Should a compositor have transposed two or more pages, either from an error in the folios or any other cause, he must unlock the quarter containing them, and, loosening the cross or crosses from the furniture, lift the chase and the remaining quarters off the stone. Should he have furniture sufficient round each page, he may move them into their proper stations by pressing the balls of his thumbs and fingers against the furniture at the head, foot, and sides of each page. If the letter be small, it will be advisable to wet the pages, because few imposing-stones are horizontal, or so steady that they will not shake when touched, or by the motion of the floor occasioned by persons walking or dragging forms along.
Should a compositor find that his pages hang, he must unlock the quarter, and pat the face of the type with the balls of his fingers until he gets it into a square position.
When a compositor unlocks a form, he should be careful not to leave the unlocked quoins too slack, as the force necessary to loosen the others may squabble the matter, or occasion it to hang.
It has been aptly said, “What is required of a compositor when he goes about correcting a foul proof, is a sharp bodkin and patience; because, without them, the letter cannot escape suffering by the steel, and hurrying will not permit him to justify the lines true. No wonder, therefore, to see pigeon-holes in one place, and pi in another.”[16]
When the compositor has as many corrections between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand as he can conveniently hold, or, what is better, in his composing-stick, (beginning at the bottom of the page, in order that they may follow regularly,) and an assortment of spaces on a piece of paper, or, what is more convenient, in a small square box with partitions in it,—let him take the bodkin in his right hand, and, instead of raising each letter he may have to alter, place the point of the bodkin at one end of the line, and, with the forefinger of his left hand against the other, raise the whole line sufficiently high to afford him a clear view of the spacing; he may then change the faulty letter and alter his spacing before he drops the line. By this method he will not injure the type, which he must do if he force the bodkin into their sides or heads; a greater degree of regularity is insured where there may be occasion to alter the spacing, and no more time is taken up than by the other method.
In tables, and other matter, where rules prevent the lines from being raised, the letters must be drawn up by the bodkin. This is done by the compositor holding the instrument fast in his right hand, with the blade between his forefinger and thumb, within about three-quarters of an inch from the point: thus guiding it steadily to the faulty letter, he sticks the point of the bodkin into the neck of the letter between the beard and the face, and draws it up above the other types, so that he can take it out with the forefinger and thumb of his left hand. In performing this operation, the blade of the bodkin should be kept as flat as possible on the face of the type, but it should not touch any of the surrounding types, as the slightest graze imaginable will injure their face, and they will consequently appear imperfect in the next proof, when he will have the trouble of altering them, his employer suffering the loss of the type.
The bodkin blade being held almost flat to the form, a small horizontal entrance of its point into the neck of the letter will raise it above the face of the form; but, if the bodkin be held nearly upright, it will not have sufficient purchase to draw the letter up, because the weight of the letter and the pressure of the surrounding types will have greater power than the sharp point of the steel. By pressing sidewise, the bodkin blade acts as a lever, even though it has no other purchase than the slight motion of the hand.
COMMON BODKIN.