diff --git a/splash/SplashFTFont.cc b/splash/SplashFTFont.cc
index f18b58b..2baac34 100644
--- a/splash/SplashFTFont.cc
+++ b/splash/SplashFTFont.cc
@@ -80,6 +80,10 @@ SplashFTFont::SplashFTFont(SplashFTFontFile *fontFileA, SplashCoord *matA,
   if (FT_Set_Pixel_Sizes(face, 0, size)) {
     return;
   }
+ 
+  ascender = face->ascender;
+  descender = face->descender;
+
   // if the textMat values are too small, FreeType's fixed point
   // arithmetic doesn't work so well
   textScale = splashDist(0, 0, textMat[2], textMat[3]) / size;
@@ -388,6 +392,12 @@ struct SplashFTFontPath {
   GBool needClose;
 };
 
+int SplashFTFont::getNumChars()
+{
+  SplashFTFontFile* ff = (SplashFTFontFile *)fontFile;
+  return ff->face->num_glyphs;
+}
+
 SplashPath *SplashFTFont::getGlyphPath(int c) {
   static FT_Outline_Funcs outlineFuncs = {
 #if FREETYPE_MINOR <= 1
@@ -409,6 +419,8 @@ SplashPath *SplashFTFont::getGlyphPath(int c) {
   FT_UInt gid;
   FT_Glyph glyph;
 
+  last_advance = -1;
+
   ff = (SplashFTFontFile *)fontFile;
   ff->face->size = sizeObj;
   FT_Set_Transform(ff->face, &textMatrix, NULL);
@@ -428,6 +440,8 @@ SplashPath *SplashFTFont::getGlyphPath(int c) {
   if (FT_Get_Glyph(slot, &glyph)) {
     return NULL;
   }
+  last_advance = glyph->advance.x/65536.0;
+
   path.path = new SplashPath();
   path.textScale = textScale;
   path.needClose = gFalse;
diff --git a/splash/SplashFTFont.h b/splash/SplashFTFont.h
index f49d7b1..19d151e 100644
--- a/splash/SplashFTFont.h
+++ b/splash/SplashFTFont.h
@@ -58,6 +58,9 @@ public:
   virtual GBool makeGlyph(int c, int xFrac, int yFrac,
 			  SplashGlyphBitmap *bitmap, int x0, int y0, SplashClip *clip, SplashClipResult *clipRes);
 
+  // return the number of characters in this font
+  virtual int getNumChars();
+
   // Return the path for a glyph.
   virtual SplashPath *getGlyphPath(int c);
 
diff --git a/splash/SplashFont.cc b/splash/SplashFont.cc
index 2bfcdc8..56b869c 100644
--- a/splash/SplashFont.cc
+++ b/splash/SplashFont.cc
@@ -62,6 +62,10 @@ SplashFont::SplashFont(SplashFontFile *fontFileA, SplashCoord *matA,
   cacheTags = NULL;
 
   xMin = yMin = xMax = yMax = 0;
+
+  last_advance = -1;
+  ascender = -1;
+  descender = -1;
 }
 
 void SplashFont::initCache() {
diff --git a/splash/SplashFont.h b/splash/SplashFont.h
index 78b00d2..2a0e77d 100644
--- a/splash/SplashFont.h
+++ b/splash/SplashFont.h
@@ -86,6 +86,9 @@ public:
   virtual GBool makeGlyph(int c, int xFrac, int yFrac,
 			  SplashGlyphBitmap *bitmap, int x0, int y0, SplashClip *clip, SplashClipResult *clipRes) = 0;
 
+  // return the number of characters in this font
+  virtual int getNumChars() = 0;
+
   // Return the path for a glyph.
   virtual SplashPath *getGlyphPath(int c) = 0;
 
@@ -100,6 +103,14 @@ public:
   void getBBox(int *xMinA, int *yMinA, int *xMaxA, int *yMaxA)
     { *xMinA = xMin; *yMinA = yMin; *xMaxA = xMax; *yMaxA = yMax; }
 
+  double getAscender()    { return ascender; }
+  double getDescender()   { return descender; }
+  double getLastAdvance() { return last_advance; }
+
+  void setAscender(double v)    { ascender = v; }
+  void setDescender(double v)   { descender = v; }
+  void setLastAdvance(double v) { last_advance = v; }
+
 protected:
 
   SplashFontFile *fontFile;
@@ -116,6 +127,9 @@ protected:
   int glyphSize;		// size of glyph bitmaps, in bytes
   int cacheSets;		// number of sets in cache
   int cacheAssoc;		// cache associativity (glyphs per set)
+  double ascender;
+  double descender;
+  double last_advance;
 };
 
 #endif
diff --git a/splash/SplashT1Font.cc b/splash/SplashT1Font.cc
index 0fdfaaf..de20c91 100644
--- a/splash/SplashT1Font.cc
+++ b/splash/SplashT1Font.cc
@@ -306,4 +306,10 @@ SplashPath *SplashT1Font::getGlyphPath(int c) {
   return path;
 }
 
+int SplashT1Font::getNumChars()
+{
+  SplashT1FontFile* ff = (SplashT1FontFile *)fontFile;
+  return ff->face->num_glyphs;
+}
+
 #endif // HAVE_T1LIB_H
diff --git a/splash/SplashT1Font.h b/splash/SplashT1Font.h
index 1dbe66c..41f42b1 100644
--- a/splash/SplashT1Font.h
+++ b/splash/SplashT1Font.h
@@ -52,6 +52,9 @@ public:
   virtual GBool makeGlyph(int c, int xFrac, int yFrac,
 			  SplashGlyphBitmap *bitmap, int x0, int y0, SplashClip *clip, SplashClipResult *clipRes);
 
+  // return the number of characters in this font
+  virtual int getNumChars();
+
   // Return the path for a glyph.
   virtual SplashPath *getGlyphPath(int c);