650 



PRINTING 



practice to allow 16 sheets in each ream for ' tympan-sheet ' and spoiled sheets. The 

 following Table shows the quantity of perfect and imperfect paper required for one 

 sheet of 16 pages of a work like ' Ure's Dictionary,' from 12 to 10,000 copies: 



Press-work. The pressman first lays the inner form on the press, and prints one 

 copy, which is called a press revise ; this he takes to the person appointed to revise 

 it, and while that is being done proceeds to secure the form on the table of the press 

 by means of quoins ; to place his tympan-sheet ; to fix the points which make small 

 holes in the pnper that enable him to cause the pages to fall precisely on the back of 

 each other when the second side of the paper is printed, and to produce an even and 

 uniform impression in all the pages. He then cuts his frisket, which preserves the 

 margin of the paper clean, and, when the revise is corrected, proceeds to ink the 

 surface of the types by means of rollers. When the whole impression of one side of 

 the paper is printed, he lifts the form off the press, washes the ink off the face of the 

 type with lye, and rinses it with water. He then proceeds in a similar manner with 

 the outer form, which completes the sheet. This process is continued sheet after sheet 

 till the work is complete. 



When the sheet is printed the compositor lays it up, distributes the type, and 

 proceeds, sheet after sheet, till the body of the work is finished ; then the title, 

 dedication, preface, introduction, contents, index, and any other prefatory matter is pro- 

 ceeded with, these being always printed the last. This distribution of the types, or 

 putting back the letters into the several compartments of the case where they belong, 

 is performed with the greatest rapidity. The compositor wets the whole page or 

 form, and takes up a number of lines on his composing rule. This wetting causes the 

 types to adhere slightly together, and renders the manipulation easy. He then 

 takes up a few words between his right-hand finger and thumb, and by a dexterous 



