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 distinctiveness. 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 pro- 

 cesses in the making of a book: The type must first be set; by the 

 monotype method, there are two processes, the "keyboarding" of 

 the MS and the casting of the type from the perforated paper rolls 

 thus produced. Formulas and other intricate work must be hand- 

 set; then the whole brought together (''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. All of these pro- 

 cesses, except that of binding into cloth or leather covers, are carried 

 on under our roof. 



The motto of the Wilhams & Wilkins Company is Sans Tache. 

 Our ideal is to publish books ^^ without blemish" — ^worthy books, 

 worthily printed, with worthy typography — books to which we shall 

 be proud to attach our imprint, made by craftsmen who are willing 

 to accept open responsibility for their work, and who are entitled to 

 credit for creditable performance. 



The printing craftsman of today is quite as much a craftsman as 

 his predecessor. There is quite as much discrimination between 



