In addition to the foregoing brief summary there are numerous other items of composing-room equipment, large and small, provided for the particular needs of the work carried on in the place. Many of these items, however, are not in extensive use, as in many places the needs they would serve might not warrant the expense of their installation. The specialties of the printing industry nowadays affect the composing-room as well as the other departments.
A particular article which is useful and profitable in one place may be quite superfluous and an unnecessary expense in another. The kind and quantity of the work done in any workroom usually governs the kind and the extent of the equipment provided—making allowance always for the customary variation in individual judgment and the proprietor's ability to purchase.
There is a wide range of choice from a plain wooden double stand with two pairs of cases, at which two persons may work, costing six to ten dollars, to a latest pattern steel working cabinet, also providing for only two workers, costing one hundred dollars, or even more.
There are, however, certain articles and facilities fundamentally necessary to carry on the work of a composing room. The particular form of these—whether simple and inexpensive or elaborate and costly—is a question for the proprietor or manager to consider.
The articles of furniture classified under items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, in the foregoing list, are those treated in this book; those referred to in item 7, Imposing Tables and Lock-Up Appliances, being considered in a separate volume (No. 4). Proof Presses, item 8, are also treated in a separate book (No. 5).