Printing and bookbinding for schools

by Samuel Jesse Vaughn

WHAT TO PRINT AND HOW TO PROCEED

In discussing the matter of the proper printing for the public schools, let us not forget this general proposition, i. e., that the claim of printing to a place as a school art must rest upon its force as an educational factor and not upon the fact that, by a species of child labor, money may be made or saved.

There may be done some work of a commercial nature, of course, as in any kind of so-called industrial work, and thereby money be saved for the institution or the community. But the fact that some of the work results in financial gain or saving is incidental, although it may help to add interest and reality to the work. However, the work of the school print shop should be largely such as, in the absence of the school shop, would not be printed.

School printing may be grouped loosely into three classes:

1. Material whose content appeals to the pupils and whose merit justifies permanent form. It is always a happy condition when the matter which we ask the boys and girls to print appeals to them on its own merit as something that deserves to be perpetuated. The book idea presupposes permanency of content. So the book, printed and bound by the pupils and containing their favorite selections, makes a strong appeal. Literature classes collect ballads, lyrics, and other forms of literature for such work. Books of ballads suited to the various grades might profitably be prepared. The broadsheet idea may be taken advantage of to popularize national airs, patriotic songs, crisp maxims, rare bits of humor, etc.

2. Such temporary material as connects intimately with the school work and does a genuine service. An abundance of valuable material may be found in connection with elementary reading, nature study, geography, gardening, constructive work, etc. Stories relating to these subjects and written by the children may be printed and furnished to the children for reading matter. The development of dramatization in the schools offers material for the printshop. A story like “Treasure Island” or “Kinmont Willie” is read by the boys and girls, who set themselves to the task of putting it into dramatic form. Pupils take up the work of printing such a production with the greatest of interest whether it is the work of their own or of another class. The school paper is a valuable thing from every point of view. Spelling lists, binders’ notes inserted in rebound books, programs of school entertainments, Xmas and Easter cards, etc., come under this second division.

3. This class includes such work as would ordinarily be sent to the commercial printer. Letter heads, office blanks, report cards, business notices, official announcements, etc., come under this head. Some of this can be handled to the profit of both the boys and the school and without injustice to the commercial printer.

In beginning printing with a class, it is believed to be best to take advantage of the wide-eyed curiosity and intense interest of the pupils, simply to make them familiar with the locations of the various parts of the equipment and the names of the various tools of the printer. Just the pointing out and reciting of the names of the leads, slugs, furniture, etc., are sufficient to hold the rapt attention of the class.

During the early period is a good time for investigations by the pupils as to the origin and development of printing, the story of movable type, the evolution of the press, the relation of printing to progress, etc. This plan of having the pupils get as much relevant information as possible concerning their new activity, under the impulse of this first enthusiasm, proves to be an effective method of teaching as well as valuable and timely work for the boys and girls. The same eagerness to become familiar with the work makes the lay of the cases an easy matter to get before the class. Almost without exception the boys ask for the privilege of making individual diagrams of the cases, for pocket reference. The very irregularity and confusion of the lower case somehow appeal to the boys, and they take great pride in mastering what seems at first glance almost a puzzle.

The explanation that j and u were the last letters added to the alphabet and that they occupy positions in the capital case corresponding to the time of their additions, makes the lay of the capital case easy to remember.

Considerable time may well be devoted to just this kind of work.

In familiarizing themselves with the case, the pupils may well begin the use of the job stick and the practice of properly holding it, by the use of large type, in setting up their names and such simple matter as they care to attempt, putting the type back again into the proper boxes. When simple composition is begun, it is thought best that each piece of work should run through the typical processes, setting up the type, emptying the stick, proofing, correcting, tying up, removing to the stone, locking up, and printing. The presswork for these first efforts may be done by the teacher by way of demonstrations, so that the pupils become familiar with the methods of handling a press.

The class should be kept for a considerable time on such work as labels, name cards, spelling lists, etc., gradually working into the longer compositions of plain, straight matter.

When it comes to the larger jobs, one piece of work may be divided among several pupils or even the whole class.

Of course, in all this work, there must be constant reference and attention to the various rules of composition, such as justification, spacing, margins, etc.

As the class advances, it is well to have each boy do a little press work by himself. He will prepare the make-ready, which the instructor has previously demonstrated, ink the press, set the gauge pins, and run off the job, under the close scrutiny of the teacher. In handling jobs of two or more pages, the pupils have experience in proofing, making up the matter into page forms, and of imposing or locking it up. It is well to have the list of proof marks conspicuously on the board and to insist upon the pupils’ use of them in a correct and intelligent way.

At the close of the eighth year and in the high school, the handling of cuts, tabular work, and the more difficult processes all along the line is expected.

Not only must the boys use the cuts in printing but they ought to make the wood cuts, zinc etchings, and copper plates as frequently as possible from designs and illustrations prepared by themselves.

During the work in printing, the teacher should not overlook or neglect any illustrative material that may be available, and which may be of value in setting standards, arousing ambitions, and offering suggestions for improvement. Visits to commercial print shops are an excellent thing from the standpoint of all these considerations. In studying the arrangements of the parts of a broken page, or of an advertisement, it has proved interesting and profitable to cut out the parts of the printed matter collected for study, and to reassemble them by pasting them to another page. The variety in the matter of margins, spacing, and grouping that can be had by such a treatment, is often really surprising. Then when there are added the possibilities of different sizes and kinds of type, the colors of ink, and the colors and textures of paper, the effects that may be produced are without limit.