PRINTING. 



THE METHOD OF PRINTING. 



The workmen employed in this art are 

 compositors and pressmen. The first are 

 those persons whose business it is to range 

 and dispose the letters into words, lines, 

 pages, &c The pressmen are those who, 

 properly speaking, are the printers, as 

 they take oft" the impressions from the 

 letters after they are prepared tor that 

 purpose by the compositors. The types 

 being provided for the compositor, he 

 distributes each kind, or sort, by itself, 

 into small cells or boxes, made in two 

 wooden frames, called the cases , the 

 upper-case and the lower-case- The cells 

 in tne upper-case are ninety-eight in num- 

 ber ; those of the lower case are fifty- 

 four. 



The upper case contains two alphabets 

 of capitals ; large, or full capitals, and 

 small capitals. They also contain cells 

 for the figures, the accented letters, the 

 characters used in references to notes, &c.; 

 and one cell, being a middle one in the 

 bottom row, for the small letter k. The 

 capitals in this case are disposed alpha- 

 betically. 



The lower-case is appropriated to the 

 small letters,the double letters, the points, 

 parentheses, spaces, and quadrats. The 

 boxes of the lower-case are of different 

 siz.es; the largest being for the letters most 

 in use; but the arrangement is not in this in- 

 stance alphabetical, those letters oftenest 

 wanted being placed nearest to the compo- 

 sitor's hand. As thtre is nothing on the 

 outside of the boxes to denote the letters 

 they respectively contain, it is curious to 

 observe the dexterity manifested by the 

 compositor in finding and taking up ihe 

 letters, as he wants them, from the differ- 

 ent cells. Each case is placed in an in- 

 clined direction, that the compositor may 

 reach the upper-case with ease. 



The instrument in which the letters are 

 set is called a composing-stick, which con- 

 sists of a long plaie of bi ass or iron, on the 

 side of which arises a ledge, which runs 

 the whole length of the plate, and serves 

 to support the letters, the sides of which 

 are to rest against, it. Along this ledge is 

 a row of holes, for introducing a screw 

 to lengthen or shorten ihe line, by mov- 

 ing the sliders farther from, or nearer to, 

 the shorter ledge at the end of the com- 

 posing stick. Where marginal notes are 

 required, the two sliding pieces are open- 

 ed to a proper distance from each other. 

 Before the compositor begins to compo.se, 

 he puts a thin slip of brass plate, called a 

 rule, cut to the length of the line, and 



of the same height as the letter, in the 

 composing stick, parallel with the ledge, 

 against which the letters are intended to 

 bear. The compositor being thus fur- 

 nished with an instrument suited to hold 

 the letters as they are arranged into 

 words, lines, &c. he places his copy on 

 the upper-case, just before him, and hold- 

 ing the stick in his left hand, his thumb 

 being over the slider, with the right takes 

 up the letters, spaces,' &.c. one by one, 

 and places them against the rule, while 

 he supports them with his left thumb, by 

 pressing them against the slider, the 

 other hand being constantly employed in 

 setting in other letters. Having in this 

 manner composed a line, he takes the 

 brass rule from behind it, and places it 

 before the letters of which it is composed, 

 and proceeds to compose another line in 

 the same manner. But before he re- 

 moves the brass rule, he notices whe- 

 ther the line ends With a complete word, 

 or with an entire syllable of a word, in- 

 cluding the hyphen that is pm to denote 

 the division, when a word is divided into 

 syllables. If he finds that his words ex- 

 actly fill the measure, he has nothing- 

 more to do* with that line, but proceeds 

 with the next. But if he finds the mea- 

 sure not entirely filled at the ending of a 

 word or syllable, he puts in more spaces, 

 diminishing the distances between the 

 words, until the measure is full ; and this 

 operation, which is called jitstifyhizr, is 

 done in order that all the lines in the com- 

 posing stick may be of equal length. 

 Much depends upon exactness in justi- 

 fying; and great care is taken by expert 

 compositors that the lines are neither too 

 closely wedged into the composing stick, 

 nor yet loose and uneven. 



The spaces are pieces of metal, of va- 

 rious thicknesses, exactly shaped like the 

 shanks of the letters. They are used to 

 regulate the distances between the words. 



When the composing-stick has been 

 filled with lines, being generally in num- 

 ber about ten or twelve, the compositor 

 empties it on to a thin board, called a 

 galley, being of an oblong shape, with a 

 ledge on two sides, and a groove, to ad- 

 mit a fatse bottom. When the composi- 

 tor has filled and emptied his stick until 

 he has composed a page, he ties it up 

 with a piece ot pack-thread, and removes 

 il from the galley, either to the imposing 

 stone, or to such other safe and con- 

 venient place as he may think proper. 

 And in this manner he proceeds until he 

 has composed as many pages as are re- 

 quired to make a sheet, or, in some in- 



