PROCESS OF PRINTING COMPOSITION. 



the types, and a sufficient number of copies of it produced by the 

 process of printing, the types which form it are disengaged and 

 separated and used to form other pages of the same or other 

 books. Thus, while in the first attempts at printing, each model 

 of letter in relief never did any other duty than the printing of 

 the very book for which it was formed, the type of each letter in 

 printing with movable types is transferred from page to page, 

 and is used successively in the printing of an indefinite number of 

 pages of the same or different works. 



8. The process of printing, then, consists in a certain suc- 

 cession of operations, the first of which is putting together the 

 types so as to form lines and pages ; the second, putting together 

 these pages in such a manner, that when impressed upon sheets, 

 and the sheets folded, they will succeed each other in the proper 

 order. The subsequent operations of folding, stitching, and 

 combining these sheets together, so as to form a volume, is the 

 business of the bookbinder. 



9. Composition. The process of putting the types together is 

 called composing, and the person who performs this operation is 

 called a compositor. He stands before an inclined desk, as shown 

 in the view of the composing-room (fig. 1), which is divided into 

 a number of compartments of different sizes, A, B, in each of which 

 are placed a certain number of types of a particular letter. By 

 practice he learns without hesitation to direct his hand to the 

 compartment which contains the letter he wants, without removing 

 his eye from the manuscript which lies before him. He holds in 

 his left hand an instrument called a composing-stick, which is so 

 formed as to receive the types in successive juxtaposition, until 

 the requisite number have been placed to form a complete line, 

 after which another line is composed in like manner, and thus 

 line after line is composed until a complete page has been formed. 

 The spaces between words are made by the insertion of small 

 bars called quadrats, similar to those of type, but having no 

 letter cast upon their ends, and the spaces between line and line 

 are produced by the insertion of thin plates of metal called 

 leads. When the lines are considerably separated from one 

 another, they are accordingly said to be " leaded." "When a 

 page has been composed the compositor ties a cord round it, 

 called a page-cord, to hold the types of which it consists pro- 

 visionally together, and placing it apart, proceeds to form another 

 page, and so on. 



10. Since every line of the same page must necessarily have the 

 same length, whether the types which compose it fill out that 

 length or not, any deficient space is filled by quadrats placed at 

 the most convenient points between the words. 



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