run upon sorts

run upon sorts (third-person singular simple present runs upon sorts, present participle running upon sorts, simple past ran upon sorts, past participle run upon sorts)

1. (printing, dated) To use or require a greater number of some particular letters or symbols than the regular proportion, as, for example, when making an index.
   • American Printer and Lithographer (volume 25, page 327)

     The writer remembers once printing a large index of map titles, which ran upon sorts so peculiarly that a two hundred-pound font of body letter had to be provided with two hundred pounds of sorts before the job was completed.