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

GENERAL DUTIES.

Vigilant and conscientious oversight is the price of profit and success. An overseer or foreman of a printing-office should be of more than ordinary capacity, and able to keep his temper in firm control. His conduct should be guided by justice and equity in regard to the interests of the employer and the employed. A strict impartiality should be observed in his treatment of the workmen, and no favouritism should be displayed. He should make himself acquainted with the capacity of the men, and apportion work among them accordingly. Some men are valueless except for plain, straightforward composition; others, distinguished for taste and skill, delight in intricate work or matter requiring ingenuity and delicacy, such as tables, music, and algebra. Put one of the first kind on this sort of composition, and he will botch it, and earn small wages; while a workman of the latter class will become restive and dissatisfied with plain, solid matter. While dealing justly with the men under his charge, the foreman should see to it that the employer suffers no detriment from negligent or dishonest practices of unconscientious workmen, whether from careless correcting, allowing dropped types to lie upon the floor, or overcharging, or other methods well known in a printing-office. He should be the first and the last in attendance, in order to satisfy himself that every person does his duty in coming and leaving at the proper time.

LARGE SORT-CASE CABINET, FOR SORTS, QUADS, ETC.

The office having been thoroughly swept at an early hour, and the type found in any alley having been placed in the stick of the compositor occupying it, the foreman should pass around the room and see that it is immediately distributed, instead of being thrown on the window-frame or table. The type found in the body of the rooms should be sorted out and distributed at once, and not be allowed to accumulate. No pi should be permitted to remain over till the next day. This is an essential point to secure a tidy and well-regulated office.

He should see to it that the proof-roller and press are in good condition, and that a sufficient supply of wetted proof-paper is on hand. A badly-printed proof should never be allowed to go to the proof-reader or to the author, as neither can properly read a blurred or imperfect proof. An author will feel kindly toward an office that furnishes him with handsome impressions of his matter.

SORT-CASE CABINET.

The foreman should keep himself fully informed as to the amount and the condition of the materials in the office, not only in gross, but in detail, including every style of type, every variety of accents and peculiar sorts, leads, chases, furniture, rules, borders, corner-pieces, &c. In this he will be greatly aided by insisting on the observance of the good old rule, A place for every thing, and every thing in its place when not in use, as well as by keeping a memorandum-book in which every thing should be entered under its proper head for facility of reference.

CABINET FOR SPACES, QUADS, ETC.

If the office be well provided, it will contain one or more of the cabinets for sorts, such as are shown in these pages. Strict attention should be given to keeping them in perfect order, and in preventing them from becoming receptacles for pi.

COMBINATION CABINET, FOR SORTS AND QUADS.

QUAD CABINET.

As a matter of course, he should watch the progress of every job and book, and make sure that they shall be completed within the time contracted for. He should never allow a compositor to have a large take of copy: small takes facilitate expedition, and really tend to the profit of the workmen by bringing an earlier return of letter. He should see to it that every man has his copy closed in proper time, so as not to detain the make-up, and that he passes the make-up without unnecessary delay. As soon as a form or sheet is made up, he should order it to be imposed and a proof pulled, which, with the copy properly arranged, is to be at once handed to the proof-reader. Nor should he allow of any unnecessary delay on the part of the reader, nor on the part of the compositors in correcting the proof when read. When proofs are required by an author, the foreman must forward them promptly to him, and request him to return them at the earliest possible moment. If the proof is not to be sent out, he should have the second reading quickly performed, and the forms prepared for the foundry or the press.

Systematic attention to the above points will tend to the comfort of the overseer, to the advantage of the workmen, and to the profit and satisfaction of the proprietor of the establishment.

The foreman will find a memorandum Press-Book very useful, in which to make entries of the amount of the paper given out by the warehouseman for the various works, the number printed, &c., as well as the names of the pressmen when the work is done on hand-presses.

WHEN GIVEN OUT TO WET.		NAMES OF WORKS.	NO.	SIGNATURES.	DATE WHEN LAID ON.		NAMES OF PRESSMEN.
1878.					1878.
May	8	Specific Heat Tables	1000	11	May	10	Graham.
”	10	The Great Exhibition	5000	18	”	12	Landsdown.
”	12	The American Printer	1000	20	”	13	Windisch.
”	15	Masterpieces of European Art	3000	2	”	17	Smith.

If not done by the proof-reader, the foreman should examine the press revise; in doing which, he will be careful not only to ascertain whether all the corrections marked in the proof are made, but also to look carefully over the sides, head, and bottom of each page. It frequently happens that the folios drop out of the form in lifting it off the imposing-stone; and in leaded matter, letters at the beginning and ends of lines sometimes fall out of place. Before the revise is given to the compositor, the name of the pressman who is to work off the form should be entered in the Press-Book. With foul compositors, he should require a second revise, in order to ascertain if all the corrections have been made which were marked in the first. He should (where there is not a pressman engaged expressly for the purpose, as is the case in houses employing numerous machine-presses) go frequently to the different presses, and examine the work, point out defects, if any, and glance again over the heads, sides, and bottoms of the pages, to see if any thing has been drawn out by the rollers, which may occur from bad justification of the lines, and careless and improper locking up of the form.

An active and conscientious foreman will not be content with merely managing the concerns of the composing room: he will also see that the business of the warehouse is attended to with regularity and accuracy, and that the warehouseman, errand-boys, and apprentices do their duty.