694 



PRINTING. 



A Sheet of Eightoens, with One Signature. 

 Outer Form. 



Inner Form. 



A little attention to the foregoing examples will 

 show that the .order followed in the first is only ex- 

 tended in the more complex forms. It will be 

 remarked that the pages go two by two, and that 

 the numbers of these pages, when added together, 

 always make one more than the number of the 

 pages contained in the sheet. There being many 

 sheets in some works, it would become a matter of 

 great embarrassment for the person who folds them 

 to be calculating the number of the page that 

 should be the first in order while placing them to- 

 gether; in order to obviate which, letters (called 

 signatures) are placed at the bottom of the leading 

 page of each sheet, A for the 1st; B for the 2d ; 

 C for the 3d, and so on through the whole al- 

 phabet, and, if that be exhausted, a second alpha- 

 bet is commenced. Thus, by merely looking at the 

 signature, the collator sees at once the proper place 

 which the sheet should occupy in the book. 



As specified in the history of the art, printing was 

 first performed by taking impressions from solid 

 blocks, printing from moveable types being a later 

 invention, and decidedly a vast improvement. In 

 more modern times, a kind of junction of the two 

 has proved of the greatest advantage, especially to 

 some classes of publications. We refer to the inven- 

 tion of stereotype printing. Of this branch of the 

 art, it will only be necessary for us to give a brief 

 outline here, as a detailed account will be found 

 under our article Stereotype Printing. 



When the compositor has set up a page and tied 

 it, as formerly described, it is fixed into a small 

 chase or iron frame, after having been duly examin- 

 ed and corrected. A mould of gypsum or Paris 

 plaster is taken of the page, and a casting of the 

 whole page is taken in type metal, the cast being 

 one solid plate. The plates necessary to complete 

 a form are locked in a chase, in a way similar to 

 the moveable type pages arid sent to press, the af- 

 ter process with both being the same. 



Before we dismiss the consideration of the duty 

 of the comjKisitor, we must advert to a part of his 

 business which follows that of the pressman. Whet 



In- pressman has printed off all the impressions that 



re to be taken from a form of moveable type, the 



chase is carried back to the composing room, and 



he compositor undoes the work that was formerly 



done, by distributing all the types, or putting them 



nto their respective cells in the case. As much 



accuracy is required in the operation of distributing, 



s in that of composing, for if a type be put into a 



vrong box, an error must necessarily be committed 



n composing again from the same case. Any con- 



usion that may exist in the assemblage of types, 



arising from accident or carelessness, causes great 



trouble, and the types, thus disarranged, are called 



Pye. The re-arranging of such types is performed 



jy the junior apprentices of the printing office, and 



the operation is denominated Picking pye. 



A compositor ought to be intimately conversant 

 with orthography, especially in distribution, as errors 

 committed in spelling will throw the whole case 

 nto pye. The compositor should also be well versed 

 n the rules of punctuation, as this is very commonly 

 omitted by the author in his manuscript, or some- 

 times only partially attended to. Many persons 

 would be apt to imagine, that compositors must ne- 

 :essarily be possessed of a great deal of information, 

 Tom their attentive perusal of works going through 

 their hands, on every variety of subject. The wri- 

 ter of this article has had numerous opportunities, 

 of comparing the intelligence of compositors with 

 ;hat of workmen engaged in other branches of in- 

 dustry, and from observation, he has no hesitation 

 n saying, that compositors are above average, yet 

 this arises not so much from their perusal of works, 

 while engaged in setting or composing, as from 

 private reading; for while engaged at the case, their 

 ittention is so much taken up with the mechanical 

 part of the process, that the train of thought of the 

 luthor can be little attended to; so that a histori- 

 cal work may be set up from beginning to end by 

 a compositor, who at the termination could not show 

 much intimacy regarding the subject of which it 

 treated. 



As before observed, when the form has been dress- 

 ed and finished by the compositor, it is sent to the 

 pressman, who fixes the chase in his press and ad- 

 justs it, so that an uniform and distinct impression 

 may be taken off. 



The paper to be printed is damped with clean 

 water before it is subjected to the action of the 

 press, in order that it may be softened, and thus ac- 

 commodate itself to the surface of the types. A 

 few sheets are dipped in a trough of water and laid 

 upon a board, a few dry sheets are laid over these, 

 and then a few wet ones, and so on, until the whole 

 are piled up in a heap. They are then put into 

 a common screw press, in order that the water may 

 be pressed uniformly through them. The degree of 

 damping will depend on the nature of the paper, 

 and other circumstances, which experience alone 

 can regulate. 



The original inventor of the printing-press is not 

 known, but it is certain that it received much im- 

 provement from William Janson Blaew, an instru- 

 ment maker, and assistant to the illustrious astrono- 

 mer, Tycho Brache, who brought it to a state ot 

 perfection, which was not surpassed till within these 

 last sixty years. The construction of the old 

 wooden press, or common press, as it is usually 

 called, is very simple. A perspective view of it is 

 given in Fig. 1. plate LXXVI. This press consists 

 of two upright cheeks of wood connected together 

 with strong cross pieces. This frame or body of the 

 press is denoted by the letters A A A A in the 

 engraving. The cross bar at the top is merely for 

 the purpose of keeping the cheeks at a proper dis 



