[Illustration]
Vigilant and conscientious oversight is the price of profit and success.
An overseer or foreman of a printing-office should be of more than
ordinary capacity, and able to keep his temper in firm control. His
conduct should be guided by justice and equity in regard to the interests
of the employer and the employed. A strict impartiality should be
observed in his treatment of the workmen, and no favouritism should be
displayed. He should make himself acquainted with the capacity of the
men, and apportion work among them accordingly. Some men are valueless
except for plain, straightforward composition; others, distinguished for
taste and skill, delight in intricate work or matter requiring ingenuity
and delicacy, such as tables, music, and algebra. Put one of the first
kind on this sort of composition, and he will botch it, and earn small
wages; while a workman of the latter class will become restive and
dissatisfied with plain, solid matter. While dealing justly with the men
under his charge, the foreman should see to it that the employer suffers
no detriment from negligent or dishonest practices of unconscientious
workmen, whether from careless correcting, allowing dropped types to
lie upon the floor, or overcharging, or other methods well known in a
printing-office. He should be the first and the last in attendance, in
order to satisfy himself that every person does his duty in coming and
leaving at the proper time.
[Illustration: LARGE SORT-CASE CABINET, FOR SORTS, QUADS, ETC.]
The office having been thoroughly swept at an early hour, and the type
found in any alley having been placed in the stick of the compositor
occupying it, the foreman should pass around the room and see that it is
immediately distributed, instead of being thrown on the window-frame or
table. The type found in the body of the rooms should be sorted out and
distributed at once, and not be allowed to accumulate. No pi should be
permitted to remain over till the next day. This is an essential point to
secure a tidy and well-regulated office.
He should see to it that the proof-roller and press are in good
condition, and that a sufficient supply of wetted proof-paper is on hand.
A badly-printed proof should never be allowed to go to the proof-reader
or to the author, as neither can properly read a blurred or imperfect
proof. An author will feel kindly toward an office that furnishes him
with handsome impressions of his matter.
[Illustration: SORT-CASE CABINET.]
The foreman should keep himself fully informed as to the amount and
the condition of the materials in the office, not only in gross, but
in detail, including every style of type, every variety of accents and
peculiar sorts, leads, chases, furniture, rules, borders, corner-pieces,
&c. In this he will be greatly aided by insisting on the observance of
the good old rule, _A place for every thing, and every thing in its place
when not in use_, as well as by keeping a memorandum-book in which every
thing should be entered under its proper head for facility of reference.
[Illustration: CABINET FOR SPACES, QUADS, ETC.]
If the office be well provided, it will contain one or more of the
cabinets for sorts, such as are shown in these pages. Strict attention
should be given to keeping them in perfect order, and in preventing them
from becoming receptacles for pi.
[Illustration: COMBINATION CABINET, FOR SORTS AND QUADS.]
[Illustration: QUAD CABINET.]
As a matter of course, he should watch the progress of every job and
book, and make sure that they shall be completed within the time
contracted for. He should never allow a compositor to have a large take
of copy: small takes facilitate expedition, and really tend to the profit
of the workmen by bringing an earlier return of letter. He should see to
it that every man has his copy closed in proper time, so as not to detain
the make-up, and that he passes the make-up without unnecessary delay.
As soon as a form or sheet is made up, he should order it to be imposed
and a proof pulled, which, with the copy properly arranged, is to be at
once handed to the proof-reader. Nor should he allow of any unnecessary
delay on the part of the reader, nor on the part of the compositors in
correcting the proof when read. When proofs are required by an author,
the foreman must forward them promptly to him, and request him to return
them at the earliest possible moment. If the proof is not to be sent
out, he should have the second reading quickly performed, and the forms
prepared for the foundry or the press.
Systematic attention to the above points will tend to the comfort of
the overseer, to the advantage of the workmen, and to the profit and
satisfaction of the proprietor of the establishment.
The foreman will find a memorandum Press-Book very useful, in which to
make entries of the amount of the paper given out by the warehouseman for
the various works, the number printed, &c., as well as the names of the
pressmen when the work is done on hand-presses.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|WHEN GIVEN OUT TO WET. |
| +-------------------------------------------------------------+
| |NAMES OF WORKS. |
| | +-------------------------------+
| | | NO. |
| | | +------------------------+
| | | |SIGNATURES. |
| | | | +-------------------+
| | | | |DATE WHEN LAID ON. |
| | | | | +----------+
| | | | | |NAMES OF |
| | | | | |PRESSMEN. |
+--------+-----------------------------+------+----+--------+----------+
| 1878. | | | | 1878. | |
| May 8 |Specific Heat Tables | 1000 | 11 | May 10 |Graham. |
| ” 10 |The Great Exhibition | 5000 | 18 | ” 12 |Landsdown.|
| ” 12 |The American Printer | 1000 | 20 | ” 13 |Windisch. |
| ” 15 |Masterpieces of European Art | 3000 | 2 | ” 17 |Smith. |
+--------+-----------------------------+------+----+--------+----------+
If not done by the proof-reader, the foreman should examine the press
revise; in doing which, he will be careful not only to ascertain whether
all the corrections marked in the proof are made, but also to look
carefully over the sides, head, and bottom of each page. It frequently
happens that the folios drop out of the form in lifting it off the
imposing-stone; and in leaded matter, letters at the beginning and ends
of lines sometimes fall out of place. Before the revise is given to
the compositor, the name of the pressman who is to work off the form
should be entered in the Press-Book. With foul compositors, he should
require a second revise, in order to ascertain if all the corrections
have been made which were marked in the first. He should (where there
is not a pressman engaged expressly for the purpose, as is the case
in houses employing numerous machine-presses) go frequently to the
different presses, and examine the work, point out defects, if any, and
glance again over the heads, sides, and bottoms of the pages, to see if
any thing has been drawn out by the rollers, which may occur from bad
justification of the lines, and careless and improper locking up of the
form.
An active and conscientious foreman will not be content with merely
managing the concerns of the composing room: he will also see that the
business of the warehouse is attended to with regularity and accuracy,
and that the warehouseman, errand-boys, and apprentices do their duty.