The smallest body in common use is _diamond_; then follow, in order of
size as below--
[Illustration:
Diamond. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Pearl. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Agate. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Nonpariel. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Minion. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Brevier. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Bourgeois. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Long Primer. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Small Pica. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Pica. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
English. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Great Primer. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuv
]
Until a comparatively recent period, no better method of inking the
type had been devised than Gutenberg’s sheep-skin dabbers, or stamping
balls. Earl Stanhope, who greatly improved the printing-press, sought
by many experiments to supply the ink by means of a revolving cylinder
or roller, instead of by the old process. The first impediment was
the seam which it was necessary to make down the whole length of the
roller; and it could be kept neither soft nor pliable. Providentially
these difficulties were overcome by observing a process in the
Staffordshire potteries, in which the workmen use what are there called
dabbers. These dabbers, composed of glue and treacle, possessed every
requisite to hold and distribute the ink, spreading it evenly over the
form, besides being easily kept clean and pliable. This method was at
once seized upon by ingenious printers, who used it in time in the
cylinder form, as is common now in all printing-offices.
Formerly, the word _the_ was indicated by the letters _y_ and _e_,
thus--_y^e_; _&_ was used for _and_; with other ungainly abbreviations.
Connected letters were also employed; _c_ and _t_ were joined by a
curve from the top of one to the other; and when two _s’s_ occurred a
long _ſ_ was used.
[Illustration: COMPOSITION ROOM.]
Instead of ponderous folios and quartos, untitled, unpaged, and
unparagraphed; without capitals, and with words so huddled together
as to put the reader to his wit’s end to make out the meaning, now we
have the beautiful pocket and library editions, convenient in size,
clear and intelligible within,--“books that you may carry to the fire
and hold readily in your hand,” as Dr. Johnson says.
We have, in imagination, visited Gutenberg’s Printing Rooms, and can
vividly recall his rude beginnings and slow and toilsome methods;
his printing-press; the wonder of that age,--only turning off a few
hundred impressions per diem. With this in mind, let us step into a
representative printing establishment of our times,--the “Riverside,”
at Cambridge, Mass.; for we wish to get a just idea of the Art of arts.
We will first visit the Composition Room.
Ranged down the sides of the room we see scores of laborers
industriously at work, each one before a stand or frame, in shape
similar to the music-stand at an orchestra. Each frame is constructed
so as to hold two pairs of cases, one containing the Roman, the other
the Italic letters of the same “fount,” or kind. The upper case has
ninety-eight little divisions for the different kinds of type; the
lower case has fifty-four boxes, arranged as in the diagram on the
opposite page. The “compositor” or “type-setter,” is said to “work at
case;” for all the types are sorted in “cases,” or shallow, open and
divided boxes; the lower case, or the one nearest him, having all the
small letters, points, and spaces to place between the words, and the
upper case containing all capitals, accented letters, figures, and
characters used as references to notes. Each letter has a larger or
smaller box appropriated to it, according as it is seldom or frequently
required, while the letters most needed occupy the position most
convenient for the compositor.
In the English language, the letter _e_ inhabits the largest box; _a_,
_c_, _d_, _h_, _i_, _m_, _n_, _o_, _r_, _s_, _t_, _u_, live in the
next-sized apartments; _b_, _f_, _g_, _l_, _p_, _v_, _w_, _y_, dwell in
what may be called the bed-rooms; while _j_, _k_, _q_, _x_, _z_, _æ_,
and _œ_, double letters, etc., are more humbly lodged in cupboards,
garrets, and cellars, as we call the various compartments of the case.
The reason of this arrangement is, that the letter _e_ being visited
by the compositor sixty times as often as _z_,--his hand spending an
hour in the former box for every minute in the latter,--it is advisable
that the letters oftenest required should be in the nearest and largest
boxes; everything being systematized so as to secure accuracy and
despatch.
[Illustration:
+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+
| & | fl | ff | fi | j | k | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+
| ’ | | | | | | | | | 5m | 9 |
| | | | | | | | | |space| |
+---+ b | c | d | e | i | s | f | g +-----+-----+
| ! | | | | | | | | | 4m | 0 |
| | | | | | | | | |space| |
+---+---+-------+-------+-------+-------+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+
| ? | | | | | | | | | | n | m |
+---+ l | m | n | h | o | y | p | , | w |quad.|quad.|
| z | | | | | | | | | | ▌ | █ |
+---+---+-------+-------+-------+-------+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+
| x | | | | 3m | | | ; | : | |
+---+ v | u | t | space | a | r +---+---+ quadrat. |
| q | | | | | | | . | - | |
+---+---+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+---+---+-----------+