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

MAKING THE MARGIN.

The next business is to arrange the margin, so that each page may occupy one side of a leaf, and have the proper proportion of white paper left at the sides as well as at the head and foot. The page when printed should be a little higher than the middle of the leaf, and have a little more margin on the outside than in the back. This rule is often neglected by careless or ignorant printers, and the appearance of the book when bound is repulsive to the eye of taste.

One mode of making margin is the following:—For octavos, measure and mark the width of four pages by compasses, on a sheet of paper designed for the work, beginning to measure at one extremity of the breadth of the sheet. The rest of the paper divide into four equal parts, allowing two-fourths for the width of two separate gutter-sticks; the remaining two-fourths divide again into four equal parts, and allow one-fourth for the margin along each side of the short cross, and one-fourth for the margin to each outside page. But as the thickness of the short cross adds considerably to the margin, reduce the furniture in the back accordingly, and thereby enlarge the outside margin, which requires the greatest share to allow for the unevenness of the paper itself, as well as for pressmen laying sheets unevenly when the fault is not in the paper. Having thus made the margin between the pages to the breadth of the paper, in the same manner proportion the margin at the head to the length, and accordingly measure and mark the length of two pages, dividing the rest into four parts, one-fourth of which is allowed for each side of the long cross, and one-fourth for the margin that runs along the foot of the two ranges of pages. The furniture on both sides of the long one must be lessened to enlarge the bottom margin, for the reason assigned for extending the side margin.

Go the same way to work in twelves, where, for the outer margin along the foot of the pages, allow the amount of two-thirds of the breadth of the head-sticks, and the same for the inner margin, that reaches from the foot of the fifth page to the centre of the groove for the points; and from the centre of that groove to the pages of the quire, or the cut off, allow half of the breadth of the head-stick. The margin along the long cross is governed by the gutter-sticks; and it is common to put as much on each side of the long cross as amounts to half the breadth of the gutter-stick, without deducting almost any thing for the long cross, since that makes allowance for the inequality of the outer margin.

Another plan, more simple, is the following:—Having laid the pages as nearly as possible in their proper places on the stone, with a suitable chase around them, fold a sheet of paper which has been wetted for the work, or one of the same size, into as many portions as there are pages in the form, and, holding the sheet thus folded on the first or left-hand page of the form, one edge even with the left-hand side of the type, place the adjoining page so that its left side may be even with the right-hand edge of the folded paper, which will leave a sufficient space between the two pages to admit the gutter-stick, which should then be selected of a proper width to suit the form in hand, as follows:—In octavos, about a Great Primer less in width than the space between the pages, as determined by the above rule; in duodecimos, about a Pica less; in sixteens, about a Long Primer; and proportionably less as the number of pages are increased. Having thus secured the proper width for the gutter-sticks, cut them somewhat longer than the page, and holding one of them between the two pages, above the page-cord, close the pages up to it; then open the folded sheet so as to cover the two pages, and, bringing the fold in the paper exactly in the middle of the gutter-stick, secure it there with the point of a pen-knife or bodkin; the right-hand edge of the paper thus opened must be brought to the centre of the cross-bar, which determines the furniture required between it and the pages. Having thus arranged the margins for the back and fore edge of the book, proceed in like manner to regulate the head and foot margins, by bringing the near edge of the folded paper even with the bottom of the first page, and so placing the adjoining off page that its head may be barely covered by the off edge of the folded paper, which will give the required head margin. All other sections of the form must be regulated by the foregoing measurements, when the margins for the whole sheet will be found correct.

The greater the number of pages in a sheet, the smaller in proportion should the margin be: the folded paper, therefore, should lie proportionally less over the edge of the adjoining page, both for gutter and back, in a form of small pages than in one of larger dimensions. A folio may require the page to be half an inch nearer the back than the fore-edge; while a duodecimo may not require more than a Pica em.

In imposing jobs where two or more of the same size, requiring equal margins, are to be worked together, fold the paper to the size appropriate for each, and so arrange the type that the distance from the left side of one page to the left side of the adjoining one shall be exactly equal to the width of the folded paper, as before described.

Having dressed the inside of the pages, next place side- and foot-sticks to their outsides; being thus secured by the furniture, untie the pages, quarter after quarter, the inner page first, and then the outer, at the same time forcing the letter toward the crosses, and using every precaution to prevent the pages from hanging or leaning; and, in order to guard against accidents, when the quarter is untied, secure it with a couple of quoins.