By J. Stearns Cushing.
The form of the book, the size of the type page, and the size and
style of the type having been determined, the manuscript is handed to
the foreman of the composing room, with all the collected directions
in regard to it. He fills out a scheme of the work which tells the
whole story,--somewhat as shown in illustration opposite page 42.
Under the heading "Remarks," in the scheme shown, are noted general
directions as to capitalization, punctuation, and spelling (whether
Webster, Worcester, or English spelling--which means generally not
much more than the insertion of the "u" in words like "favor,"
"honor," etc., and the use of "s" instead of "z" in words like
"recognize," "authorize," etc.). Sometimes these directions are given
by the publisher, sometimes by the author, but more often by the
superintendent or foreman of the printing-office. The office generally
has a fairly well established system, which is followed in the absence
of other orders. It is rarely the case that it is not the wisest
course, if one is dealing with a reputable firm of printers, to leave
all such details, except deciding the dictionary to be followed, to
them. It is their business, and they will, if allowed, pursue a
consistent and uniform plan, whereas few authors and fewer publishers
are able, or take the pains, to do this. Too often the author has a
few peculiar ideas as to punctuation or capitalization, which he
introduces just frequently enough to upset the consistent plan of the
printer. He will neither leave the responsibility to the latter nor
will he assume it himself, and the natural result is a lack of
uniformity which might have been avoided if the printer had been
allowed to guide this part of the work without interference.
The compositors who are to set the type are selected according to the
difficulty of the matter in hand, and each one is given a few pages of
the "copy," or manuscript. The portion thus given each compositor is
called a "take," and its length is determined by circumstances. For
instance, if time is an object, small takes are given, in order that
the next step in the forwarding of the work may be started promptly
and without the delay which would be occasioned by waiting for the
compositor to set up a longer take.
When the compositor has finished his take, the copy and type are
passed to a boy, who "locks up" the type on the galley--a flat brass
tray with upright sides on which the compositor has placed his
type--and takes a proof of it upon a galley-or "roller"-press. This is
the proof known as a "galley-proof," and is, in book work, printed on
a strip of paper about 7 x 25 inches in size, leaving room for a
generous margin to accommodate proof-readers' and authors'
corrections, alterations, or additions.
[Illustration: MEMORANDUM No.
Date: ____
Name and Address of Author: ____
Name and Address of Publisher: ____
Uniform with ____
Size of Page: ____
Type,--Old Style or Modern face: ____
Text in ____ leaded with ____
Foot-notes ____ in leaded with ____
Extract in ____ leaded with ____
Other Types: ____
Running Titles in ____
Left-hand Running Title: ____
Right-hand Running Title: ____
PROOFS to be sent as follows:
1st Rev. and Copy to ____
2d Rev. and Old Rev. to ____
(Put Changes of Orders as to Proofs in this column.)
F. Proofs: ____
When begun: ____ When to be completed: ____
REMARKS. ____]
[Illustration: Example of a proof-read page of "Address at Gettysburg".]
The galley-proof, with the corresponding copy, is then handed to the
proof-reader, who is assisted by a "copy-holder" (an assistant who
reads the copy aloud) in comparing it with the manuscript and marking
typographical errors and departures from copy on its margin. Thence
the proof passes back again to the compositor, who corrects the type
in accordance with the proof-reader's markings. Opposite page 44 is a
specimen of a page proof before correction and after the changes
indicated have been made.
New proofs are taken of the corrected galley, and these are revised by
a proof-reader in order to be sure that the compositor has made all
the corrections marked and to mark anew any he may have overlooked or
wrongly altered. If many such occur, the proof is again passed to the
compositor for further correction and the taking of fresh proofs. The
reviser having found the proof reasonably correct, and having marked
on its margin any noticed errors remaining, and also having "Queried"
to the author any doubtful points to which it is desirable that the
latter's attention should be drawn, the proof--known as the "first
revise"--and the manuscript are sent to the author for his reading and
correction or alteration.[2]
[Footnote 2: If the book is to be illustrated, the
author or publisher should be particular to
indicate the position of all cuts by pasting proofs
of them on the margin of the galley-proofs nearest
the place desired. The time occupied by the
"make-up" in "overrunning" matter for the insertion
of cuts is charged as "author's time," and they can
be inserted at less expense in the galley-proofs
while making-up the type into pages than at any
other time. All alterations, so far as practicable,
for the same reason, should also be made in the
galley-proofs, especially those which involve an
increase or decrease in the amount of matter, since
changes of this nature made in the page-proof
necessitate the added expense of a rearrangement of
the made-up pages of type.]
On the return of the galley-proofs to the printer, the changes
indicated on the margins are made by compositors selected for the
purpose, and the galleys of type and the proofs are then turned over
by them to the "make-up." The "make-up" inserts the cuts, divides the
matter into page lengths, and adds the running titles and folios at
the heads of the pages.
At this stage the separate types composing the page are held in place
and together by strong twine called "page cord," which is wound around
the whole page several times, the end being so tucked in at the corner
as to prevent its becoming unfastened prematurely. The page thus held
together is quite secure against being "pied" if proper care is
exercised in handling it, and it can be put on a hand-press and
excellent proofs readily taken from it. A loosely tied page, however,
may allow the letters to spread apart at the ends of the lines, or the
type to get "off its feet," or may show lines slightly curved or
letters out of alignment. The proof of a page displaying such
conditions often causes the author, unlearned in printers' methods,
much perturbation of mind and unnecessary fear that his book is going
to be printed with these defects. These should in reality be no cause
for worry, since by a later operation, that of "locking-up" the "form"
in which the pages will be placed before they are sent to the
electrotyping department, the types readily and correctly adjust
themselves.
Proofs of these twine-bound pages are taken on a hand-press, passed to
the reviser for comparison with the galley-proofs returned by the
author, and if the latter has expressed a wish to see a second revise
of the proofs, they are again sent to him. For such a "second revise"
and any further revises an extra charge is made. The proofs to which
an author is regularly entitled are a duplicate set of the first
revise, a duplicate set of "F"-proofs,--to be mentioned later,--and
one set of proofs of the electrotype plates; though it may be added
that the last is not at all essential and is seldom called for.
Usually the author does not require to see another proof after the
second revise, which he returns to the printer with his final changes
and the direction that the pages may be "corrected and cast," that
is, put into the permanent form of electrotype plates. Some authors,
however, will ask to see and will make alterations in revise after
revise, even to the sixth or seventh, and could probably find
something to change in several more if the patience or pocketbook of
the publisher would permit it. All the expense of overhauling,
correcting, and taking additional proofs of the pages is charged by
the printer as "author's time." It is possible for an author to make
comparatively few and simple changes each time he receives a new
revise, but yet have a much larger bill for author's changes than
another who makes twice or thrice as many alterations at one time on
the galley-proof, and only requires another proof in order that he may
verify the correctness of the printer's work. The moral is obvious.
After the pages have been cast, further alterations, while entirely
possible, are quite expensive and necessarily more or less injurious
to the plates.
The author having given the word to "cast," the pages of type are laid
on a smooth, level table of iron or marble called an "imposing stone."
They are then enclosed--either two or three or four pages together,
according to their size--in iron frames called "chases," in which they
are squarely and securely "locked up," the type having first been
levelled down by light blows of a mallet on a block of smooth, hard
wood called a "planer." This locking-up of the pages in iron frames
naturally corrects the defects noted in the twine-bound pages, and not
only brings the type into proper alignment and adjustment, but
prevents the probability of types becoming displaced or new errors
occurring through types dropping out of the page and being wrongly
replaced.
When the locking-up process is completed, the iron chase and type
embraced by it is called a "form." A proof of this form is read and
examined by a proof-reader with the utmost care, with a view to
eliminating any remaining errors or defective types or badly adjusted
lines, and to making the pages as nearly typographically perfect as
possible. It is surprising how many glaring errors, which have eluded
all readers up to this time, are discovered by the practised eye of
the final proof-reader.
The form having received this most careful final reading, the proof is
passed back to the "stone-hands"--those who lock up and correct the
forms--for final correction and adjustment, after which several more
sets of proofs are taken, called "F"-proofs (variously and correctly
understood as standing for "final," "file," or "foundry" proofs). A
set of F-proofs is sent to the author to keep on file, occasionally
one is sent to the publisher, and one set is always retained in the
proof-room of the printing-office. These proofs are characterized by
heavy black borders which enclose each page, and which frequently
render nervous authors apprehensive lest their books are to appear in
this funereal livery. These black borders are the prints of the
"guard-lines," which, rising to the level of the type, form a
protection to the pages and the plates in their progress through the
electrotyping department; but before the plates are finished up and
made ready for the pressroom, the guard-lines, which have been moulded
with the type, are removed.
After several sets of F-proofs have been taken, the form is carried to
the moulding or "battery" room of the electrotyping department, where
it leaves its perfect impress in the receptive wax. Thence it will
later be returned to the composing room and taken apart and the type
distributed, soon to be again set up in new combinations of letters
and words. The little types making a page of verse to-day may do duty
to-morrow in a page of a text-book in the higher mathematics.
After the type form has been warmed by placing it upon a steam table,
an impression of it is taken in a composition resembling wax which is
spread upon a metal slab to the thickness of about one-twelfth of an
inch. Both the surface of the type and of the wax are thoroughly
coated with plumbago or black lead, which serves as a lubricant to
prevent the wax from adhering to the type.
As the blank places in the form would not provide sufficient depth in
the plate, it is necessary to build them up in the wax mould by
dropping more melted wax in such places to a height corresponding to
the depth required in the plate, which is, of course, the reverse of
the mould, and will show corresponding depressions wherever the mould
has raised parts. If great care is not taken in this operation of
"building-up," wax is apt to flow over into depressions in the mould,
thereby effacing from it a part of the impression, and the plate
appears later without the letters or words thus unintentionally
blotted out. The reviser of the plate-proofs must watch carefully for
such cases.
The mould is now thoroughly brushed over again with a better quality
of black lead than before, and this furnishes the necessary metallic
surface without which the copper would not deposit. Then it is
"stopped out" by going over its edges with a hot iron, which melts the
wax, destroys the black-lead coating, and confines the deposit of
copper to its face.
After carefully clearing the face of the mould of all extraneous
matter by a stream of water from a force-pump, it is washed with a
solution of iron filings and blue vitriol which forms a primary copper
facing. It is then suspended by a copper-connecting strip in a bath
containing a solution of sulphate of copper, water, and sulphuric
acid. Through the instrumentality of this solution, and the action of
a current of electricity from a dynamo, copper particles separate
from sheets of copper (called "anodes," which are also suspended in
the bath) and deposit into the face of the mould, thus exactly
reproducing the elevations and depressions of the form of type or
illustrations of which the mould is an impression. After remaining in
the bath about two hours, when the deposit of copper should be about
as thick as a visiting card, the mould is taken from the bath and the
copper shell removed from the wax by pouring boiling hot water upon
it. A further washing in hot lye, and a bath in an acid pickle,
completely removes every vestige of wax from the shell. The back of
the shell is now moistened with soldering fluid and covered with a
layer of tin-foil, which acts as a solder between the copper and the
later backing of lead.
The shells are now placed face downward in a shallow pan, and melted
lead is poured upon them until of a sufficient depth; then the whole
mass is cooled off, and the solid lead plate with copper face is
removed from the pan and carried to the finishing room, where it is
planed down to a standard thickness of about one-seventh of an inch.
The various pages in the cast are sawed apart, the guard-lines
removed, side and foot edges bevelled, head edge trimmed square, and
the open or blank parts of the plate lowered by a routing machine to a
sufficient depth to prevent their showing later on the printed sheet.
Then a proof taken from the plates is carefully examined for
imperfections, and the plates are corrected or repaired accordingly,
and are now ready for the press.
Although, owing to the expense and to the fact that the plate is more
or less weakened thereby, it is desirable to avoid as much as possible
making alterations in the plates, they can be made, and the following
is the course generally pursued. If the change involves but a letter
or two, the letters in the plate are cut out and new type letters are
inserted; but if the alteration involves a whole word or more, it is
inadvisable to insert the lead type, owing to its being softer and
less durable than the copper-faced plate, and it will therefore soon
show more wear than the rest of the page; and so it is customary to
reset and electrotype so much of the page as is necessary to
incorporate the proposed alteration, and then to substitute this part
of the page for the part to be altered, by cutting out the old and
soldering in the new piece, which must of course exactly correspond in
size.
As a patched plate is apt at any time to go to pieces on the press,
and may destroy other plates around it, or may even damage the press
itself, it is generally considered best to cast a new plate from the
patched one. This does not, however, apply to plates in which only
single letters or words have been inserted, but to those which have
been cut apart their whole width for the insertion of one or more
lines.
The plates having been finally approved, they are made up in groups
(or "signatures") of sixteen, and packed in strong boxes for future
storage. Each box generally contains three of these groups, or
forty-eight plates, and is plainly marked with the title of the book
and the numbers of the signatures contained therein.
The longevity of good electrotype plates is dependent upon the care
with which they are handled and the quality of paper printed from
them; but with smooth book paper and good treatment it is entirely
possible to print from them a half million impressions without their
showing any great or material wear.