The Truchet point therefore became equal to {{frac|{{val|15625}}|{{val|83118}}}}&nbsp;mm or about {{val|0.187986|u=mm}}. 
It has also been cited as exactly 0.188&nbsp;mm.

{{anchor|Fournier|Fournier point}}
The '''Fournier point''' was established by [[Pierre Simon Fournier]] in 1737.<ref name="Fournier1764">{{cite book|last=Fournier|first=Pierre Simon|title=Manuel typographique|url=https://archive.org/details/manueltypograph01gandgoog|year=1764|pages=[https://archive.org/details/manueltypograph01gandgoog/page/n169 125]–138}}</ref><ref name="De Vinne-French">{{cite book|last=De Vinne|first=Theodore Low|title=The practice of typography|volume=1|place=New York|publisher=Century Co.|year=1900|pages=133–145|url=https://archive.org/stream/practiceoftypogr00devirich#page/133/mode/1up}}</ref><ref name="LegrosGrant1916" />{{rp|60–66}} The system of Fournier was based on a different French foot<!-- we do not know for sure what foot he used --> of c. 298&nbsp;mm. With the usual convention that 1 foot equals 12 inches, 1 inch (''pouce'') was divided into 12 lines (''lignes'') and 1 line was further divided into 6 typographic points (''points typographiques''). One Fournier point is about 0.0135 English inches.

[[File:FournierScale144pts.jpg|thumb|The Fournier scale: two inches in total, divided into four half-inches, the medium intervals are one line ({{frac|12}} inch), and the smallest intervals are {{frac|36}} inch; no intervals for the point is given, though]]

Fournier printed a reference scale of 144 points over two inches; however, it was too rough to accurately measure a single point.<ref name="De Vinne-French" />

The Fournier point did not achieve lasting popularity despite being revived by the [[Monotype Corporation]] in 1927.{{Citation needed|date=February 2018}} It was still a standard in [[Belgium]], in parts of Austria, and in Northern France at the beginning of the 20th century.<ref name="LegrosGrant1916" />{{rp|66}} In Belgium, the Fournier system was used until the 1970s and later. It was called the "mediaan"-system. 

{{anchor|Didot|Didot point}}
The '''Didot point''', established by [[Didot family#François-Ambroise Didot|François-Ambroise Didot]] in 1783,<ref name="BainesHaslam2005">{{cite book|last1=Baines|first1=Phil|last2=Haslam|first2=Andrew|title=Type & Typography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rs6gyb2hPF4C&pg=PA93|year=2005|publisher=Laurence King Publishing|isbn=978-1-85669-437-7|page=93}}</ref> was an attempt to improve the Fournier system. He did not change the subdivisions (1 inch = 12 subdivisions = 72 points), but defined it strictly in terms of the [[pied du Roi|royal foot]], a legal length measure in France: the Didot point is exactly {{frac|1|864}} of a French foot or {{frac|1|72}} of a French inch, that is (by 1799) {{frac|{{val|15625}}|{{val|41559}}}}&nbsp;mm or about {{val|0.375972|u=mm}}. Accordingly, one Didot point is exactly two Truchet points.

However, 12 Fournier points turned out to be 11 Didot points,<ref name="De Vinne-French" />{{rp|142–145}} giving a Fournier point of about {{val|0.345|u=mm}}; later sources<ref name="LegrosGrant1916" />{{rp|60–61}} state it as being {{val|0.34875|u=mm}}. To avoid confusion between the new and the old sizes, Didot also rejected the traditional names, thus ''parisienne'' became ''corps'' 5, ''nonpareille'' became ''corps'' 6, and so on.<ref name="De Vinne-French" />{{rp|143}} The Didot system prevailed because the French government demanded printing in Didot measurements.<ref>L. Ronner, ''Van leerling tot Zetter'', 1913, N.V.De nieuwe Tijd, Amsterdam, pag 30.</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=Needed an English source or, better, a French legal source of the time where this is clearly demanded|date=March 2018}}

Approximations were subsequently employed, largely owing to the Didot point's unwieldy conversion to metric units (the [[divisor]] of its conversion ratio has the [[prime factorization]] of {{gaps|3|×|7|×|1979}}).

In 1878,<!--1879--> [[Hermann Berthold]] defined 798 points as being equal to 30&nbsp;cm, or 2660 points equalling 1 meter: that gives around {{val|0.376|u=mm}} to the point.<ref name="Smalian1899">{{cite journal|last=Smalian|first=Hermann|title=Type Systems of To-day|journal=The British Printer|volume=XII|issue=68|year=1899|pages=130–131|quote=They commissioned for this purpose the well-known Berlin brass rule manufacturer, H. Berthold, who supplies brass rules not only to most of the German foundries but also to many foreign houses, and he, in conjunction with Prof. W. Fürster, the chief director of the Berlin Observatory, agreed that 2660 typographical points of the Didot system should correspond to one metre. Accordingly the Standard Gauge Commission in Berlin in 1879 arranged a standard measure of 30 centimetres = 133 nonpareil or 798 typographical points, and gave a copy to all the German foundries, and since that time disputes about the Didot depth were unknown in Germany.}}</ref><ref name="Brekle1994">{{cite book|last=Brekle|first=Herbert E.|title=Schrift und Schriftlichkeit / Writing and its Use|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wxc7FAIBwGMC&pg=PA211|year=1994|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-020323-3|page=210ff|chapter=Typographie}}</ref><ref name="Funke1998">{{cite book|last=Funke|first=Fritz|title=Buchkunde|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qeLoBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA194|year=1998|publisher=De Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-094929-2|page=194}}</ref><ref name="Blana1999">{{cite book|last=Blana|first=Hubert|title=Die Herstellung: Ein Handbuch für die Gestaltung, Technik und Kalkulation von Buch, Zeitschrift und Zeitung|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OWsgAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA101|year=1999|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-096787-6|page=101}}</ref> A more precise number, {{val|0.376065|u=mm}}, sometimes is given;<ref name="Brekle1994" /><!-- 1000.333/2660, but how did they get this? --> this is used by TeX as the {{code|dd}} unit. This has become the standard in Germany<ref name="DIN 16507-1" /> and Central and Eastern Europe.<ref name="GOST 3489.1-71">{{cite book|title=[[GOST]] 3489.1-71. Printing types (Russian and Roman graphic bases). Group arrangement. Indexing. Base line. Characters per 4 picas|script-title=ru:ГОСТ 3489.1-71. Шрифты типографские (на русской и латинской графических основах). Группировка. Индексация. Линия шрифта. Емкость|chapter=§1.3|quote=Кегль измеряется в типографских пунктах. Типографский пункт равен 0,376 мм.|language=ru}}</ref> This size is still mentioned in the technical regulations of the [[Eurasian Economic Union]].<ref>{{in lang|ru}} Статья 8. Пункт 11. // [http://www.eurasiancommission.org/ru/act/texnreg/deptexreg/tr/Documents/P_797_1.pdf ТР ТС 007/2011. Требования безопасности издательской (книжной и журнальной) продукции, школьно-письменных принадлежностей.]</ref>