“The first thing is to have the right kind of a story, or article. To find this it is necessary to read many, many manuscripts. We employ ‘readers’ for this work of selecting what we can use. The manuscripts we cannot use are returned to the writers. After the first reader passes on a story, another reader goes over it, and if it seems suitable, it is handed to the editor. The editor decides whether or not to accept it. If accepted, he has to go over it very carefully. Sometimes words are changed, lines inserted, or whole paragraphs cut out.
“If the story needs illustrating an artist is sent for. If a soft-toned illustration is desired, the artist makes a ‘wash drawing’—meaning a black and white painting done with brushes, as in a water color. The ‘wash drawing’ is then sent to the engravers and a ‘half-tone’ plate made for use in the magazine. ‘Half-tones’ are made of copper sheets with the picture photographed upon them.
“Sometimes we want an outline to illustrate the story. A pen and ink sketch is required for this, and is made about twice as large as it will appear in the magazine. This is reproduced on a zinc plate, and is called a ‘line cut.’
“Then the story is given to the linotypers. A linotype machine is very interesting. It has a key-board almost like a typewriter. When a letter is struck on the board, a piece of brass containing the impression of that letter moves into place just like a soldier starting to form a line. When the next letter is struck, the corresponding brass soldier hurries into place beside the first one. This continues until a whole line has been ‘set.’ Then the operator touches a lever, the line of brass pieces moves to a new position, and molten type-metal is poured into the mold which the brass pieces help to form. The lead at once hardens, and the whole line is ready for printing, in one solid piece. All of this is done very fast—much faster than I can tell you about it. It is hard to believe that a machine can do all these things so quickly and so accurately.
“When the linotype work is completed the printer places the lines of type on a ‘galley.’ Then the type is covered with ink, a piece of paper is laid on, and a heavy roller passed over it. This impression is called the ‘galley proof.’ If the linotyper has made any mistakes in spelling or printing, they have to be corrected.
“After the ‘galley proofs’ are corrected, the dummy—a blank-page book just the size the magazine will be—is made.
“Before us, are all the pictures and reading matter to be used. These are arranged and pasted into the dummy in the order in which they are to be printed. Sometimes a page has a little space left at the bottom, and this must be filled with a neat ornament or a verse. Sometimes an article is too long, and then it must be cut down and made to fit the allotted space.
“Thus, the whole magazine is ‘dummied’ with pages of cut-up galley proofs and picture proofs, until it looks more like a child’s scrap book than a magazine model.
“This dummy goes back to the printer, who picks out the galley-type and measures it off to compare with the pages of the dummy. This done, he places the type in a form the size of the page, places the numeral of the page at the top or bottom, with the name of the magazine at the top—this is known as the ‘running head,’ as it runs along the top of each page throughout the book.
“The printer next makes a page proof. That is, he makes a proof of each page. These pages are sent into the editorial room again, and are gone over carefully and compared with the galley proofs; if everything is correct each page is ‘O.K’d.’ If, however, there are errors, note is made of it in the margin on the page proof.