Printers had a language; they still have. It hasn't changed a lot, even
though Gutenberg might have found PageMaker on the Mac a little puzzling.
Not for long, of course. It's pleasant to know and use these old words that
are still precise, useful, and the everyday language of working printers.
ASCENDER
That part of the character that extends above the x height of the fount
(as in the lowercase b).
ASCENDER
That part of the character that extends above the x height of the fount
(as in the lowercase b).
BASELINE
The imaginary line that characters rest on in a line of text; it runs along
the base of the x-height, and is crossed by descenders.
BEARD
The space on a type between the bottom of the x-height and the upper edge
of the shank or body. This space comprises the shoulder on which the face
rests and the bevel by which it is raised from it, and is the area in which
the descenders of lower-case letters extrude.
BED
The table of a printing press on which the forme of type is placed for printing.
BELLY
The front or nick side of a type.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The study of any kind of written matter as a physical object.
BINDING
A difficulty arising when locking up type, caused by using furniture which
is longer or wider than the type, so that it 'binds' at the ends.
BLEED
When an element, usually an illustration, prints to the edge of the paper.
BLOCK
In the hand press period, a block of wood with a relief carving on it used
for printing pictures. In the machine press period, an engraved or etched
zinc or copper plate used for printing illustrations in books. A line block
reproduces only lines, dots, and black surfaces; a half-tone block reproduces
tones or shades by means of dots, which, the closer together they are, appear
to reproduce deeper shades.
BODKIN
A pointed steel tool used to lever up type when correcting.
BODY
Or body-size. The measurement of thickness from back to front of a type,
slug, lead, or rule, etc; it governs how big a letter looks on the page.
Measured in points.
BOLD FACE
Bold face is type with a conspicuous black, heavy appearance, but based
on the same basic type design as its medium weight in the same fount.
BRASS RULES
Also known simply as 'rules': strips of brass, type high, used to print
lines.
BROADSIDE
Originally a sheet of paper printed on one side only; commonly used for
royal proclamations, then for subversive publications and cheap mass-circulation
poems and ballads, so eventually the word came to mean also simply the kind
of material that was normally printed on it: a broadside ballad, or simply
a broadside.
CASTING OFF
Estimating the number of pages that copy will occupy when set up in type,
as the basis for the printing cost estimate. The number of words in the
copy is judged, and the format and size of page and measure are also established
for this purpose.
CATCHWORD
The word written underneath the last line of each page or section of a hand
printed book, which is also the word with which the next page or section
commences. Its purpose was to guide the binder. Used in England roughly
1530-1800, usually on every page.
CENTRE
A type line is centred when it is placed in the centre of the page, i.e.
with an equal margin on each side, that margin being greater than that of
the rest of the text.
CHAIN LINES
The vertical lines on handmade paper, which run parallel to the shorter
side of the sheet.
CHASE
A steel or cast-iron frame into which type and furniture are locked for
printing.
CHEEK
The sides of the press that enclose the platen and its screw or lever mechanism
are called 'cheeks'.
COFFIN
The part of the press that is run to and fro under the platen and out again
so that printing can take place.
COLLATION
The physical makeup or format of a book, as described in a standardised
formula.
COLOPHON
The inscription, usually placed at the end of early printed books, giving
the name of the printer, title, place and date of printing.
COMPOSING STICK
The shallow adjustable tray, about 10 lines of 12 point type in depth, that
the compositor uses to set type. It looks like this.
CONDENSED
A face of type that is narrower than the normal face.
CONJUGATE LEAVES
Any two leaves of a book which together form one piece of paper.
COPY
The document (manuscript, typescript, printed book) from which the printer
sets up his type. Also known as printer's copy.
CROPPED
A book is cropped when its margins have been trimmed for the purposes of
binding or rebinding.
CYLINDER PRESS
A printing press in which the forme is carried on a flat bed under a paper
bearing cylinder for an impression to be made at the point of contact. There
were: stop-cylinder machines, in which the cylinder is stationary during
the return of the bed; two-revolution machines, in which the cylinder revolves
continuously, making one rev. during the impression and one while the bed
returns, being raised at the same time to clear the forme and receive the
next sheet; and single-revolution machines which operate in the same way
except that the machine makes half a rev. for each movement of the bed.
DECKLE
The wooden (usually) border of a paper-making mould, which confines the
paper pulp to the mould. The pulp, or stuff, flows between the frame and
the deckle, causing a deckle-edge.
DESCENDER
The portion of lower case letters, i.e. g,j,q,p,y, that projects below the
main body of the letter.
DISTRIBUTE
Type is distributed (or dissed) when it is returned to the case after printing.
DPI
Dots per inch. The measurement of the degree of delicacy of reproduction,
or resolution, of a halftone picture or a dot matrix or laser printer. (About
150/300 dpi respectively, but you can get expensive versions of each that
have a much higher (=better) dpi). Top quality graphic printing comes in
at 1000 dpi.
DUCK'S BEAK
Originally a duck's beak was a piece of heavy paper or card, a small rectangle
in shape. A v-shaped cut was made in it, and the v folded outwards. The
non-v bit of the card is then pasted and attached to the tympans so that
the protruding v would steady and hold in the edges of the paper to be printed.
This was used mainly for fine and delicate printing; for most work press-points
only were used. My use of the term in the Christmas card manual is an affectation.
So it goes.
EDITION
An edition consists of all the copies of a book printed at any time or times
from substantially the same setting of type, and includes all the various
impressions, issues, and states which may have derived from that setting.
'Substantially the same setting of type' is usually taken to imply that
if less than half the type has been reset, then any impression taken from
it is part of the same edition.
In the hand press period editions are easy to identify, because two settings,
even if one is designedly an imitation of the other, are going to differ
considerably in small details: thus the spacing and the random pattern of
damaged types will differ from edition to edition. But in the modern period
the new technology has made the definition rather obsolete: a single keyboarding
of the copy can then be kept on disc forever, taking up little room (and
certainly not keeping occupied massive amounts of expensive lead type, as
in the hand press period) and then be printed out in any form, typeface,
format, or whatever, that you may want.
ELECTROTYPE
A duplicate printing forme made in a galvanic bath by precipitating copper
on a matrix. The matrix is made by taking a mould, often in wax, from the
original printing forme. The mould is treated with graphite to make it conduct
electricity. The mould is treated with graphite to make it conduct electricity.
The duplicate forme (usually called an 'electro') was used for reprints,
and often for the entire run, the original metal serving only to produce
the mould.
EM
1) Short for 'em quad': a square piece of spacing material. So a 10 point
em would be 10 points square.
2) Also the unit of typographical measurement for which the 12 point em
is the basis. This unit is used for computing the area of a printed page
no matter what size of type is used for setting the text; thus if the area
is twenty ems wide and thirty ems deep the width is 240 points and the depth
360 points. There are approximately six ems to an inch. Also known as pica-em
or just pica (pronounced piker) because before the point system became widely
used different sizes of type had names, and twelve-point was known as pica.
EM QUAD
The unit of spacing material, always less than type height and of course
square: an em-quad of 10-point type is always 10 points by 10 points. Used
to indent paragraphs, among other things.
EN
Half of an em. A compositor's output in terms of type set is measured in
ens per hour.
ERRATUM
An author's or printer's error, only discovered after the book has been
printed. If noticed in time, this can be corrected in an errata list, which,
depending on when it is noticed, can either be set up and worked off with
the prelims, or else separately printed, cut off, and pasted into the book.
FACE
The printing surface of any type character; also, the group or family to
which any particular type-design belongs: as, bold-face.
FEET
The grooved base on which a type stands, plural because of the groove. Type
not standing squarely is said to be 'off its feet'.
FIGURE
An illustration forming part of a page of text with which it is printed
from a block imposed together with the type.
FLAT BED
Said of a press having the printing forme on a flat as opposed to a curved
surface: thus, flat bed cylinder press means flat forme, cylindrical platen;
flat bed web press: flat forme, continuous roll (web) of paper--as opposed
to printing from distinct sheets.
FLONG
Alternate layers of blotting paper and tissue paper used for moulds in stereotyping.
Particularly for a rotary machine where the forme must be curved.
FLUSH
Adjective: either 'flush left' or 'flush right'. To set text flush left
is to set it with the beginnings of the lines all at the left margin, but
the ends of the lines not reaching the right; flush right means that the
ends of the lines all line up against the right margin, but the beginnings
are ragged, and do not reach the left margin. You also her printers use
the expressions 'range left' and 'range right', meaning the same thing.
If the lines are straight both on the right and the left, like a normal
printed page, the type is said to be 'justified'.
FOLIATED
The leaves rather than the pages numbered. Expressed as: f.1, f.2, ff.6-8,
f.10v (= verso = page 20); f.10r (= recto = page 19).
FORMAT
Loosely, the shape and size of a page; specifically, the way the paper is
folded in order to make the shape and size. So if the sheet is folded once,
the format is folio (2°); twice, quarto (4°); three times, octavo
(8°); four times, sixteenmo (16°); and so on, up to (but not often)
sixty-fourmo (64°).
Nowadays, format means: the general shape and appearance of a page, including
its margins,type columns, etc; also the combination of instructions for
reproducing it, stored in a computer's memory for future use.
FORME
Type matter and blocks assembled into pages and locked up in a chase ready
for printing.
FOUL CASE
Type in the wrong box in a case.
FOUNT
A complete set of type characters of the same design and size, e.g. including
upper and lower case, numerals, punctuation marks, etc. Pronounced 'font',
and spelled 'font' by Americans and Desk Top Publishing programs.
FRISKET
A rectangular metal frame, hinged at one end to attach it to the tympans;
it folds over the tympans when printing takes place. It is covered with
paper. The paper is cut to allow the type to print through it; the remaining
paper protects the paper to be printed.
FRONT MATTER
= preliminaries.
FULL PRESS
When printing was done in hand presses, two men operated them with one applying
the ink, the other putting in the sheet and pulling the impression; when
one man did all this, it was called working at half-press; when two, full-press.
FURNITURE
Lengths of wood or metal less than type height used in a forme for making
margins and filling blank areas of a page.
GALLEY
1) the steel or wooden tray in which composed type was put before being
imposed. Hand press compositors set by the page; the long galley which didn't
divide into pages until the imposing stage was a 19c innovation. 2) proofs
taken from long galleys are known as galley-proofs or just galleys, which
means long slips of paper bearing a proof of unpaged type.
GATHERING
The sheet or sheets folded according to format intended to be sewn together.
With, but distinct from, the other gatherings to make up the bound book.
Also known as a quire or signature, though strictly the latter comprises
the gathering plus any inserts, plates, etc. that are intended to go in
but are not part of the original folding.
GUTTER
The space near the spine (the right side on left-hand pages, the left on
right-hand pages) comprising both the space allowed for binding in a double-sided
publication and the margin.
HAIRLINE
The thinnest rule you can get from your equipment. On a 300 dpi laser printer,
it is one 300th of an inch.
HALFTONE
A continuous tone image that has been photographically converted to a pettern
of very small dots.
HEADLINE
Loosely, the title of the book as printed at the top of every page of text.
When the headline indicates the contents of the page, it is known as a running
head. Strictly, headline refers to forme, not page, and means all the type
and quads composing the typographical unit that will print the heading at
the top of the page.
HEAP
The pile of printed or waiting-to-be-printed sheets of paper. The latter
is known as the white paper heap.
HOLOGRAPH
MS in author's own hand, also known as autograph (both are both nouns and
adjectives: a holograph, a holograph MS.
HYPHENATION
Adding hyphens to columns of text allowing words to 'break' across the end
of a line, so that excessive amounts of white space aren't left between
words in justified type and the right hand margin of unjustified type is
not too ragged. DTP programs have automatic hyphenation programs, but they
have also to have a list of words that you have to be careful about hyphenating.
'Arsenal', for instance, is not hyphenated in books printed in the UK.
IMPOSITION
The arranging of pages in a chase in a particular sequence so that when
the printed sheet is folded the pages will be consecutive; also includes
adding the furniture and quoins and locking up the type into a forme.
IMPRESSION
An impression is all the copies of an edition printed at any one time.
In the early hand press period it was normal to redistribute type after
a book had been printed, owing to type shortages, so impression is normally
identical with edition. Increasingly during the 18c. popular pamphlets (i.e.
of five sheets or less) including plays, were kept in standing type for
later reprinting in a second or third or further impression. Different impressions
are hard to distinguish, but it may be done by corrections in successive
impressions. In the absence of any typographical distinction, the best clue
is to be found in the paper used.
ISSUE
An issue is all the copies of that part of an edition which is identifiable
as a distinct consciously planned publishing unit.
The criteria for a distinct issue are that the book must differ in some
typographical way from copies of the edition first put on the market, yet
be composed largely of sheets derived from the original typesetting; and
that the copies forming another issue must be a purposeful publishing unit
removed from the original issue either in time (reissue), or, much more
rarely, in form (separate issue). Reissue normally involves a new or altered
title-page and may involve either a new title page added to bring old sheets
up to date, or collections of separate pieces reissued with a new general
title. Reissue implies the re-issuing of the same old sheets in a different
form (i.e. with a new title page), usually to stimulate flagging sales,
perhaps by pretending that the reissue is a new edition; ideally it implies
the withdrawal of the previous issue from sale.
Examples of separate issue: the alteration of title pages to suit the issue
of a book simultaneously in two or more different forms; the reimposition
of the type pages to produce copies in different formats (since the type
is reimposed this has often been designated as a distinct edition; but since
it is the same type, it should more properly be called new issue (re-imposed);
impressions on special paper distinguished from ordinary copies by added,
deleted, or substituted material.
ITALIC
A variation of typeface in which letters slope forward. True italic typefaces
are specially designed, as opposed to oblique faces, which are just slanted
versions of the regular face.
JUSTIFY
Type is justified when all of the lines are of the same length, producing
a straight left hand margin. It is done by varying the spacing between the
words.
KERNING
The process of moving together letters that would normally look too far
apart. Used especially in large type sizes and with certain letter pairs
(such as the capitals A and T).
LANDSCAPE
Page orientation where the two longer edges of the paper are at the top
and bottom. If the shorter edges are at top and bottom, the term is 'portrait'.
LEADER
A row of dots or dashes used to separate items in tables (as in a list of
contents, often).
LEADING, or LEADS (rhymes with 'bedding'. Or
'beds'.
Thin strips of quad-high metal spacing material used to separate lines of
type. If a page is said to be 'leaded two points' it means that there is
a two point (=2/72nds of an inch) space between the bottom of one line and
the top of the next. Cf linespacing.
LEAF
A book is normally composed of sheets of paper, folded to make gatherings
or quires, and bound together. Each gathering is composed of an even number
of leaves, joined together in the spine of the book (ie at the fold). A
leaf consists of two pages, which are known as the recto and verso (ie front
and back) of the leaf.
LIGATURE
Two or more letters joined together and usually cast on one body.
LINESPACING
The distance from the baseline of one line to the baseline of the line below
it. Technically, it is the amount of leading plus the point size of the
type.
LINOTYPE
A machine for setting and casting type in units of one line known as slugs.
Faster than monotype but slower to correct, since for any correction the
whole line must be reset. In this country used commonly for newspapers,
much less commonly for printed books. More commonly for the latter in America.
The first effective substitute for composing by hand; developed slowly through
the 1880's, beginning to come into common use 1890 onwards. An operator
can produce consistent speeds of 6,000 Ens an hour, distribution being no
problem since the type was simply melted down (hand press, perhaps an extremely
variable 1,000 ens an hour include distribution). For comparison, 2,750
ens = 500 words = two typed quarto pages (very roughly).
MAKE-READY
The complicated and skilled business of putting the forme in the right place
on the bed and packing the tympan so that the best possible impression is
obtained.
MEASURE
The width (measured in ems) to which a line or column of type is set or
a lino-slug is cast. The width to which a setting rule is set.
MEDIUM
The weight of type-face midway between light and bold; normally used for
the body of the book.
MONOTYPE
The other important hot-metal composing machine. The operation of a keyboard
produces a spool with punched holes in it, which when fed into a caster
instructs it to cast individual types and spaces in a series of justified
lines. The end product is indistinguishable from brand-new hand-set type.
Mono machines began to be mass produced in 1901, but because of technical
difficulties and slowness relative to line (since it involved two distinct
operations to lino's one) it wasn't until the 1920's that most large printing
houses in Britain were using monotype.
MS
Common abbreviation for 'manuscript'.
NICK
The groove in the body of type cast as an aid to placing it the right way
up in the stick.
OFF ITS FEET
Said of type that is not perfectly vertical in the stick or on the STONE.
OFFSET
When recently printed paper prints on to another sheet of paper because
the ink is still wet, it is said to 'offset' or 'set off' on to that sheet.
OPENING
Any two facing pages, not necessarily conjugate.
ORNAMENT
A generic term for any of the kinds of decoration that printers use along
with type-- borders, flowers, rules, etc.
ORPHAN
A single line of type from the bottom of a paragraph left alone at the top
of a column or page. Undesirable.
OVERLAY
Packing the tympan sheet very selectively with torn pieces of paper to increase
pressure in selected areas of the printing surface in order to improve the
quality of printing.
PERFECT
To perfect a sheet is to print the other side, one side already having been
machined; the sheet is then said to be perfect (adj.). A perfecting press
is one that prints both sides of the paper simultaneously. You would also
say "work the reiteration" if you wanted to say print the other
side-or at least you would if you lived in the hand press period. Nowadays
printers say "back it up".
PICA
The old name for 12-point type; hence came to be synonymous with em.
PIE
Composed type which has been spilled and indiscriminately mixed (pied).
To be avoided.
PITCH
The width of characters, or the number of characters fitting into a horizontal
inch. To say '10-pitch' means that there are ten characters to the inch.
PLANE
To plane the type is to put a flat board, a PLANER, on top of the set type
on the stone and hit it rather gently with a mallet. This to make sure that
all the type is the same height.
PLATEN
The heavy flat plate which on a hand press pressed the paper against the
inked type. A platen press is any press that operates by such a method,
including therefore all hand presses (as opposed to a cylinder press).
POINT
The smallest unit of measurement used by printers: one 72nd of an inch.
There are 12 points in an em and 6 ems in an inch.
PRELIMS
Properly, preliminary matter, the pages of a book that precede a text. A
handy way of distinguishing between a first and second edition of a hand
printed book is that in a first edition the prelims were usually printed
after the rest of the book, and therefore are not included and otherwise
undistinguishable in point of primacy, the one with the irregular signature
run would be first.
PRINTING PRESS
Gutenborg's invention consisted of taking two techniques from two different
spheres of activity and combining them to invent a third. From coining he
took the idea of using a punch to make a matrix in which lead-alloy type
could be cast in large quantities, each identical; and from the wine-press
he took a means whereby firm even pressure could be applied quickly in order
to print from this type. Both of these inventions - cast type and the wooden
press making impressions with a combination of lever and screw - lasted
unchanged except in minor details for 450 years, until 1800. Refinements
to the hand press were introduced after this date: the Stanhope, which augmented
the power of the lever; the Columbia, which replaced the screw with another
lever; and the Albion, which replaced the screw with a toggle mechanism.
All of these were mechanically more efficient and, since they were made
of iron, more precise, but they were only successful in making more delicate
and sharper impressions; they didn't make the output any faster than the
original wooden common press. Much greater speeds were achieved with various
kinds of machine presses usually based on the cylinder (i.e. mangle) and
therefore long runs and massively selling books and newspapers; the social
and cultural consequences of this are obvious. Only in the last ten years
has it been possible to produce a machine, based on an entirely different
principle from Gutengberg's original invention of letterpress printing,
that combines the original virtues of small runs and small investment with
the later achievement of fast production: this is the offset-litho press.
PROVENANCE
To investigate the provenance of a book or MS is to look into its origins,
i.e. its history to its present whereabouts.
QUADS
Blank types cast less than type height, in standard point sizes, used as
spacing material. Usual size are en, em, 2-3m, 3-em, and 4-em quads.
QUOIN
Pron. coin. Metal or wooden wedges placed between the outer furniture and
the sides of a chase in order to lock the type and blocks in it during printing.
RAGGED
A ragged right hand margin occurs when type has been set unjustified; the
lines are irregular in length and do not all reach the right margin.
RECTO
The right hand pages of a book, which bear the odd numbers; the versos are
the left-hand, even numbered pages.
REGISTER
The exact correspondence in position of the printed area on the two sides
of a leaf. Also known as 'registration'.
REGLET
Strips of oil-soaked wood used as inter-linear spacing material 3/4 inch
high and 6- to 18-point thick.
REVISE
A further proof embodying corrections made by the author and/or reader and/or
compositor to the first proof.
RIVERS
Unsightly white channels running through the lines of a printed page, caused
when interword spacing material is set too wide.
ROTARY PRESS
A machine for printing from a revolving cylindrical forme to which paper
is usually fed from a reel (if not, it is sheet-fed).
ROUNCE
The handle of the small windlass under the bed of the press that is used
to run the carriage, with type on it, under the platen to be printed.
RULE
Strip of brass or type metal, type high, cast in point sizes. Used for printing
straight lines. Now used to mean a line of any width, varying from a hairline
to a wide dark bar. A SETTING RULE, however,
means a brass (usually) rule used by the compositor to help set type: it
sets the MEASURE, and is put on top of each set line of type in turn so
that the new line to be set will not bind against the previous line.
RUNNING HEAD
Texts that repeats at the top (ie in the headline) of successive pages:
the name of a chapter, for instance, or the title of a book.
SERIF
Cross-stroke at the ends of the strokes of letters, deriving originally
from the finishing strokes made by the stone-cutter's chisel. Said to assist
legibility because the letters seem more joined together in serif type;
sans serif type is usually used only for technical manuals and display work.
SET
The width of a type body.
SET SOLID
Type set without leads between the lines is set solid.
SET-OFF
The transference of ink from the freshly inked impression on a printed sheet
to the underside of the next sheet to be laid on it in a pile.
SHANK
The sides of the type or sort.
SHEET
The piece of paper on which printing takes place, before it is folded to
form a gathering of two or more leaves, is called a sheet.
SHOULDER
the platform of a shank of type from which the face rises, i.e. the non-printing
area surrounding the face.
SLUG
A line of type characters cast in one piece by a linotype machine.
SORT
A specific letter.
STANDING TYPE
Type which has been printed and which instead of being dissed is kept standing
for reprints.
STEREOTYPE
a printing plate made by taking an impression from set-up type, or another
plate, in a mould of plaster of Paris, papier mache, or flong; stereotype
metal is then poured into the mould to form the printing plate.
STINT
The amount of copy allotted to each compositor.
STONE
Table bearing a stone slab or metal plate at which type is imposed.
STUB
The narrow margin which remains in a book when a cancel has been removed,
and on to which a corrected leaf (cancellans) is fixed.
STUFF
This is the name given to the pulp of water and rag used to make paper.
TAKE
The amount of copy taken by a compositor to set up in type at any one time.
TYMPAN(S)
The tympans are two rectangular metal frames clipped together, each covered
with tough paper or some stronger substance (canvas, for instance), and
sandwiching packing material. They are hinged at one end to the bed of the
press and at the other to the frisket. The paper to be printed is placed
on the tympans.
WATER-MARK
When a sheet of paper is made by hand, it is normal to put a small raised
wire pattern in the middle of one half of the mould. This presses into the
stuff as the paper is made, and so the resulting sheet is thinner at where
the wire pattern has pressed, forming an image that can be seen when the
sheet is held up to the light. The water-mark was usually used as a trade-mark
by the paper maker. This is imitated in modern machine-made papers, usually
for decoration, or, in the case of banknotes, to deter forgers, who would
have to make the paper themselves in order to imitate the distinctive watermark.
WATER-MARK
When a sheet of paper is made by hand, it is normal to put a small raised
wire pattern in the middle of one half of the mould. This presses into the
stuff as the paper is made, and so the resulting sheet is thinner at where
the wire pattern has pressed, forming an image that can be seen when the
sheet is held up to the light. The water-mark was usually used as a trade-mark
by the paper maker. This is imitated in modern machine-made papers, usually
for decoration, or, in the case of banknotes, to deter forgers, who would
have to make the paper themselves in order to imitate the distinctive watermark.
WHITE SPACE or WHITE PAPER
AN area of type in the FORME or COMPOSING STICK that will not print; that
is less than type high.
WIDOW
A single line of type from the top of a paragraph left alone at the bottom
of a column or page. Undesirable.
X-HEIGHT
The height of lower case letters, excluding ascenders and descenders, i.e.
the height of a lower-case x.
