As it is very desirable that Authors, and those who may have to give directions to the Printer, should be acquainted with the manner in which Printing is performed, it may be proper, in commencing this little work, to give in the first place a brief outline of
The Printing Office is divided into two branches; the one entitled the Composing, the other the Press department.
The Composing-room is furnished with a number of what are called Cases,2-* properly fitted up, which are placed before the Compositor. The Compositor then places the Manuscript2-† before him, and taking a small iron frame, or measure, adapted to the purpose, fixes it by a screw to the width which the Page he is to set up is intended to be, and commences the putting it into Type, in the following manner. Supposing the first words of the Manuscript to be “The City of London,” he first selects the Capital Letter T, then the Lower-Case letter h, and then e, each from their respective compartments; after this he takes what is called a Space,2-‡ which is used to separate the words from each other; and thus proceeds until he comes to a Stop, which he selects in like manner, and places next to the last letter of the last word. When the frame he holds is filled, he removes the Type thus set into a larger, first to form Pages, and afterwards, when assembled together, to form Sheets.
The number of Pages in each Sheet is determined by the size in which the work is to be printed:—if in Folio, four pages; if in Quarto, eight pages; if in Octavo, sixteen; if in Duodecimo, twenty-four, &c.
When a sufficient number of Pages have been set to form a Sheet, they are what is called Imposed,3-* and the Forme is removed to the Press-room, where the first impression, technically called the first Proof, is taken off. This Proof is then transferred to the Reading room, where it is carefully compared with the original by two persons, one reading the Manuscript, and the other the Proof-sheet, marking as he goes on any errors which may have occurred in the Setting. This first Proof is then given back to the Compositor, who has the forme again laid on the stone, and having, as it is called, unlocked it,4-* proceeds to make such corrections as by the marks on the proof he is directed to.
When the Type has been made to correspond with the Manuscript, the first Corrected Proof is struck off, and transmitted to the Author. Should the Author not have occasion to make many alterations, he may not think it necessary to require a Second Proof; in that case he writes the word “Press” upon it, and having been again carefully read in the Office, it is then Printed off: but should it be otherwise, he writes the word “Revise” upon it, and it is again, when corrected, transmitted to him; and this as often as he may think necessary, until he adds the word “Press,” which is the order for Printing off the entire number of copies of which the Edition is to consist.
Thus, Sheet by Sheet,5-* the Printing is proceeded with: and as soon as one Sheet has been printed off, the Type used in that Sheet is distributed,5-† to be employed in setting up the subsequent parts of the work.
From what has been said, it will be seen that the principal expense in Printing a work is the setting of the Type, arising from the fact that the many thousand5-‡ Letters, Spaces, Points, &c. of which it is composed have each to be selected, assembled, and again distributed singly; in doing which the greatest attention and accuracy are necessary.
For the information of Authors not accustomed to Printing, it may be proper to state that the printing of the body of a work is always first in order; the Title, Preface, Contents, &c. being uniformly deferred till the completion.6-*
The process of Printing off a work is thus conducted. The quantity of Paper for Printing the number of sheets required is first laid open. It is then in successive portions of six or eight sheets dipped into a cistern of clear water, and laid one upon the other; when the whole has been thus immersed, a board of the proper size is placed on the top, and some heavy weights are added; thus the whole becomes properly imbued with moisture, and is fit for working. Without this, the paper would neither sink into the interstices, nor receive the ink; besides which, it would be very liable to injure the Type. When therefore the Paper has been thus prepared, it is laid on a stand adjoining the Press, and the process of Printing commences. Over the surface of the Type a Roller7-* charged with Printing Ink is passed; the Sheet is laid on a frame which falls exactly on the forme; it is then shut down, rolled under the bed of the Press, the screw is turned which causes the weight to descend, the impression is given, and another turn of the hand delivers the Sheet Printed.
It is not surprising that so powerful an engine as the Press should have attracted the combined attention of the learned and ingenious. Gentlemen have devoted much of their time to it. Among these may be mentioned Horace Walpole, who printed several of his favorite works at his seat, Strawberry Hill; Sir Egerton Brydges, at Lee Priory; and the late Earl Stanhope, at his family mansion, Chevening, Kent. To no one, probably, is the present advanced stage of Printing more indebted than to the last-named nobleman. With a natural talent for mechanical invention which no difficulty could subdue, he applied his enlightened mind with persevering ardour to a variety of useful objects, especially to the improvement of Printing. The result was not only the production of the most complete Printing Press then known, together with a variety of collateral improvements, but the increasing, if not originating, that impulse which has since carried this important branch of art so near to perfection.
To those who are accustomed to Printing, and who are aware how much its beauty depends on what is called the Press-work, to produce which long practice and great manual dexterity are necessary, it might have appeared impossible that any Machine could have been invented to perform such an operation with any degree of precision and success; yet this the continued labour of mechanical ingenuity has accomplished.
An inspection of it cannot fail to gratify every intelligent observer. Its use has now become very general.