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 UP FURNITURE.

Having ascertained that his pages are laid down right, the compositor proceeds to dress the chases, which we will suppose to be for a sheet of octavo. Accordingly he selects a good pair of chases that are fellows in all respects; and, having laid them over the pages for the two different forms, he puts such gutter-sticks between page and page, and such reglets along the sides of the two crosses, as will give the book proper margins after it is bound.

To ascertain the proper distance, and to prevent wastage of furniture, he takes short pieces of furniture, or quotations, and quadrates or reglets, to fit the space between two pages; then, pushing the pages close to them, he finds the exact width of the furniture necessary, by trying the ends of various pieces, always measuring from the edge of the lines of type above the page-cords.

By observing a proper method in cutting up new furniture, the same will be serviceable for other works as well as the one for which it is intended, even though the size of the page may differ, provided it agrees with the margin of the paper. The gutters should be cut two or three lines longer than the page; the head-sticks wider; the back furniture may run nearly down to the rim of the chase, but must be level with the top of the page, which will admit of the inner head-stick running in; the difference of the outer head-stick may go over the side-stick, and the gutter will then run up between them. The side-stick only need to be cut exact, and the furniture will completely justify.

Wood and metal furniture, cut or cast to specific lengths and widths, may now be had from the type-founders, the use of which will save time, waste, and labour.

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.