If the office be well provided, it will contain one or more of the cabinets for sorts, such as are shown in these pages. Strict attention should be given to keeping them in perfect order, and in preventing them from becoming receptacles for pi.
COMBINATION CABINET, FOR SORTS AND QUADS.
QUAD CABINET.
As a matter of course, he should watch the progress of every job and book, and make sure that they shall be completed within the time contracted for. He should never allow a compositor to have a large take of copy: small takes facilitate expedition, and really tend to the profit of the workmen by bringing an earlier return of letter. He should see to it that every man has his copy closed in proper time, so as not to detain the make-up, and that he passes the make-up without unnecessary delay. As soon as a form or sheet is made up, he should order it to be imposed and a proof pulled, which, with the copy properly arranged, is to be at once handed to the proof-reader. Nor should he allow of any unnecessary delay on the part of the reader, nor on the part of the compositors in correcting the proof when read. When proofs are required by an author, the foreman must forward them promptly to him, and request him to return them at the earliest possible moment. If the proof is not to be sent out, he should have the second reading quickly performed, and the forms prepared for the foundry or the press.
Systematic attention to the above points will tend to the comfort of the overseer, to the advantage of the workmen, and to the profit and satisfaction of the proprietor of the establishment.
The foreman will find a memorandum Press-Book very useful, in which to make entries of the amount of the paper given out by the warehouseman for the various works, the number printed, &c., as well as the names of the pressmen when the work is done on hand-presses.
| WHEN GIVEN OUT TO WET. | NAMES OF WORKS. | NO. | SIGNATURES. | DATE WHEN LAID ON. | NAMES OF PRESSMEN. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1878. | 1878. | ||||||
| May | 8 | Specific Heat Tables | 1000 | 11 | May | 10 | Graham. |
| ” | 10 | The Great Exhibition | 5000 | 18 | ” | 12 | Landsdown. |
| ” | 12 | The American Printer | 1000 | 20 | ” | 13 | Windisch. |
| ” | 15 | Masterpieces of European Art | 3000 | 2 | ” | 17 | Smith. |
If not done by the proof-reader, the foreman should examine the press revise; in doing which, he will be careful not only to ascertain whether all the corrections marked in the proof are made, but also to look carefully over the sides, head, and bottom of each page. It frequently happens that the folios drop out of the form in lifting it off the imposing-stone; and in leaded matter, letters at the beginning and ends of lines sometimes fall out of place. Before the revise is given to the compositor, the name of the pressman who is to work off the form should be entered in the Press-Book. With foul compositors, he should require a second revise, in order to ascertain if all the corrections have been made which were marked in the first. He should (where there is not a pressman engaged expressly for the purpose, as is the case in houses employing numerous machine-presses) go frequently to the different presses, and examine the work, point out defects, if any, and glance again over the heads, sides, and bottoms of the pages, to see if any thing has been drawn out by the rollers, which may occur from bad justification of the lines, and careless and improper locking up of the form.