PRINTING. 



stances, a half-sheet. He then proceeds 

 to arrange the pages on the imposing- 

 stone, which is a very large oblong stone, 

 of about five or six inches in thickness. 

 The pages are so arranged, that, when 

 they are printed, they may be folded so 

 as to follow each other regularly. Great 

 care, and some ingenuity, is requisite in 

 the imposing of a sheet or half-sheet, par- 

 ticularly of works in sizes less than folio 

 or quarto. In Stower's Printer's Gram, 

 mar, a very excellent and copious work 

 on the subject of printing, are given up- 

 wards of fifty schemes of imposition, of 

 sheets of almost every possible size. 



Having laid down or disposed the pages 

 in right order on the imposing-stone, the 

 compositor proceeds to what is called 

 dressing the chases. The chase is a rec- 

 tangular iron frame, of different dimen- 

 sions, according to the size of the paper 

 to be printed ; having two cross pieces, 

 of the same metal, called a long and short 

 cross, mortised at each end so as to be 

 taken out occasionally. By the different 

 situations of these crosses the chase is 

 fitted for different volumes ; for folios, 

 quartos, octavos, &c. To dress the 

 chase, a set of furniture is necessary, con- 

 sisting of small slips of wood of differ- 

 ent dimensions. The first thing to be 

 done, is to lay the chase over the pages ; 

 after this, that part of the furniture called 

 gutter-sticks, are placed between the re- 

 spective pages. Then another part of 

 the furniture called reglets are placed 

 along the sides of the crosses of the chase. 

 The reglets are of such a thickness as 

 will let the book have proper margins 

 after it is bound. Having dressed the in- 

 side of the pages, the compositor pro- 

 ceeds to do the same with their outsides, 

 by putting side-sticks and foot-sticks to 

 them. Thus the pages being placed at 

 proper distances, they are all untied and 

 fastened together by small wooden 

 wedges, called quoins. These small 

 wedges, being firmly driven up the sides 

 and feet of the pages, by means of a 

 mallet, and a piece of hard wood called 

 a shooting-stick, all the letters are fasten- 

 ed together. The work in this condition 

 is called a form, and is ready for the 

 pressman, who lays it upon the press, for 

 the purpose of pulling a proof. When a 

 proof is palled, the form or forms are 

 rubbed over with a brush, dipped in ley, 

 made of pearl-ash and water ; they are 

 then carefully taken off the press, and 

 the proof and forms delivered to the com- 

 positor's further cure. 



As it is impossible for the most careful 



compositor so to compose all his sheets as 

 that they shall not require to be carefully 

 read and corrected before they are finally 

 worked-off, the next thing to be done is 

 to put the proof^along with the copy from 

 which it has been composed into the hands 

 of the reader or corrector, whose business 

 is to read over the whole proof two or 

 three times with great care and attention, 

 marking such errata in the margin of every 

 page as he shall observe. 



The corrections are always placed 

 against the line in which the faults are 

 found. There are different characters 

 used to denote different corrections : 

 thus <*~> is put to signify that a word is 

 divided that ought to be in one, as pe rson 

 instead of person ; a mark resembling the 

 Greek theta 3- is put for dele, to intimate 

 that something, as a point, letter, word, 

 &c. dashed in that line, is to be taken out. 

 If any thing is to be inserted, the place 

 of insertion is marked with a caret, A, and 

 the thing to be inserted written in the 

 margin. Where a space is wanting be- 

 tween two words, or letters, that are in- 

 tended to be separated, a parallel line 

 must be drawn where the separation 

 ought to be, and a mark, somewhat re- 

 sembling a flat in music JI, placed in the 

 margin. An inverted letter or word, is 

 noticed by making a dash under it, and a 

 mark, nearly resembling the dele charac- 

 ter reversed. 



Mr. Slower observes, that marking 

 turned letters tries a corrector's skill in 

 knowing the true formation of them ; 

 without which it would be better to mark 

 them fin the same manner as they do 

 wrong letters, which is done by dashing 

 out the wrong letter, and writing the right 

 one in the margin, unless they are very 

 sure that they can distinguish b, d, n, o, 

 p, q, s, u, x, z, when they are turned, from 

 the same letters with their nick the right 

 way. Where a space rises up between 

 two words, it is noticed by a cross -f- in 

 the margin. When any thing is transpos- 

 ed, it is noted thus : 



for You mistake your merit,- and in the 

 margin is added tr. for transposition. 

 Where a new paragraph is required, a 

 line, in the shape of a crotchet, [ is made, 

 and the same mark placed in the margin ; 

 also where a paragraph ought not to have 

 been made, a line is drawn from the bro- 

 ken-ofi" matter to the next paragraph ; and 

 in the margin is written No break. If 





