This section covers all of the operations that take place (if all goes
well, that is) in your first session in the printing room. Please read it
carefully beforehand. It may not make too much sense before you actually
lay hands on the type, but all will become clear when you do. Also I will
be there to start you off and show you what to do and help you with any
problems. If you need to get in touch with me, you should phone the secretaries
on 414-3749 and ask them to find me: I'll be in touch as soon as I can get
to a phone. You can use the pay phone on the ground floor at the foot of
the stairs.
Bring with you a sample of your card, the text you have chosen to print,
but not your best clothes (printers' ink is specially designed to stick
to anything it touches. Forever.) and a certain amount of patience.
The first step is to make some decisions: the
type face, the measure, and the
stints; in other words, how wide
you will set the composing stick, and who is going to set which bits of
the passage. Then you choose a setting
rule of the same length as the measure you've chosen, place it in the
composing stick, and adjust the
stick to the right setting. Then you can begin to set type.
HAND SETTING
Before you go into the print room you will need to have memorised the lay of the case. It's not difficult, and will
save you a lot of time.
The basic routine for setting type is as follows. The stick is held in the
left hand, the back against the palm, the fingers curled underneath to support
it, and the thumb hooked over to hold the type in place when it's been put
in the stick. Like
this. Don't hold it upside down. The type will fall out. You may think
this is obvious. You'll be surprised what people will do in a composing
room...
The right hand picks up the type, feeling for the nick
with the forefinger as it does so. The types are put into the stick nick
upwards (ie upside down), face out (of course), and working from left to
right in the stick, so that they read upside down and mirror fashion. (It
is the attempt to read them the right way up that leads to the turning of
the stick upside down, incidentally. Believe me, it's quicker to learn to
read them as they sit in the stick.)
When you've set a word, you will need a space. There are three kinds of
word space, thick, mid, and thin. The one to use is the thick, but it's
not crucial.
When you've finished setting the line, check it carefully; it's almost infinitely
easier to correct it now than after the next stage. You might reflect as
you do so that it's rather unusual that you won't have made any mistakes,
and that you won't be able to find these mistakes before you get to the
proofing stage. Some of these will be caused by foul
case, which is not your fault, so prepare to be philosophical about
it.
JUSTIFICATION
The next thing to do is to justify
the line. What you must bear in mind about justification is that it's possible.
Don't panic. Don't despair. It can be done. Any line can be justified, however
unlikely it may seem at the time; a practiced hand can usually justify in
a few seconds what you've decided after many attempts is impossible.
This is what to do. To justify verse, when you come to the end of the line,
start to fill up the remaining gap with spaces. You can use quads,
ems, ens,
thicks, mids, and thins, in descending order of size. The steps are:
1 Start ON THE RIGHT with the largest space you can get in.
2 Then put in the next largest that you can get in into the remaining gap on its left.
3. Repeat 2 until either the line is justified or you can't get another space in; if the latter
4. Take out the smallest space that's in there already and try a different combination
5. Keep trying.
6. If a space goes in part of the way and then sticks, it's because the type is off its feet. Align it properly by rubbing the face with your thumb.
7. The line is justified when, if you push the setting rule up, tilting the line of type away from the bottom of the stick, and then take the rule away, the type stays where it is. If it falls back, or if it looks sloppy and loose, IT''S NOT JUSTIFIED!
8. When the line is justified, take out the setting rule and put it on top of the line you've just set. Type will not slide easily against type, so if you don't do this the next line won't justify properly.
To justify prose: at this stage in your career as a compositor, say goodbye
to any superstitious respect you might have for the straight right hand
margin and set it unjustified, as they call it; that doesn't mean that you
can avoid justifying the line, it just means in popular terminology that
it will have a ragged right-hand
margin. Even so, prose is more difficult than verse because there will be
less white space at the end of the line to play with.
REMOVING THE TYPE FROM THE STICK
When the stick is full, you need to remove the contents from it and put
them on to the imposing stone. This is done as follows:
1.Put in a setting rule both at the bottom and the top of the type.
2. Put the forefingers on the rule at the top.
3 The thumbs go under the rule at the bottom.
4. The second fingers push down the stick and simultaneously press in against the sides of the type as it emerges.
5. Like this.
6. Try not to drop it.
7. It's a good idea to practice using a large metal quad, say l8 by 12 ems or so, adjusting the stick to fit it exactly, and pushing it out in the approved manner, making sure that you get the position of the fingers right.
IMPOSING
As the type comes out of the stick, it should be put on the imposing stone in the way in which you want
it to print, with all of the different parts--in this case, the text and
the Christmas message--in the same relation to each other (but, of course,
mirror fashion) that you wish the text to appear on the card. Once this
has been arranged, the type must be surrounded with furniture
so that it's held in place. The pressure on each side of the type must be
equal, and you must be sure that none of the furniture binds
against any other so that pressure is inadvertently lessened. It helps to
think in rectangles.
I realise that this is a less than adequate description, but I can't think
of a better way of describing the process; really, you have to see it, and
do it, several times. Here is a diagram
that gives you some idea of what the finished product might look like.
When the furniture and type form one coherent rectangle, put in the quoins and tighten them a little.
then plane the type, using the mallet and planer--gently! Then screw up
the quoins, firmly, but not so hard that it strains your hands. This done,
the forme is ready for proofing; but for this we need some ink.
ROLLING OUT THE INK
Using a palette knife, smear a fairly generous line of ink along one side
of the inking stone. Bring the roller up to touch this so that a fairly
thin line of ink is picked up by the roller. Be careful! Rolling out too
much ink is much more of a problem than too little, so be sparing. Roll
out that line several times on the stone, and then repeat the process of
picking up a line of ink and rolling it out until there is a uniform layer
of ink on the stone. But not too much: spend time rolling the ink out until
it starts to come up in tiny peaks, rather like black satin; this is roughly
how much ink you need, but a true appreciation only comes with practice.
And it's hard work.
Please remember at all times that the roller
has feet. When not in use, it sits on its feet so that the roller itself
doesn't rest against the stone, which would give it a flat; when in use,
the feet are upwards, otherwise they will scrape a groove in the stone and
ruin the type. This is to be avoided.
TAKING A PROOF
Ink the type, then put a sheet of your card on top of it, in roughly the
position that will cause the image to appear in the correct place. Put a
backing sheet on top, to cushion the roller, and run the roller over it.
Then admire the results.
PROOF CORRECTION
The problem about proof correction is that, as you will have noticed, each
piece of type tends to be of a different set
width. So if you have the wrong letter in a justified line, and the
right letter is (as it usually is) a different size, then you have to rejustify
the line. The procedure is as follows.
First loosen the quoins and furniture sufficiently so that you can get at
the type and pull it out of the forme where necessary, but not so much that
there's not still some support for emergencies. But you will find that the
type is now much better-behaved, since it is held together by the ink. Go
through and adjust all of the simple problems, such as turned letters, that
don't require re-justification. Use tweezers or a bodkin
to pull out the wrong sort. Use these implements with care: they should
be addressed to the shank of
the type, not to the face under any circumstances: there is a tendency,
for instance, that the tweezers can slip and scratch the face, ruining it
permanently. This is to be avoided.
For problems that need rejustification there are two expedients. One is
to attempt rejustification on the stone,
by feeling the side of the type-page to check whether the rejustified line
is the same length as the others. With a lot of experience, this can be
done. You don't have a lot of experience, but don't let that stop you making
the attempt. You will find that if the furniture immediately at the side
of the type page is wood rather than metal you will have a lot more leeway
in the justification department; but don't count on it, because only experience
can tell you how much you can count on it.
The unpalatable alternative is to remove the line from the stone, put it
in a stick which has been set to the right measure, and rejustify it properly;
then put it back where it goes in the forme. This understandably unpopular
alternative is usually accomplished by putting a lead
of the correct length above and below the offending line, lifting it partly
out with pressure from a bodkin at each end, then surrounding it with your
fingers and pulling it all the way out with a certain expertise and panache.
Of course, you could do it letter by letter . . .
When you've done all the revision you think you need, tighten the quoins, plane
the type, tighten again, and take another proof, which is known as a revise. And correct again, if you
need to.
And now you are ready to print.
