Printing and bookbinding for schools

by Samuel Jesse Vaughn

12 em 2 point Lead
Fig. 7.

Spacing of Lines. Leads (Fig. 7) are strips of metal ¾″ wide, and from one to five points, inclusive, in thickness. Strips six points and thicker are called slugs. Leads and slugs are used to space between the lines of type, bearing the same relation to the lines as spaces and quads bear to the words. These strips are said to be labor saving when they are cut ready for use into definite lengths of pica or nonpareil variations. The standard lengths are from 4 to 25 ems pica. When not so cut, they are called strip.

12 em 6 point Slug
Fig. 7a.

A lead or slug generally of the thickness to give the required space between the lines, and of the length of a line, is placed in the stick, and the type is set with the top of the letter toward this lead. Then with the lead or slug in the stick and the stick in the left hand, the compositor stands upright at the case, picks out the letters and characters one at a time, and places them, nick out and face up, into the stick, beginning at the lower left hand corner. Fig. 8. As the type are put into the stick, they are held there by the thumb of the left hand. The method of holding the stick at the proper angle to prevent the type from falling out and to allow the thumb to do its work properly, is quite an art which it takes time to acquire.

Justifying lines.—The line of type reads from left to right the same as printed matter but the letters are inverted. It takes the beginner some time to accustom himself to this condition, but with practice, it becomes easy and convenient. Each word except the last in the line, is followed by a space, or a quad. In ordinary solid matter, that is matter without leads or slugs between the lines, the three-to-em spaces are used between words. But the line must come out evenly at the end without leaving a space or dividing a word improperly. This very seldom occurs in beginning work, so the young printer sets himself to the task of justifying the line, that is respacing it so as to remove the difficulty. Approved methods of spacing and justification may be found in the list of rules of composition on page [25]. Great care should be observed in getting each line as nearly perfect as possible before proceeding to the next, for in this way, much trouble and annoyance in correcting proof are avoided.

Fig. 8.

When a line has been thus finished and a lead put in above to support it, the compositor proceeds with the next line exactly as before. It is wise for the beginner to leave all the work leaded, so as to simplify the operation of removing the lines from the stick. If it is desirable, the leads or slugs may be removed after the type is emptied from the stick. If the last line of a paragraph is not a complete line, it is filled with quads and spaces, but the spaces should never be placed at the end or between the quads.