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 distinctive- 

 ness. 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 monotj^e method, 

 there are two processes, the "keyboarding" of the MS 

 and the casting of the tjrpe from the perforated paper 

 rolls thus produced. Formulas and other intricate 

 work must be hand-set; then the whole brought to- 

 gether ("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. 



