m PRINTING. 



ad uvd to separate word*, are out of various thickneasw. to en&l.le 

 the compositor lojmtify hit work, or to fill-up each line to the same 

 Ttightoea*, by varying the space* between the word*. Of the 

 kind, which we called, from their extreme thinnest, Aai'r- 

 <r it. 8000 are tupplied with a fount nf the above extent Of the 

 three nest sixes, oiled (Ai', muldlr, and lAi'nt <parr, the numben are 

 8000, 1 2,000, and 18,000 respectively. The next in order are n-onarfron, 

 or space* equal in body to the leUer n, of which 5000 are required ; 

 and m-f Mdrab, double in thickness to the last, and similar in body to 

 the letter m, which u exactly square, or at wide aa it is deep, of huh 

 the number it 8500. In addition to these are larger quadrats, equal 

 in body to two, three, or four m's, which are used for filling up line* at 

 the end of a paragraph, or in poetry, and for setting up blank lines in 

 order to separate two paragraphs. These are supplied by weight, 

 according to the kind of work for which the fount is required. 



Although all Britinh founders employ the tame names for types of 

 similar Ue, it is to be regretted that perfect uniformity in the sizes 

 is not sufficiently attended to to allow the tyi*s of different foundries 

 to be used together without inconvenience. The subjoined specimens 

 show the various sixes employed in England for book-work, beginning 

 with the largest, and descending to the most minute : 



1. Great Primer is the largest 



i ever used for printing books. It is seldom employed for any- 

 ; excepting large folioBibles, and on this account is sometimes 



1 Bible Tert. The French call this type Qrot Remain, and the 



Germans, from ite having been the third of seven sizes formerly used, 

 name it Ttrtia. About 511 >'s in width, or the same number of lines 

 in depth, occupy a foot 



2. English, called by the French and 



Dutch A. Au'/iuti* (from which it U supposed to have been first uaed 

 for printing the works of that author), and by the Germans Milt: I, a* 

 the middle of the seven sizes above alluded to, is used for printing 

 Bibles and other works in folio and quarto. There are about 64 m'a 

 to a foot 



3. Pica. This type is much used for printing 



the text of standard library works, and 1.1 generally referred to by 

 printers at a standard for the measurement of work. Leads, brass- 

 rules for printing line*, braces, or quotations, &c., are always made to 

 so many Pica m's, whether used with this type or not. In France and 

 Germany it bears the name of Cicrra, apparently from having been 

 originally used in printing his Epistles. 71 Pica m's go to a foot 



4. Sin-ill Pica, called Philosophic in France, and 



firmer in Germany, is a type very extensively used ; perhaps more 

 than any other. About 83 m'a go to a foot. 



5. Long Primer. This neat type, which is much used 

 for printing works in duodecimo, is called Petit Romain in 

 France, and Corptu in Germany ; the latter name being 

 probably derived from its use in printing the 'Corpus 

 Juris : ' 89 m's of Long Primer go to a foot 



6. Bourgeois appears, by its name, to have come originally 



from France j but the French type which comes nearest to it 

 is now called Gaillarde. Hansard states, in the article ' Type- 

 founding,' in the ' Encyclopajdia Britannica,' that the Germans 

 have no type corresponding with this. It is half the size of 

 Great Primer, and about ] 02 m's go to a foot. 



7. Brevier, called in France Petite Textt, and in Germany Petit 



or Junnfer (maiden letter), derives its English name, most pro- 

 bably, from its having been first used for printing breviaries, or 

 Human Catholic church-books. It is employed for printing small 

 works, and for notes to those printed in larger type. About 1124 m ' 8 

 go to a foot. It is a type very much used, and u that employed for 

 the text of the ' English Cyclopaedia.' 



8. Minion fFrvnrh, Miynonne ; German, Colonel) is used principally in 



newspapers, although some Bibles and prayer-books, and pocket editions of 

 other works, an printed in it. It is half the size of English ; and 128 

 m's go to a foot. 



9. Xtupmil (French and German Nmparttilt). Hansard observes of this 



beautiful tvps. that at Its Introduction it was, of coune, without a peer in coni- 

 inntUrt eUe to the Urger types : and he thinks that It still retains lu character, 

 and that every smaller type Is below the compass that any cjra of medium sight 

 It able to rsad without para. It Is employed in the toot-notei occasionally 



1'KINTINC 



to the 

 fte. 



Introduced in this work. Its >Ue Is half Pica ; and 14S m's go to a foot 



I*. JU.U ootnnkM Irmnler e!e iatraoMed br Koi.li.li founder. mbMqnen.., _ 

 tmOlm irpee |trr* betow, eal le explored for pocket dietlonailei, Ilible.. |.rvrr book,. , 

 Uieierl eulee tku il 1 i^gtsillr HoivenU ilb .kort ucevden and defender., cut 

 nnnrrW>i or ipaitlem neel, rl on > lerfer body, u fire It >n open uppearuce. 

 1 W Mr f >> I* " eJf tbl of iMf rruner, ead .bout IM m'i fo to fcot. 

 II rrrf. ealM kf Ike Trn'b >rli, end kr ib> Oernune Prrl. wu tb> .lie eut neit to 

 ipml II IxknMtilnl letter Ut pnnUD( mlnuiliire edition.. >nd I. .uOrieniir elev to be 

 uk f.rll.ir bjr pmon. of .lnl el(bt. It I* .1.0 mb nu< for note, to book, primed In 

 r trpe. Peeri I. k.ll tke .Ue o< U.K frliVT ; ud kol m ' o to foil. 



Of types larger than those employed for book- work, the first, in an 

 ascending series, is called Parayun ; the next is DmMe Pica, which is 

 twice the sice of Small Pica ; above which are T>ro-liae /', 

 Kii'jliJ,, Titolitu (irrat Primer, and Two-line Double Pica, each of 

 which U double the size of the common type from which its name is 

 taken. One other type, Canon, has also a distinctive name; but all 

 above it are called, according to the number of Pica m's in their h.-i j li t , 

 Firr-line Pica, fif-line Pica, Ac. Large letters, such as are u- 

 posting-bilUt. were formerly cast in sand-moulds, and hence called tand- 

 leilert ; but the fourth William Canton introduced a convenient method 

 of making matrices for such types, without the use of punches, by 

 cutting the letter completely thruugh a piece of copper or brass from 

 one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch thick, making the apertures i. Li- 

 on one side than on the other ; and then riveting the plate so ouf .. itli 

 the face (or side at which the apertures are smallest) downwards upon 

 a smooth surface of brass, which forms the face of the letter. Tli.-y 

 are now usually cut on a soft wood, for the special purpose reqni 



Ornamental types are made in endless variety for printing cards and 

 circulars, and for other fancy purposes ; but of these it is only neces- 

 sary to mention particularly what is called Script type, which is cut to 

 imitate writing. The early attempts to imitate cursive characters by 

 letters cast upon a square body were very clunuy, it being impossible 

 under such circumstances to give an easy inclination to the ! 

 and to make them join neauy. To remedy this M. Kinnin Didot 

 invented types with a body the sides of which form oblique angles 

 with the top and bottom, and are so formed that they will, neverthe- 

 less, lock firmly together, without any inclination to slide upon ench 

 other. This may be readily understood from the annexed cut, \vliicli 

 represents the words " Bought of " set up in script type, with a 



triangular piece of metal added at each end to allow of their being 

 wedged up with type or quadrate of the usual form. Didot cast, on 

 bodies of this form, the component parts of letters ; but his idea wot 

 improved upon by English founders, who cast the letters complete, 

 and provide for every variety of junction which may be required by 

 casting some of the letters of different bodies, according to the relative 

 positions they may be required to occupy. More recently, some 

 founders have succeeded in casting types on a square body, which 

 answer the same purpose . OB Script, and these, on account of the 

 greater facility of composition, are more generally used for common 

 work. 



Many schemes have been suggested for facilitating the manufacture 

 of types by the use of machinery ; but as these have failed to come 

 into general use, they may be dismissed with a very brief notice. 

 One of the earliest formed part of a very comprehensive project for 

 the improvement of printing brought forward by Mr. William Nichol- 

 son, editor of ' Nicholson's Journal,' about 1790. Another, which wan 

 patented about 1823, by Dr. William Church, of Birmingham, proposed 

 to cast types at the rate of 75,000 per hour, and to nielt and recast 

 them after each time of printing from. A third, of less preten- 

 sions, as it did not propose to dispense with the subsequent rub- 

 bing and dressing, was the process of Henri Didot, patented in 

 England by Louis John PouchBe, for casting at the rate of 24,000 per 

 hour; which has been practised, although it did not supersede the 

 ordinary mode of casting by hand, 



More recently an ingenious machine has been invented. In thin, 

 by turning a crank-wheel, the metal is injected with considerable 

 force into the type-mould, brought by the machinery in' front of .1 

 reservoir of metal kept fiuid by a gas-fire beneath it, and by a con- 

 tinued movement U delivered out of it, at a rate varying from six to 

 ten times the rapidity with which the operation can be performed by 

 hand. Both in casting by hand, and in the machine, the mould is 

 liable to become obstructed by particles of the metal remaining, wln-u 

 it has to bo brushed clean. When this happens to the machine, it 

 ceases to act, and thus at once informs the operator of the defect. 



Compofinij. The processes in the business of a compositor are 

 distributing and composing. 



1. DutrtfnUiny. Each compositor works at a sort of desk called a 

 frame, and in most instances he has the desk or frame to himself. The 

 frame projects laterally from the wall, having the light <>n thr l.-ft 

 hand, unless when lighted from the top. The front and lowest ]>art of 

 this frame is about as high as the elbow or ribs of the compositor, in 

 order to allow his arm to move freely over it The back is about a 

 foot or 15 inches higher. The space between is about 28 inches, and in 

 divided into two inclinations. Upon the lower and flatter of these 

 rests the loieer-caK ; on the upper and more acute inclination rests the 

 upper-ccue. Each frame is constructed to hold two pair of catet. Each 

 pair of cases contains all the letters of the alphabet, whether mn.'ill 

 letters or capitals, aa well as points, figures, &c., &c. One of these \vuin 



