so you've got a fount of Monotype 587 Georgian in 12D and an empty job case, but don't know where to put all the letters. well, neither do i, though i'm willing to give it a try and bear the brunt of rearranging the case if i find it to be unintuitive.
historical options
at present, i have no sources or layouts for actual typesetters living in Georgia or having a native-level command of Georgian, so it's likely that the cases below are not what one would find in a printshop in Tbilisi in 1915. the following two layouts are from the Imprimerie Nationale's 1885 book of case layouts, Modèles de casses des caractères de l'Imprimerie nationale.
handsetting techniques, 1968
these two layouts are from მ. ვეფხვაძე's (M. Vepkhvadze) 1968 primer on typesetting, ხელით ასოთწეობის ტექნოლოგია. it describes three layouts, which are detailed below. there is some uniqueness in the terminology used in Georgian vis-a-vis spacing material. you can find a translation with notes on this subject in the appendix below.
old georgian case, pre-1935
this was based on the historical Russian case, with most of the larger compartments sharing the same phonetic value (მ/м, etc.). the case itself was adopted wholecloth, which left a lot of leftover space due to the lack of capitals in a Georgian font.
imprimerie nationale, 1885
the following two layouts are from the Imprimerie Nationale's 1885 book of case layouts, Modèles de casses des caractères de l'Imprimerie nationale. as you can see comparing with the above, it is unlikely these were ever used by native Georgian printers.
propaganda fide
16pt
this layout follows alphabetically from ა in the bottom right, upwards, including ligatures and alternative forms.
delafond
you'll note two instances where the character is marked with er.. these appear to be simply duplicates, thus er indicated "erreur", but i'm not sure if that is an error in the printing or an error in filling out the case.
9pt
follows alphabetically, starting with ა in the bottom right of the left partition, continuing upwards, extending into the right partition.
12-14pt
a 16pt cut by Delafond also exists, however, is not shown. this case layout follows letter sounds, but not frequency. depending on how the text was given to the compositors, this may have been the most expedient method as it reduces the number of new hand movements they would need to make.
my design
i tried to approach this with two things in mind:
- frequency is worth trying to adhere to. this was derived from the (admittedly somewhat handwavy) proportions of sorts for the initial fount i got.
- some logical nature to where it has to break alphabetic ordering. i decided that given the number of ejective pairs in Georgian (ქ/კ, ფ/პ, etc.), those were worth keeping. you can see this on the right side: ejective consonant is on the bottom, non-ejective on top.
other things worth mentioning: like the two historical faces, this includes some historical characters, which i've placed in the smallest boxes for now. these may move to the uppercase side of the case if it turns out to be more expedient to have more modern letters available. the უ^ is an artifact of Monodraw, it is for უ̂.
appendix
maybe you want to make your own case layout? here is a Monodraw file and a text-only file that has a blank California job case that you can play with.
a small note on spacing terminology
from ხელით ასოთწეობის ტექნოლოგია, pg53-54. i've placed the georgian terminology in quotes since it does not corespond one to one with english usage.
პირველ ჯგუფს მიეკუთვნება შპაცები, გამყოფები და კვადრატები (ნახ. 33). შპაცი ძელაკის1 ფორმის ყველაზე წვრილი სახარვეზო მასალაა, იხმარება ასოებისა და სიტყვების ხარვეზებიათვის. შპაცებს ამზადებენ 6, 8, 10, 12, 16 და 20 კეგელით, რომელთა სიგანეა 1, 1 1/2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 და 16 პუნქტი.2 გამყოფი ეწოდება ისეთ ძელაკს, რომლის ორი მხარე უდრის მოცემული შრიფტის კეგელს, ორი დანარჩენი მხარე — შრიფტის კეგელის ნახევარს, ორმაგი გამყოფის დამახასიათებელია ის, რომ მისი ოთხივე მხარე უთანასწორდება მოცემული შრიფტის კეგელს.
The first group consists of შპაცები (shpatsebi – "spaces"), გამყოფები (gamqopebi – "gaps") and კვადრატები (k'vadrat'ebi – "quads") (see 33). "Spaces" have the narrowest form of the spacing material and are used for separating letters and words. One uses "spaces" with 6, 8, 10, 12, 16 and 20pt faces, in widths of 1, 1 1/2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 16 points.3 "Gaps" are those pieces which two sides are equal to the point size and the two remaining sides – half the typeface's point size. The characteristic of the ორმაგი გამყოფი (ormagi gamqopebi – "double gap") is that its four sides are equal to the point size of the given typeface.
კვადრატი უფრო დიდი ზომის სახარვეზო მასალაა, ამზადებენ 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16-პუნქტიანი კეგელით, რომლის სიგანე 1/2, 3/4 და 1 კვადრატია. კვადრატებით ადვილად წარმოებს შედარებით დიდი სახარვეზო ადგილების შევსება.
"Quads" are a larger spacing material, one uses them in 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16pt, for which there are widths of 1/2, 3/4, and 1 "quad".4 With "quads", one easily carries out filling up the remaining large space [of a line].
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ძელაკი: ოთხკუთხი მცირე ზომის საგანი (საგანი: thing, object) – a small, four-sided thing ↩
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note the difference between კეგელი and პუნქტი. Both come from German (Kegel & Punkt). A Kegel refers to the body size of a piece of type, whereas Punkt is a general word for point. These usages are also found in Georgian typesetting. ↩
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The idea of a "space" being 16pts wide is quite large, but if "spaces" and "gaps" were used interchangeably, then a 16pt wide "space" would be the same as a "em" for a 16pt face. ↩
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Similar to the unexpected widths of some "spaces", a 1-4pt "quad" does not mesh with our expectations of "quad" in English, but this likely refers to strip material, such as leading and slugs. ↩
last updated: 2026-03-10 08:08:49