Transcriber’s Note
This e-text uses a lot of uncommon Unicode characters, for example ℔ (U+2114 L B BAR SYMBOL), ꝥ (U+A765 LATIN SMALL LETTER THORN WITH STROKE), ♈ (U+2648 ARIES). If these (and others) don’t display for you, you may need to install additional fonts on your device. In particular, a Fraktur/‘black letter’ font (such as Old English Text MT) is recommended for the parts of the book dealing with German typography.
Page numbering replicates that in the original: pp. i-xiv in Roman, followed by page 9 sqq. in Arabic numerals. No pages are missing or duplicated.
Further notes appear [at the end].
THE
American Printer:
A Manual of Typography,
CONTAINING
PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR MANAGING ALL DEPARTMENTS
OF A PRINTING OFFICE,
AS WELL AS
Complete Instructions for Apprentices:
WITH SEVERAL USEFUL TABLES,
NUMEROUS SCHEMES FOR IMPOSING FORMS IN EVERY VARIETY,
HINTS TO AUTHORS, ETC.
By Thomas MacKellar, Ph. D.
FIAT LUX.
PHILADELPHIA:
MACKELLAR, SMITHS & JORDAN FOUNDRY.
1893.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by
L. Johnson & Company,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by
MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
Eighteenth Edition—Revised and Enlarged.
ELECTROTYPED BY
MACKELLAR, SMITHS & JORDAN FOUNDRY,
PHILADELPHIA.
EIGHTEENTH EDITION.
This edition of the American Printer, while essentially the same as the previous one, contains some additional matter.
Philadelphia,
March, 1893.
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
Usefulness rather than originality has been aimed at in the preparation of the American Printer, which is offered as an improvement on the typographical work formerly published by us. In addition to the results of actual personal experience embodied in the volume, information has been gathered and extracts have been freely made from various publications, such as Ames and Dibdin’s Typographical Antiquities, Thomas’s History of Printing, Timperley’s Dictionary of Printers and Printing, Savage’s Dictionary of Printing, Johnson’s Typographia, Chambers’s Encyclopædia, Beadnell’s Guide to Typography, as well as other books referred to in the notes. The work has been prepared amid the manifold interruptions incident to business life; yet we think nothing has been overlooked that is essential for the instruction of the learner or for the assistance of the workman.
Besides the matter relating to practical typography, the volume contains a sketch of the discovery of printing, and notices of type-founding, stereotyping, electrotyping, and lithography. The implements employed in typography are described and their uses explained; and complete schemes for imposition are laid down. The valuable tables and the plans of cases for various languages, and for music and labour-saving rule, will be found extremely useful; as well as the extensive lists of abbreviations and of foreign words and phrases, and orthographical hints.
Special attention has been given in setting forth the functions and duties of the foreman and proof-reader, so that the operations of an office may be prosecuted with efficiency, comfort, and economy.
Authors and publishers, as well as young printers, may consult the volume with profit; and, indeed, any intelligent person will find it serviceable.
CONTENTS.
| PAGE. | |
| Rise and Progress of Printing | [13-48] |
| Discovery of Printing—Laurentius Koster—Geinsfleisch—Gutenberg—Fust—Bible printed—Peter Schœffer—Caxton—Ulrich Zell—Lambert Palmaert—Abraham Colorito—Humphreys and De Vinne on the invention of printing—Lenox’s collection of rare Bibles—Ancient typographical peculiarities—Catchwords—Invention of Signatures—Printing introduced into America—Type-founding in Europe—Decree of the Star Chamber—Type-founding in America—Prices of Type—Stereotyping—Electrotyping—Lithography—Engraving—Walk over a type-foundry. | |
| Implements or Tools of the Art | [49-120] |
| Types—Roman letter—Italic—Black—Anglo-Saxon—Names and sizes of type—Gradations of type—Point System of Type bodies—A Bill of Pica—A Fount of type—Capitals—Small capitals—Points—Apostrophe—Hyphen—Parenthesis and Bracket—References—Accents—Numerals—Arabic figures—Old-style figures—Cancelled figures—Fractions—Signs—Metal rules or dashes—Braces—Spaces—Two-line letters—Quadrates—Quotations—Labour-saving quotation furniture—Hollow quadrates—Circular quadrates—Labour-saving curvatures—Leads—Flowers and borders—Brass rule—Brass labour-saving rule—Improved labour-saving rule case—Earliest written sounds—Hieroglyphic alphabet—Runic alphabets—Anglo-Saxon alphabet and plan of cases—German alphabet and plan of cases—Greek alphabet and plan of cases—Hebrew alphabet and plan of cases—Russian alphabet—Comparative table of bodies of Music type—Music composition—Music cases—Modern conveniences. | |
| Composition | [121-140] |
| General remarks—Requisites in an apprentice—American cases—Position of a compositor—Laying type—Distributing—Composing—Spacing—Justifying—Head-lines—Notes—Blanking—Paragraphs—Indexes—Titles—Dedications—Contents—Prefaces—Signaturing—Errata—Ironical rules—Advice to apprentices—Ironical rules for beginners in business. | |
| Imposition | [141-199] |
| General remarks—Tying up pages—Laying pages—Making up furniture—Making the margin—Locking up forms—Memoranda—Nomenclature of sheets—Schemes for imposing, from folio to 128mo. | |
| Proof-reading and Correcting | [200-217] |
| Qualifications of a reader—Should be a printer—Indebtedness of authors to proof-readers—Process of reading—Proof record—Errors made in correcting—Two readers desirable—Punctuation—Alterations in proof—Stower’s remarks—Revise—Correcting in the metal—Capricious alterations—Proper method of correcting—Over-running—Hints to authors—Table of proof-marks, with explanations—Table of signatures. | |
| The Foreman or Overseer | [218-234] |
| General duties—Treatment of compositors—Punctuality—Morning duties—Knowledge of all materials on hand—Order—Overseeing work—Regulating takes of copy—Prompt reading and correcting—Memorandum—Press-book—Press duties—Warehouse—Casting off copy—Managing hurried work—Companionships—Taking copy—Making up—Dividing the letter—Making up furniture—Imposing and distributing letter—Correcting—Transposition of pages—Rules to be observed in a printing-office. | |
| The Press and its Working | [235-292] |
| History of the printing-press—Blaeu, its first improver—Ramage press—Stanhope press—Clymer or Columbian press—Smith press—Washington press—Adams’s bed-and-platen power-press—Invention of the Cylinder press—Frederick König—William Nicholson—Dr. Kinsley—Applegath and Cowper—Account of the house of R. Hoe & Co.—Stop Cylinder press—Cottrell & Babcock presses—Campbell presses—Richard M. Hoe’s type-revolving printing machine—Bullock perfecting press—The Walter perfecting press—The Hoe perfecting press—Presses at the Centennial Exhibition, 1876—Railroad-ticket printing and numbering press—Job presses—Ruggles, Hoe, Gordon, Degener, Wells, and Gally—Franklin press—Nonpareil press—Fire-fly press—Liberty press—Globe press—Peerless press—Universal press—Amateur presses—Folding machines—Setting up a Washington press—Setting up the roller-stand—Composition rollers—Melting kettle—Covering tympans—Wetting paper—Blankets—Making ready a form on a hand-press—Pulling—Rules and remedies for pressmen—Ley-trough—Making ready on cylinder presses—Fine hand-presswork—Printing wood-cuts—Card printing—Gold printing—Bronze printing—Printing in colours—Ink stone and muller—How to use dry colours—How to multiply colours—Contrast of colours—Oiling a press—How to treat wood type. | |
| Warehouse Department | [293-299] |
| Warehouseman—Warehouse-Book—Receipt of paper and delivery of sheets—Giving out paper to wet—Over-sheets—Hanging up paper to dry—Taking down sheets when dry—Filling in and pressing sheets—Counting out and putting away sheets—Standard sizes of machine-made paper—Table for giving out paper for a thousand copies. | |
| Jobbing Facilities | [300-310] |
| Selection of type and presses—How to make a paying business—Memorandum order—Estimate book—Ames’s paper and card scale—Le Blond’s chart—Cabinets and cases—Rules for the government of a job office—Job composing-sticks—Patent quoins—Corner quadrates—Shooting sticks—Mitering machine—Lead cutter—Perforating machines—Imposing stone—Copy-holder—Paper and card cutters—Megill’s patent gauge pin—Extension feed-guide—Automatic counters—Patent ink fountain—Iron furniture. | |
| Useful Receipts | [311-317] |
| How to make printers’ rollers—German preservative for rollers—Directions for recasting rollers—Printers’ ley—Paste—Mucilage—Glue—Gum—Magenta surface paper—Coloured writing inks—Fire-proof ink—Printing ink varnish—Lithographic transfer ink—To give dark printing inks a bronze or changeable hue—An ink for marking tin or zinc—Drying preparations—Silvering solutions—To soften leather belting—How to open a ball of twine—To prevent adhesion of paper—To detect ground wood in paper—French gold printing—Transfer varnish—To make paper waterproof—To preserve books—To restore engravings. | |
| Orthographical | [318-332] |
| Discrepancies—a or an before a vowel or silent h—o or oh—able and ible—im or in and em or en—in and un—ise and ize—or and our—sion and tion—Farther and further—Peas and pease—Omission of s in the possessive case—Formation of the plurals of words compounded of a noun and an adjective—Pointing of numbers, weights, measures, &c.—Derivation of English words—Rules for spelling—Plurals of nouns. | |
| How to Secure Copyrights | [333-335] |
| Printed title required—Application to be made to Librarian of Congress—Style of printed title—Fees—Two complete copies required—Penalty—Notice of copyright to be given by imprint—Form of notice—Penalty for false notice—Authors may reserve the right to translate or dramatize—Form of notice—Original works only will be entered—Duration of copyright—Renewal—Form of application for renewal—Time of publication—Copyright may be secured for a projected as well as for a completed work—Assignments—Fees—Copies or duplicate certificates—Serials or separate publications—Copyright required for each volume or part of a book—Copyrights for works of art—Copyrights cannot be granted upon trade-marks or labels—Fee for registering at Patent Office—Citizens or residents of the United States only entitled to copyright—Full name and residence of claimant required. | |
| The Metric System | [336, 337] |
| Technical Terms of the Craft | [338-343] |
| Abbreviations | [344-356] |
| Foreign Words and Phrases | [357-372] |
| Index | [373-383] |
HORN-BOOK OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
The Song of the Printer.
Pick and click
Goes the type in the stick,
As the printer stands at his case;
His eyes glance quick, and his fingers pick
The type at a rapid pace;
And one by one as the letters go,
Words are piled up steady and slow—
Steady and slow,
But still they grow,
And words of fire they soon will glow;
Wonderful words, that without a sound
Traverse the earth to its utmost bound;
Words that shall make
The tyrant quake,
And the fetters of the oppress’d shall break;
Words that can crumble an army’s might,
Or treble its strength in a righteous fight.
Yet the types they look but leaden and dumb,
As he puts them in place with finger and thumb
But the printer smiles,
And his work beguiles
By chanting a song as the letters he piles,
With pick and click,
Like the world’s chronometer, tick! tick! tick!
O, where is the man with such simple tools
Can govern the world as I?
With a printing press, an iron stick,
And a little leaden die.
With paper of white, and ink of black,
I support the Right, and the Wrong attack.
Say, where is he, or who may he be,
That can rival the printer’s power?
To no monarchs that live the wall doth he give:
Their sway lasts only an hour;
While the printer still grows, and God only knows
When his might shall cease to tower!
Anon.
Hereby, tongues are known, knowledge groweth, judgment increaseth, books are dispersed, the Scripture is read, stories be opened, times compared, truth discerned, falsehood detected and with finger pointed, and (all as I said) through the benefit of Printing.
Fox’s Martyrs.
At the very epoch when the greatness of Burgundy was most swiftly ripening, another weapon was secretly forging, more potent in the great struggle for freedom than any which the wit or hand of man has ever devised or wielded. When Philip the Good, in the full blaze of his power, and flushed with the triumphs of territorial aggrandizement, was instituting at Bruges the order of the Golden Fleece, “to the glory of God, of the blessed Virgin, and of the holy Andrew, patron saint of the Burgundian family,” and enrolling the names of the kings and princes who were to be honoured with its symbols, at that very moment, an obscure citizen of Haarlem, one Lorenz Coster, or Lawrence the Sexton, succeeded in printing a little grammar, by means of movable types. The invention of printing was accomplished, but it was not ushered in with such a blaze of glory as heralded the contemporaneous erection of the Golden Fleece. The humble setter of types did not deem emperors and princes alone worthy his companionship. His invention sent no thrill of admiration throughout Christendom; and yet, what was the good Philip of Burgundy, with his Knights of the Golden Fleece, and all their effulgent trumpery, in the eye of humanity and civilization, compared with the poor sexton and his wooden type?
Motley’s Rise of the Dutch Republic, Vol. i, 45.
