Sans Tache 



IN THE "elder days of art" each artist or craftsman 

 enjoyed the privilege of independent creation. He 

 carried through a process of manufacture from beginning 

 to end. The scribe of the days before the printing press was 

 such a craftsman. So was the printer in the days before the 

 machine process. He stood or fell, as a craftsman, by the 

 merit or demerit of his finished product. 



Modern machine production has added much to the worker's 

 productivity and to his material welfare; but it has deprived 

 him of the old creative distinctiveness. His work is merged 

 in the work of the team, and lost sight of as something 

 representing him and his personality. 



Many hands and minds contribute to the manufacture of a 

 book, in this day of specialization. There are seven distinct 

 major processes in the making of a book: The type must first 

 be set; by the monotype method, there are two processes, the 

 "keyboarding" of the MS and the casting of the type from 

 the perforated paper rolls thus produced. Formulas and 

 other intricate work must be hand-set; then the whole 

 brought together ("composed") in its true order, made into 

 pages and forms. The results must be checked by proof 

 reading at each stage. Then comes the "make-ready" and 

 press-run and finally the binding into volumes. 



All of these processes, except that of binding into cloth or 

 leather covers, are carried on under our roof. 



