TECHNICAL TERMS USED IN THIS WORK.
CASE. A frame divided into boxes, or compartments, for holding types.
The upper case contains capitals; the lower case, small letters.
CHAPEL. An association of workmen in a printing-office.
CHASE. An iron frame in which the pages of matter are locked up.
DOUBLET. A portion of a take repeated by the compositor. For instance:
“It is of no use to lament our misfortunes, of no benefit to grieve
over past mistakes.” Suppose the compositor to have set up as far
as the second “no” inclusive,—he then glances at his copy for the
following words, but his eye catches the _first_ “no,” and he resets
what is already in his stick. Of course the proof will read thus:
“It is of no use to lament our misfortunes, of no use to lament our
misfortunes, of no benefit to grieve over,” etc.
FORM. The pages of matter inclosed in the chase.
GALLEY. A frame which receives the contents of the composing-stick.
When the stick is full, it is emptied upon a galley.
IMPOSE. To lay the made-up pages of matter on the stone, and fit on the
chase in order to carry the form to press.
INDENTION. The blank space at the beginning of a common paragraph, or
of a line of poetry, etc. When the first line is not indented, while
the following lines of the paragraph have a blank space before them,
the paragraph is said to be set with a “hanging indention.”
_Specimen of Hanging Indention._
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in
General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same.
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JUSTIFY. To insert spaces between the words of a line of type, so that
the line shall exactly fit the width of the stick.
_To_ LOCK UP A FORM is to drive quoins (wedges) in such a manner as to
hold the type firmly in the chase.
_To_ MAKE UP is to adjust the matter in pages of equal length, as
nearly as may be, for imposition.
MATTER. Types set up, so as to form a word or words. When it is to be
distributed (put back into the cases), it is known as “dead” matter. If
not yet printed, or if destined for further use, it is called “live”
matter.
OUT. A portion of a take, accidentally omitted by a compositor. An
“out” is generally referable, as in the case of the “doublet,” to the
recurrence of some word, or sequence of letters. For instance: a take
had in it, “He injured his foot, by wearing a tight boot.” The proof
had, only, “He injured his foot.” The compositor had the whole sentence
in his mind; and having set the final letters “oot,” referred these to
the last word, “boot,” and thought he had set the whole sentence.
QUÆRE, or QUERY, variously abbreviated, as _Qu._ _Qy._ or _Qr._, and
sometimes represented by an interrogation point, is written in the
margin of the proof-sheet, to draw the author’s attention to some
passage about which the proof-reader is in doubt.
REVISE. The second proof is a revise of the first, the third is a
revise of the second, etc. _To_ REVISE is to compare the second, or
any subsequent proof, with a preceding one, to see whether the proper
corrections have been made.
SHOOTING-STICK. A wedge-shaped piece of wood for tightening and
loosening the quoins that wedge up the pages in a chase.
SIGNATURE. A letter or figure at the bottom of the first page of every
sheet. It denotes the proper order of the sheets in binding.
SPACE. If a line of type be divided by vertical planes into exact
squares, each of these squares occupies the space of an _em_, or
_em-quadrat_. Ems are used to indent common paragraphs, and to separate
sentences in the same paragraph. {p204} The next thinner space is
the _en_, or _en-quadrat_, which is one-half of the em. The next
is one-third of the em, and is called the _three-em space_; next,
one-fourth of the em is the _four-em space_; then, one-fifth of the em
is the _five-em space_. Thinner than any of these is the _hair-space_.
The three-em space is generally used in composition; the other sizes
are needed in justifying.
STICK (COMPOSING-STICK). A frame of iron or steel, in which the
compositor sets up the type. By means of a movable slide, it can be
adjusted to the required length of line.
STONE. A table of marble, or other stone, on which forms are imposed,
and on which they are placed for correction.
TAKE. That portion of copy which the compositor takes to put in type
(or “set up”) at one time.
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