words, contribute in a material degree to improve the appearance of a
book.
When the lines are very short, or the type very large in proportion
to their length, all general rules, both of dividing and spacing,
must give way to necessity; for in such cases it is impossible at all
times to space regularly, or to divide the words correctly.
There is a great diversity of opinion with respect to spacing;
some authors and printers choosing to have the words wide apart,
and others, on the contrary, preferring to have them nearly close
together; the one, requiring an en quadrat, or two thick spaces, and
the other, a thin space only, between the words. Both of these, in my
opinion, go to an extreme: I prefer using a thick space generally,
and justifying with thinner and hair spaces; so that there will
rarely be a necessity for any violent inequality in the distance of
the words from each other.
When a work is double leaded, or has reglet between the lines, it
requires to be wider spaced than when it is solid: in the two first
cases, two middling spaces, or a thick and a thin space, will not be
too much; in the latter, a thick space will be quite sufficient. And
it is necessary to attend to these circumstances; for printing that
is open does not harmonize when close spaced, any more than solid
matter does when wide spaced, which makes it look full of pigeon
holes; for the distance between the words should bear some proportion
to the distance between the lines.
When one or two letters require to be got in, or to be driven out,
the difference between a thick space and a middling one is not
perceptible to the eye, particularly if the compositor is careful to
place the latter before or after a v or w, after a comma that comes
before a v or w, or after a y; and, in like manner, an additional
hair space will not be perceptible if it come after an f, or before a
j; or if it come between db, dh, dk, dl, lb, lh, lk, or ll.
The most expeditious mode of regular spacing, perhaps, is to take the
spaces as they rise; for there being in the box only three sorts, the
thin and the hair spaces being in separate boxes, there will not be
any violent disproportion if the line should be full at the first;
and the slight disproportion may be easily remedied by changing the
situation of two or three: if the line should not be quite full, then
the introduction of a few thin spaces will equalise the distances; or
the substitution of a few thick spaces for middling ones will have
the same effect.
In setting a line of capitals, a careful workman will pay attention
to the bearing off of different letters, for many of them when they
fall together stand as if there were a space between them, and
produce a bad effect: to remedy this inequality, hair spaces, or bits
of paper, are required between those letters that stand close. The
inequality is still greater in many instances in a line of Italic
capitals, and of course requires the same remedy.
It would be desirable, and would tend to facilitate regular spacing,
if there were a greater number of hair spaces cast to a fount than is
now the case.
In poetry, the size of the type and the measure are usually so
arranged as to admit the longest line to come into the measure,
without having occasion to turn it: an opportunity is thus allowed
for regular spacing, which is generally done with thick spaces. When
a work in poetry is commenced, it is usual for the compositor to
divide his space box up the middle with a piece of reglet, or with a
piece of thin wood, made to fit tight, and to assort his thick spaces
on one side, and the thinner on the other, to save time and trouble
in picking them out.
As the measure for poetry is sometimes made as narrow as will
conveniently allow the regular lines to come in, both to save
quadrats, and also to lessen the price of composing, it not
unfrequently happens that a line containing long syllables will not
admit of thick spaces; in this case, the usual practice is to space
close, and get in the line if possible, even with hair spaces, for
turning it is attended with inconveniences; the page must be made up
short, or long, to preserve the couplets, and it affects the next
page, in preventing the stanzas backing each other.
A compositor will always find it advantageous to justify his lines to
an equal tightness; and of this he must be sensible when he has to
lock up his form: if he have been careless in this instance he will
experience a loss of time and find a difficulty in getting his form
to lift; and when it does lift, by means of sticking his bodkin into
quadrats and spaces to tighten those lines that are slack, it will
never be safe; for it is more than probable that many letters will
draw out at press, and cause errors in that sheet, (for pressmen are
generally careless how they replace a letter that has drawn, and,
when it is discovered, they are satisfied if they put it into the
right word,) the pressmen scold the compositor, who also, if he be
working in a companionship, and should not be the last in the sheet,
gets scolded by the compositor who has to lock up the forms, for his
carelessness, and for the additional trouble which it causes.
I would avoid having a lower case f at the end of a line; for, being
a kerned letter, the dot at the end of the curve is almost sure to be
broken off while the sheet is being worked at press.
It is not possible to give particular rules for justifying all the
sorts that occur in many works, and that are not in a printing
office:--for a Ç, it will be necessary to cut away the shank to the
bottom of the face of the letter, and justify a figure of 5 with the
top back dash cut off; a long m̄, n̄, or any other letter, must be
cut away to the upper part of the letter, and a small lower case l,
with the fine lines cut away, fixed flat above; a short y̆ may be
made by taking the bottom of an o; m̃ and ñ by cutting the front of a
small a away, and laying it lengthways; ŵ and ŷ by inverting a lower
case v, after cutting away the cross lines, and making the thick line
equal to the fine one with a sharp knife.
Cutting away the shank allows the additional part to stand close
to the face of the letter, which improves the appearance. In some
instances it will be necessary to cut part of a lead away above the
letter, and justify the addition in the vacancy. The compositor
should, by all means, be careful to justify every sort that is added
so tight as to prevent it from drawing out at press; but not so
tight, as to force the words above and below out of line; in fact,
they ought to be so managed as, when justified to the letter, to
form unitedly its regular body in depth when it is practicable.
The compositor should also be careful to proportion the size of the
accent or mark to be justified to the size of the letter, that there
may be no disproportion between them.
I would recommend to every compositor when he goes to a fresh house,
where it is likely he may work some time, to ascertain what founts
are in the house, with the two line letters, blacks, flowers, &c.:
this knowledge will give him facilities, and enable him to compose
a title, or a job, with less sacrifice of time, than if he were not
acquainted with the materials contained in the office.
COMPOSING RULE.
A piece of brass rule cut to the length of the measure, with a small
ear or beak projecting at one end, by which to take it out. This
rule is laid in the composing stick, and the letters arranged upon
it; when the line is full, the rule is taken out by the projecting
part, and laid upon the line composed, and this process is continued
till the stick is full, when the rule is laid upon the last line as
before, the whole of the matter in the stick is then grasped tight
with both hands, (the rule preventing it from bursting,) taken out of
the stick, and deposited in a galley.
COMPOSING STICK.
The instrument in which the letters are arranged into words and
lines. It is generally made of iron, sometimes of gun metal, and long
ones for large jobs occasionally of wood.
When made of iron it is formed of a piece of sheet iron, one side
turned up nearly half an inch, at a right angle, which forms the
back, and when that is turned to the workman at the right hand
extremity an end is fitted to it, by screws, rivets, or dovetailing:
this end is iron, considerably thicker than the bottom and back, and
is soldered in its place to give it strength and stability.
[Illustration: A composing stick]
There is a slide by which the length of the lines is regularly
justified, which is fixed to the back by a nut and screw passing
through a groove in it, and secured in its place by the screw passing
through one of the holes in the back, by which means the length of
the line can be arranged according to the size of the page. The end
of the stick, and also of the slide, must form a right angle with the
back, and be parallel to each other, otherwise the lines will be of
unequal lengths, and cause much trouble. The English composing sticks
generally hold from nine to eleven lines of pica. The French printers
use much narrower ones, frequently not holding more than three lines.
COMPOSITION. _See_ ROLLERS.
COMPOSITOR.
He that composes or sets the letters.--_M._ _See_ COMPOSING.
COMPOSITOR’S BOOK.
To prevent mistakes, confused bills, and disputes in companionships,
and with the employer, it is essentially necessary that a compositor
should keep an account of the work that he does, and it is still
better that he should be able to ascertain on the instant how much he
has composed of any work that he is employed upon; the quantity in
each signature; the number of pages charged, and in what signatures;
and the forms he has imposed, and the signatures. The following form,
it is presumed, will accomplish this object in a simple and easy
manner.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Title of the Work. |
+----+----+--------+--------+---------------+----+----+--------+--------+
|Sig.|Set.|Charged.|Imposed.| |Sig.|Set.|Charged.|Imposed.|
+----+----+--------+--------+---------------+----+----+--------+--------+
| A | | | | Set in all. | A | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+-------+-------+----+----+--------+--------+
| B | | | |Sheets.| Pages.| B | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+-------+-------+----+----+--------+--------+
| C | | | | | | C | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+ | +----+----+--------+--------+
| D | | | | | | D | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+-------+-------+----+----+--------+--------+
| E | | | | | E | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+ +----+----+--------+--------+
| F | | | | | F | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+ +----+----+--------+--------+
| G | | | | | G | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+---------------+----+----+--------+--------+
| H | | | |Charged in all.| H | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+-------+-------+----+----+--------+--------+
| I | | | |Sheets.| Pages.| I | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+-------+-------+----+----+--------+--------+
| K | | | | | | K | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+ | +----+----+--------+--------+
| L | | | | | | L | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+-------+-------+----+----+--------+--------+
| M | | | | | M | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+ +----+----+--------+--------+
| N | | | | | N | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+ +----+----+--------+--------+
| O | | | | | O | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+---------------+----+----+--------+--------+
| P | | | | Imposed. | P | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+---------------+----+----+--------+--------+
| Q | | | | Forms. | Q | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+---------------+----+----+--------+--------+
| R | | | | | R | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+ +----+----+--------+--------+
| S | | | | | S | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+ +----+----+--------+--------+
| T | | | | | T | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+---------------+----+----+--------+--------+
| U | | | | | U | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+ +----+----+--------+--------+
| X | | | | | X | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+ +----+----+--------+--------+
| Y | | | | | Y | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+ +----+----+--------+--------+
| Z | | | | | Z | | | |
+----+----+--------+--------+---------------+----+----+--------+--------+
COMPOSITORS’ PRICES. _See_ SCALE OF PRICES.
CONDITION.
Balls are said to be in condition, or good condition, when they lug,
and the ink is distributed easily and uniformly on their surface;
that is, when they are neither too hard nor too soft: when they are
either the one or the other, they are said to be in bad condition.
_See_ BALLS. This also applies to rollers.
Paper is said to be in good condition when it has received a proper
degree of moisture, been laid a day or two between the boards or in a
heap, with weights upon the top board, then turned, which changes the
parts is contact, and replaced under the weights for another day, so
that the moisture shall be uniformly diffused and equal through the
whole quantity of paper to be printed.
CONFESSION OF FAITH.
For the allowance of the duty on paper used in the printing of the
book known by the name “The Confession of Faith,” _see_ PAPER.
CONTRACTIONS
used in Domesday Book and ancient Records. _See_ DOMESDAY BOOK.
RECORDS.
COPE’S PRESS.
The ALBION. This is the production of Richard Whittaker Cope, and
is an iron press. The power is produced entirely by levers, which,
by means of two strong iron links attached to the head, and working
at the bottom on what is called the lugs, communicate the power to
the platen, and thus produce the impression: on the return of the
bar the platen is lifted from the face of the types by means of a
spiral spring fixed on the head of the press. I have repeatedly
broken the links, when they were guaranteed to withstand any force in
working the press that could be applied to it. On the death of Mr.
Cope, the business was continued by trustees for the benefit of the
family, and is under the immediate management of Mr. John Hopkinson,
who has very much improved this press by taking away the links,
and remodelling it: the principle, on the present construction, is
the same as that of Sherwin and Cope’s Imperial press, with some
variation in the application of the cap or knuckle, and also in the
adjusting wedges, the screw of which to regulate the pull is at the
near side of the piston.
COPTIC.
The Copts are undoubtedly descendants of the ancient Egyptians;
but not an unmixed race, their ancestors in the earlier ages of
Christianity having intermarried with Greeks, Nubians, Abyssinians,
and other foreigners. Their name is correctly pronounced either
_Ckoobt_ or _Ckibt_; but more commonly _Goobt_ or _Gibt_, and (in
Cairo and its neighbourhood, and in some other parts of Egypt,)
_’Oobt_ or _’Ibt_: in the singular, it is pronounced _Ckoob´tee_,
_Ckib´tee_, _Goob´tee_, _Gib´tee_, _’Oob´tee_, or _’Ib´tee_. All
of these sounds bear a great resemblance to the ancient Greek
name of Egypt (Αἰγυπτος): but it is generally believed that the
name of “Ckoobt” is derived from _Coptos_, (once a great city, in
Upper Egypt,) now called _Ckooft_, or, more commonly, _Gooft_; to
which vast numbers of the Christian Egyptians retired during the
persecution with which their sect was visited under several of the
Roman emperors. The Copts have not altogether lost their ancient
language, their liturgy and several of their religious books being
written in it; but the Coptic has become a dead language, understood
by very few persons; and the Arabic has been adopted in its stead.
The Coptic language gradually fell into disuse after the conquest
of Egypt by the Arabs. For two centuries after that event, it
appears to have been the only language that the generality of the
Copts understood; but before the tenth century of our era, most of
the inhabitants of Lower Egypt had ceased to speak and understand
it, [this has been shown by Quatremère, in his Researches on the
Language and Literature of Egypt,] though, in the Sa’ee´d (or Upper
Egypt), El-Muckree´zee tells, the women and children of the Copts,
in his time, (that is, about the close of the fourteenth century
of our era, or the early part of the fifteenth,) scarcely spoke
any other language than the Sa’ee´dee Coptic, and had a complete
knowledge of the Greek. Soon after this period, the Coptic language
fell into disuse in Upper Egypt, as it had done so long before in
the Lower Provinces, and the Arabic was adopted in its stead. All
the Copts who have been instructed at a school still pray, both in
the church and in private, in Coptic; and the Scriptures are still
always read in the churches in that language; but they are explained,
from books, in Arabic. Many books for the use of priests and other
persons are written in the Coptic language expressed in Arabic
characters.--_Lane’s Modern Egyptians_, vol. ii. 1836.
Gibbon states, that Cavio affords a shelter for the indigent
patriarch of the Copts, and a remnant of ten bishops: forty
monasteries have survived the inroads of the Arabs; and the progress
of servitude and apostasy has reduced the Coptic nation to the
despicable number of twenty-five or thirty thousand families.
We know very little of the ancient language of Egypt. Nearly all the
remains of it we now possess, have been transmitted to us through
the Coptic, Sahidic and Bashmuric Dialects. The Coptic Dialect was
spoken in Lower Egypt, of which Memphis was the capital: hence it
has been called, with great propriety, the Memphitic Dialect. The
Sahidic, from the Arabic word _Sahad_, or _Al Sahad_, the _Upper_, or
_Superior_, was the dialect of Upper Egypt, of which Thebes was the
capital; it has, therefore, been called the Thebaïc. It is impossible
to say which of these two dialects was the more ancient. Georgi,
Valperga, Munter, and others, have decided in favour of the Coptic;
and Macriny, Renandot, Lacroze, and Jablonsky, with as much show of
reason, have contended for the Sahidic. Still, however, the question
must be left to conjecture, as we have not sufficient evidence to
enable us to decide upon it. Besides these two dialects, which have
long been known, there was a third, which was spoken in Baschmour, a
province of the Delta.
The existence of three dialects in Egypt has been so satisfactorily
proved by Quatremère, Englebreth, and other writers; and so fully
confirmed by the Bashmuric fragments which have been discovered
and published, that little more need be added. If, however, any
doubt remain, the following quotation from a manuscript work of
Athanasius, a prelate of the Coptic church, who was Bishop of Kous,
will entirely remove it. “The Coptic language,” says he, “is divided
into three dialects; the Coptic dialect of Miser, the Bahiric, and
the Bashmuric: these different dialects are derived from the same
language.”
The introduction of Greek words into the Egyptian language commenced,
no doubt, from the time of the Macedonian conquest, which the
introduction of Christianity tended to confirm and extend. The
Christian religion contained so many new ideas, that new terms were
necessary to express them. These terms the language of Greece would
readily supply; which, probably, were adopted by the Egyptians, from
the Greek writings of the apostles.
Egyptian literature has recently attracted particular attention. All
that has come down to us of the language and literature of ancient
Egypt is contained in the Coptic, Sahidic, and Bashmuric dialects;
and in the Enchorial, Hieratic, and Hieroglyphic inscriptions and
manuscripts.
The Coptic, or, as it has been called, the Bahiric, but more properly
the Memphitic, was the dialect of Lower Egypt; the _Mizur_ of the
Scriptures. This dialect is more regular and systematic in its
grammatical construction, and more pure, than the others.
Manuscripts exist, in Coptic, of nearly the whole of the Sacred
Scriptures, and of the Services of the Coptic church. The works of
some of the early Fathers, and the Acts of the Council of Nice, and
also the Lives of a considerable number of Saints and Martyrs, are
found in the Coptic dialect.
Dr. Murray says, the Coptic is an original tongue, for it derives
all its indeclinable words and particles from radicals pertaining to
itself. Its verbs are derived from its own resources. There is no
mixture of any foreign language in its composition, except Greek.
The remains which we possess of the Egyptian language, when separated
from the Greek, with which it is in some measure mixed up, has no
near resemblance to any of the ancient or modern languages.
The importance of the Ancient Egyptian to the antiquary will at
once appear, when we consider that a knowledge of it is necessary
before the inscriptions on the monuments of Egypt can be properly
understood, and the Enchorial and Hieratic manuscripts can be fully
deciphered.
The terms Coptic and Sahidic have been adopted instead of Memphitic
and Thebaic, lest confusion should be created; as the former are used
in those Egyptian publications which have issued from the Oxford
University Press.
The Coptic alphabet contains Thirty-two Letters. It will be seen,
from a comparison of the alphabets, that the Egyptians adopted the
Greek alphabet, with the addition of seven letters.
The Gamma never occurs in Coptic words, except in one or two
instances. It is used instead of the Kappa in words derived from the
Greek.
The Xi is seldom found in Egyptian words, but principally occurs in
words derived from other languages. It is sometimes used instead of
_ks_.
The stops used, are one or two points, · : but two points are most
commonly used.
The mark used to divide the verses is +.
When the point or short line (`) occurs over consonants, it generally
expresses the vowel _e_ short.
It appears, from some words derived from the Greek, that the point
(`) has been used to express the vowels _a_ and _o_ short.
When the point (`) occurs above a vowel, it expresses the soft or
sharp breathing of the Greeks. When it is found above _e_ long, it
denotes the sharp accent; but when placed above the other vowels,
it either expresses the soft accent, or it denotes that the letter
should be pronounced separately, and agrees with the diæresis of the
Greeks.
When the point (`) is put over a vowel in the beginning of words
derived from the Greek, and which has the aspirate in that language,
it indicates a sharp breathing.
Some Coptic words are abbreviated by a line or lines above
them.--_Tattam’s Grammar of the Egyptian Language._ 8vo. 1830.
_Coptic in the British Foundries._
_English._ Oxford.
_Pica._ Caslon and Livermore. Dr. Wilkins’s edition of the
Pentateuch.
[Illustration: The Coptic and Greek Alphabets]
_The Coptic Alphabet._
+----------+-----------+-----------+-----------------+---------+
| Names of | Coptic | Greek | Corresponding | Number. |
| Letters. | Alphabet. | Alphabet. | English sounds. | |
+----------+-----------+-----------+-----------------+---------+
| Alpha | Ⲁ ⲁ | Α α | a | 1. |
| | | | { as _v_ | |
| Beta | Ⲃ ⲃ | Β β | b { between | 2. |
| | | | { two vowels.| |
| Gamma | Ⲅ ⲅ | Γ γ | g | 3. |
| Delta | Ⲇ ⲇ | Δ δ | d | 4. |
| Ei | Ⲉ ⲉ | Ε ε | e short. | 5. |
| So | Ⲋ ⲋ | ς | ç | 6. |
| Zeta | Ⲍ ⲍ | Ζ ζ | z | 7. |
| Heta | Ⲏ ⲏ | Η η | e long. | 8. |
| Theta | Ⲑ ⲑ | Θ θ | th | 9. |
| Iota | Ⲓ ⲓ | Ι ι | i | 10. |
| Kappa | Ⲕ ⲕ | Κ κ | k | 20. |
| Lauda | Ⲗ ⲗ | Λ λ | l | 30. |
| Mi | Ⲙ ⲙ | Μ μ | m | 40. |
| Ni | Ⲛ ⲛ | Ν ν | n | 50. |
| Xi | Ⲝ ⲝ | Ξ ξ | x | 60. |
| Ou | Ⲟ ⲟ | Ο ο | o short. | 70. |
| Pi | Ⲡ ⲡ | Π π | p | 80. |
| Ro | Ⲣ ⲣ | Ρ ρ | r | 100. |
| Sima | Ⲥ ⲥ | Σ σ ς | s | 200. |
| Tau | Ⲧ ⲧ | Τ τ | t | 300. |
| Hu | Ⲩ ⲩ | Υ υ | u | 400. |
| Phi | Ⲫ ⲫ | Φ φ | ph | 500. |
| Chi | Ⲭ ⲭ | Χ χ | ch | 600. |
| Psi | Ⲯ ⲯ | Ψ ψ | ps | 700. |
| Ou | Ⲱ ⲱ | Ω ω | o long. | 800. |
| Shei | Ϣ ϣ | | sh | 900. |
| Fei | Ϥ ϥ | | f | 90. |
| Hei | Ϧ ϧ | | kh | |
| Hori | Ϩ ϩ | | h | |
| | | | { and _j_ | |
| Gangia | Ϫ ϫ | | g { before | |
| | | | { a vowel. | |
| Sima | Ϭ ϭ | | sh | |
| Tei | Ϯ ϯ | | ti, di, or th | |
+----------+-----------+-----------+-----------------+---------+
COPY.
The manuscript that is to be printed, or a book that is to be
reprinted; in short, any subject that is to be printed, is termed
_Copy_.