The protection now afforded by the patent laws having checked the piratical production of matrices by electrotyping, (except in plain faces, a practice still pursued by unprincipled type-founders,) the leading founders in this country have been encouraged to produce types of new styles which in beauty and ingenuity surpass those of foreign origin.
There are now three type-foundries in Boston, seven in New York, one in Buffalo, four in Philadelphia, four in Baltimore, two in Cincinnati, four in Chicago, two in Milwaukee, two in St. Louis, one in Richmond, one in St. Paul, one in Cleveland, one in Kansas City, and three in California—in all, thirty-six. Some of these foundries not only supply the printers of the United States, but most of the printers in Canada, some in the British West India Islands, Mexico, South America, China, India and Australasia. American type, in quality, style, and finish, is equal, if not superior, to any made in Europe.
The following are the prices at which plain types have been sold for the last seventy-five years, given at ten different dates, and naming only the principal and most useful sizes:—
| 1806. | 1811. | 1819. | 1827. | 1831. | 1841. | 1860. | 1866. | 1876. | 1893. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pica | $0·44 | $0·55 | $0·44 | $0·42 | $0·36 | $0·38 | $0·32 | $0·56 | $0·46 | $0·32 |
| Small Pica | ·48 | ·58 | ·48 | ·46 | ·38 | ·40 | ·34 | ·58 | ·48 | ·34 |
| Lg. Primer | ·56 | ·66 | ·56 | ·50 | ·40 | ·42 | ·36 | ·62 | ·50 | ·36 |
| Bourgeois | ·66 | ·76 | ·66 | ·58 | ·46 | ·46 | ·40 | ·66 | ·52 | ·38 |
| Brevier | ·76 | ·86 | ·76 | ·70 | ·56 | ·54 | ·44 | ·70 | ·55 | ·42 |
| Minion | 1·03 | 1·13 | 1·00 | ·88 | ·70 | ·66 | ·48 | ·76 | ·58 | ·46 |
| Nonpareil | 1·40 | 1·75 | 1·40 | 1·20 | ·90 | ·84 | ·58 | ·84 | ·66 | ·52 |
| Agate | 1·44 | 1·10 | 1·08 | ·72 | 1·00 | ·76 | ·60 | |||
| Pearl | 1·75 | 1·40 | 1·40 | 1·08 | 1·40 | 1·20 | 1·20 | |||
| Diamond | 1·60 | 1·80 | 1·62 | 1·60 |
STEREOTYPING.
Stereotyping is said to have been invented by J. Van der Mey, in Holland, about 1698. A quarto Bible and some other books were printed by him from plates, which were formed by soldering the bottoms of common type together. William Ged, of Edinburgh, discovered the present mode in 1725, and stereotyped parts of the Bible and Prayer-Book. He encountered malicious opposition, and the business was abandoned, the new method dying with the inventor. About 1745, Benjamin Mecom, a nephew of Dr. Franklin, cast plates for a number of the pages of the New Testament. Dr. Alexander Tilloch, of Glasgow, re-discovered the art in 1781. Stereotyping gradually spread, and soon effected a considerable reduction in the cost of books. The arguments that were advanced against its utility have a ridiculous look at the present day, when almost every important work is stereotyped or electrotyped.
Matter for stereotyping is set with high spaces and quadrates. The forms must be small, containing about two pages of common octavo. A slug type-high is put above the top line and another below the foot line of each page, to protect the ends of the plates from injury when they are passed through the shaving-machine. Beveled slugs, in height equal to the shoulder of the type, are placed on both sides and between the pages, to form the flange by which the plate is to be clasped by the hooks of the printing-block.
Before the form is sent into the foundry, the type must be carefully compared with the proof, to detect any errors which may have been left uncorrected. Care must be taken to lock up the form perfectly square and quite tight, to prevent the types from being pulled out when the mould is raised from the pages. It must be evenly planed down, and no ink or dirt or incrustations from the ley be allowed to remain on the surface.
The face of the type being clean and dry, and the bottoms free from particles of dirt, the form is laid on a clean moulding-stone, and brushed over with sweet-oil, which must be laid on as thinly as possible, care being taken that the entire surface of the types is covered. A moulding-frame, with a screw at each corner, (called a flask,) and fitting neatly to the form, is next placed around it.