PRINTING. 



proportional quantity of each letter required for 

 a fount ; and a peculiar scale is required for 

 every language. For the English language, the 

 following is a typefounder's scale for the small 



It will be seen from this scale that the letter e 

 is used much more frequently than any other 

 character. 



Type-founding originated in Germany along 

 with printing ; as early as 1452, P. Schoffer had 

 substituted types of cast-metal for the original 

 wooden types. The earliest and best punch- 

 cutters were in Niirnberg, which continued for a 

 considerable time to supply the type-founders 

 throughout Germany with punches. The art re- 

 ceived little attention in Great Britain until about 

 the year 1720, when it was brought to considerable 

 perfection by William Caslon, whose establish- 

 ment still exists. Baskerville is the next greatest 

 name in the history of the art in England. The 

 types produced by Alexander Wilson of Glasgow 

 became the foundation of the fame of the Foulises 

 as printers. In Edinburgh, the principal estab- 

 lishment of the kind is that of Messrs Miller and 

 Richard, the durability, as well as beauty of whose 

 types, for half a century past, have established a 

 well-merited name for that enterprising firm. 

 Besides metal types, they produce large ornamental 

 wood-type, which is much used for posting and 

 hand bills. The finest wood-letters are cut by 

 machinery on rock-maple by the American firm of 

 Page & Co., and used in combination, produce 

 some very wonderful chromatic effects. 



COMPOSING. 



All the types used in printing-offices are 

 sorted in cases, or shallow boxes, with divisions. 

 There are two kinds of cases the upper and 

 lower case; the latter lying nearest the com- 

 positor upon the 

 frame for their 

 support. Fig. i 

 exhibits the ar- 

 rangement of the 

 cases and posi- 

 tion of the com- 

 positor, the lower 

 case being imme- 

 diately under his 

 hand, the upper 

 case directly a- 

 bove, in a slant- 

 ing position, and 

 the under part of 

 the frame stocked 

 with cases of dif- 

 ferent founts. In 

 Fig. i. the upper case are 



placed all the 



capitals, small capitals, accented letters, a few 

 of the points, and characters used as references 

 to notes. In the lower case lie all the small 



letters, figures, the remainder of the points, and 

 spaces to place betwixt the words. In the lower, 

 no alphabetical arrangement is preserved ; each 

 letter has a larger or smaller box allotted to it, 

 according as it is more or less frequently required ; 

 and all those letters most in request are placed at 

 the nearest convenient distance to the compositor. 

 By this ingenious and irregular division of the 

 lower case, much time is saved to the compositor, 

 who requires no label to direct him to the spot 

 where lies the particular letter he wants. To a 

 stranger, nothing appears so remarkable as the 

 rapidity with which a compositor does his work ; 

 but habit very soon leads the hand rapidly and 

 mechanically to the letter required. When Italic 

 letters have to be introduced, they are taken from 

 a separate pair of cases of the same fount 



The process of composing and forming types 

 into pages may now be adverted to. Placing the 

 ' copy' or manuscript before him on the upper case, 

 and standing in front of the lower case, the com- 

 positor holds in his left hand what is termed a 

 composing-stick. Sometimes this instrument is 

 of wood, with a certain space cut in it of a par- 

 ticular width ; but more commonly it is made of 

 iron or brass, with a movable slide, which, by 

 means of a screw, may be regulated to any width 

 of line. In either case, the composing-stick is 

 made perfectly true and square. One by one the 

 compositor lifts and puts the letters of each word 

 and sentence, and the appropriate points, into bis 

 stick, securing each with the thumb of his left 

 hand, and placing them side by side from left to 

 right along the line. When he places a letter in 

 the stick, he does not require to look whether 

 he is placing it with the face in its proper 

 position; his object is accomplished by look- 

 ing at what is called the nick, which must 

 be placed outward in his composing-stick. 

 (See fig. 2, representation of a type.) 

 This is one of those beautiful, and at the 

 same time simple, contrivances for saving 

 labour which experience has introduced 

 into every art, and which are as valuable 

 for diminishing the cost of production as Fig. a. 

 the more elaborate inventions of machinery. 

 When he arrives at the end of his line, the com- 

 positor has a task to perform in which the careful- 

 ness of the workman is greatly exhibited. The 

 first letter and the last must be at the extremities 

 of the line : there must be no small spaces left in 

 some instances, and crowding in others, as we see 

 in the best manuscript Each metal type is of a 

 constant thickness, as far as regards that partic- 

 ular size of letter ; though all the letters are not of 

 the same thickness. The adjustments, therefore, 

 to complete the line with a word, or at anyratc 

 with a syllable, must be made by varying the thick- 

 ness of the spaces between each word. A good 

 compositor's work is distinguished by uniformity 

 of spacing : he will not allow the words to be 

 very close together in some instances, and with 

 a large gap between them in others, as is evi- 

 dent, for instance, in this sentence. In composing 

 poetry, or similar matter, where there is always a 

 blank space at one of the ends of the line, spacing 

 is very easily accomplished by filling up the blank 

 with larger spaces, or quadrats. But whether 

 prose or poetry, the matter of each line must be 

 equally adjusted and >f ///fr</, so as to correspond 

 in point of compactness with the previously s 



