The Author's Printing and Publishing Assistant Part 1

The Author's Printing and Publishing a.s.sistant.

by Frederick Saunders.

As it is very desirable that Authors, and those who may have to give directions to the Printer, should be acquainted with the manner in which Printing is performed, it may be proper, in commencing this little work, to give in the first place a brief outline of

THE PROCESS OF PRINTING.

The Printing Office is divided into two branches; the one ent.i.tled the _Composing_, the other the _Press_ department.

The Composing-room is furnished with a number of what are called _Cases_,[2-*] properly fitted up, which are placed before the Compositor. The Compositor then places the Ma.n.u.script[2-+] before him, and taking a small iron frame, or measure, adapted to the purpose, fixes it by a screw to the width which the Page he is to set up is intended to be, and commences the putting it into Type, in the following manner.

Supposing the first words of the Ma.n.u.script to be "The City of London,"

he first selects the Capital Letter T, then the Lower-Case letter h, and then e, each from their respective compartments; after this he takes what is called a s.p.a.ce,[2-++] which is used to separate the words from each other; and thus proceeds until he comes to a Stop, which he selects in like manner, and places next to the last letter of the last word.

When the frame he holds is filled, he removes the Type thus set into a larger, first to form Pages, and afterwards, when a.s.sembled together, to form Sheets.

The number of Pages in each Sheet is determined by the size in which the work is to be printed:--if in Folio, four pages; if in Quarto, eight pages; if in Octavo, sixteen; if in Duodecimo, twenty-four, &c.

When a sufficient number of Pages have been set to form a Sheet, they are what is called _Imposed_,[3-*] and the _Forme_ is removed to the Press-room, where the first impression, technically called the first Proof, is taken off. This Proof is then transferred to the Reading room, where it is carefully compared with the original by two persons, one reading the Ma.n.u.script, and the other the Proof-sheet, marking as he goes on any errors which may have occurred in the Setting. This first Proof is then given back to the Compositor, who has the forme again laid on the stone, and having, as it is called, unlocked it,[4-*] proceeds to make such corrections as by the marks on the proof he is directed to.

When the Type has been made to correspond with the Ma.n.u.script, the first Corrected Proof is struck off, and transmitted to the Author. Should the Author not have occasion to make many alterations, he may not think it necessary to require a Second Proof; in that case he writes the word "Press" upon it, and having been again carefully read in the Office, it is then Printed off: but should it be otherwise, he writes the word "Revise" upon it, and it is again, when corrected, transmitted to him; and this as often as he may think necessary, until he adds the word "Press," which is the order for Printing off the entire number of copies of which the Edition is to consist.

Thus, Sheet by Sheet,[5-*] the Printing is proceeded with: and as soon as one Sheet has been printed off, the Type used in that Sheet is distributed,[5-+] to be employed in setting up the subsequent parts of the work.

From what has been said, it will be seen that the princ.i.p.al expense in Printing a work is the setting of the Type, arising from the fact that the many thousand[5-++] Letters, s.p.a.ces, Points, &c. of which it is composed have each to be selected, a.s.sembled, and again distributed _singly_; in doing which the greatest attention and accuracy are necessary.

For the information of Authors not accustomed to Printing, it may be proper to state that the printing of the body of a work is always first in order; the t.i.tle, Preface, Contents, &c. being uniformly deferred till the completion.[6-*]

The process of Printing off a work is thus conducted. The quant.i.ty of Paper for Printing the number of sheets required is first laid open. It is then in successive portions of six or eight sheets dipped into a cistern of clear water, and laid one upon the other; when the whole has been thus immersed, a board of the proper size is placed on the top, and some heavy weights are added; thus the whole becomes properly imbued with moisture, and is fit for working. Without this, the paper would neither sink into the interstices, nor receive the ink; besides which, it would be very liable to injure the Type. When therefore the Paper has been thus prepared, it is laid on a stand adjoining the Press, and the process of Printing commences. Over the surface of the Type a Roller[7-*] charged with Printing Ink is pa.s.sed; the Sheet is laid on a frame which falls exactly on the forme; it is then shut down, rolled under the bed of the Press, the screw is turned which causes the weight to descend, the impression is given, and another turn of the hand delivers the Sheet Printed.

It is not surprising that so powerful an engine as the Press should have attracted the combined attention of the learned and ingenious. Gentlemen have devoted much of their time to it. Among these may be mentioned Horace Walpole, who printed several of his favorite works at his seat, Strawberry Hill; Sir Egerton Brydges, at Lee Priory; and the late Earl Stanhope, at his family mansion, Chevening, Kent. To no one, probably, is the present advanced stage of Printing more indebted than to the last-named n.o.bleman. With a natural talent for mechanical invention which no difficulty could subdue, he applied his enlightened mind with persevering ardour to a variety of useful objects, especially to the improvement of Printing. The result was not only the production of the most complete Printing Press then known, together with a variety of collateral improvements, but the increasing, if not originating, that impulse which has since carried this important branch of art so near to perfection.

To those who are accustomed to Printing, and who are aware how much its beauty depends on what is called the Press-work, to produce which long practice and great manual dexterity are necessary, it might have appeared impossible that any Machine could have been invented to perform such an operation with any degree of precision and success; yet this the continued labour of mechanical ingenuity has accomplished.

The Steam Printing Press is perhaps one of the most complete specimens of the perfection of mechanical contrivance ever afforded. To this the public are in a great degree indebted for that early and rapid communication of intelligence which is now brought down almost to the hour of the morning on which it is circulated. The Times Newspaper, which was the first to adopt this astonishing invention, is still printed by it with a rapidity which is scarcely conceivable.[10-*] An inspection of it cannot fail to gratify every intelligent observer. Its use has now become very general.

The Steam Press, however, is chiefly applicable where large numbers, or great speed are required; for ordinary works, and fine Printing, the hand Press is still preferred, and probably ever will be.

In a work like the present, it may not perhaps be deemed uninteresting to take a brief view of the

ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PRINTING.

There appears to be no reason to doubt that, from a very remote period in the history of the world, devices were used for the purpose of transmitting to after times the records of important events, but these are for the most part more a matter of curiosity than of positive information. Of the Origin of Printing as now practised, the Rev.

Archdeacon c.o.xe gives the following account in his History of the House of Austria:--"It took its rise about the middle of the fifteenth century, and in the course of a few years reached that height of improvement which is scarcely surpa.s.sed even in the present times. The Invention was at first rude and simple, consisting of whole pages carved on Blocks of Wood,[12-*] and only impressed on one side of the leaf: the next step was the formation of moveable Types in Wood, and they were afterwards cut in Metal, and finally rendered more durable, regular, and elegant, by being Cast, or Founded.

"The consequence of this happy and simple discovery was a rapid series of improvements in every art and science, and a general diffusion of knowledge among all orders of society. Hitherto the tedious, uncertain, and expensive mode of multiplying books by the hand of the Copyist, had princ.i.p.ally confined the treasures of learning to Monasteries,[14-*] or to persons of rank and fortune. Yet, even with all the advantages of wealth, Libraries were extremely scarce and scanty; and princ.i.p.ally consisted of books of devotion and superst.i.tion, legends, or the sophistical disquisitions of the schoolmen. An acquaintance with the Latin cla.s.sics was a rare qualification, and the Greek language was almost unknown in Europe; but the Art of Printing had scarcely become general before it gave a new impulse to genius and a new spirit to inquiry. A singular concurrence of circ.u.mstances contributed to multiply the beneficial effects derived from this invention, among which the most considerable were the protection afforded to literature and the arts by the States of Italy, and the diffusion of Greek learning by the literati who sought an asylum in Europe after the capture of Constantinople.

"A controversy has arisen concerning the first discoverer of the art of Printing, between the three towns of Haerlem, Mentz, and Strasburg, each, from a natural partiality, attributing it to their own countryman.

The dispute, however, has turned rather on words than facts; and seems to have arisen from the different definitions of the word "Printing." If we estimate the discovery from the invention of the principle, the honour is unquestionably due to Laurence Coster, a native of Haerlem, who first found out the method of impressing characters on paper, by means of carved blocks of wood. If moveable types be considered as a criterion, the merit of the discovery is due to John Gutenberg, of Mentz; and Schoeffer, in conjunction with Faust, was the first who founded Types of Metal."--_c.o.xe_, vol. i. p. 421. 8vo.

Although some attempts have been made to support a different statement, it is pretty generally admitted that William Caxton, who had lived abroad and learned the art there, was the person who introduced Printing into England; in this Stowe, Leland, and others agree, that "in the almonry at Westminster, the Abbot of Westminster erected the first Press for Book-printing that ever was in England, about the year 1471; and where Wm. Caxton, Citizen and Mercer, who first brought it into England, first practised it."

The first work printed in England was "The Recueil of The Historeys of Troye," of which Caxton thus speaks:--"Thus end I this book, &c., and for as moche as in wrytyng of the same my penne is worn, myne hande wery, and myne eyen dimmed, with overmoche lokyng on the whit paper--and that age crepeth on me dayly--and also because I have promised to dyverce gentilmen and to my frendes to adresse to them as hastely as I myght this said book, therefore I have practysed and learned at my grete charge and dispense to ordayne this sayd book in prynte after the manner and forme as ye may here see, and is not wreten with penne and ynke, as other bokes ben, to thende that every man may have them att ones; for all the books of this storye named the Recule of the Historyes of Troyes thus emprynted as ye here see were begonne in oon day and also finished in oon day," &c. In another place he enumerates the works he had printed thus:--"When I had accomplished dyvers workys and historyes translated out of Frenshe into Englyshe, at the requeste of certayn lords, ladyes, and gentylmen, as the Recule of the Historyes of Troye, the Boke of Chesse, the Historye of Jason, the Historye of the Mirrour of the World, I have submysed myself to translate into English, the Legende of Sayntes, called Legenda Aurea in Latyn--and Wylyam Erle of Arondel desyred me--and promysed to take a resonyble quantyte of them--sente to me a worshipful gentylman--promising that my sayd lord should during my lyf give and grant to me a yearly fee, that is to note a bucke in sommer, and a doo in wynter," &c.

It appears that Caxton continued his employment at Westminster, with considerable success, until his death, which occurred in 1491. He seems to have been extensively patronised, and to have been a person of great moral worth. He is supposed to have lived to beyond the age of eighty.

Wynkyn de Worde, who was an a.s.sistant, and afterwards succeeded Caxton, was a foreigner, born in the dukedom of Lorrain. He made great improvements, especially in the form of his types. Most of his books now remaining, were printed in Fleet Street, in St. Bride's Parish, at the sign of the Sun. He died in 1534.

Richard Pynson, who had been brought up under Caxton, set up a Press at Temple Bar, and was the first who obtained the patent of King's Printer; he died in 1529.

After this, Printing was practised very generally, not only in London, but in many other places, especially Oxford and Cambridge, both which Universities obtained the exclusive right, which they still retain, of Printing all Bibles and Prayer Books; that is, with the exception of the person holding the patent of King's Printer, who also has this right.

The principle of moveable Types having been once introduced, little room was left for improvement, beyond the slight variations in the form of the Letters, which, as a matter of taste, would always be liable to fluctuate: a comparison of works, printed at different periods, will exemplify this.

An experiment was made some years since, in Logographic, or Word Printing; the Words of most frequent occurrence being cast together, instead of setting them up in single Letters; but it does not appear to have succeeded, or to have been generally adopted, though a Volume, at least, was printed on this plan, which the Publishers of this little work happen to have in their possession.

In the improvement of the Printing Press, and the manufacture of Printing Ink, a larger sphere was opened, inasmuch as to the advancement of these, Printing must be ever indebted for its degrees of excellence.

Printing Ink is a sort of Black Varnish, the making of which is still a secret in the hands of the manufacturers, so far as its finer qualities are concerned.

Its requisites are, that it should have a sufficient, and not too great a degree of tenacity; that it should produce a perfectly black impression, and that it should dry quickly: in proportion as the Ink is deficient in these qualities, it will be liable to injure the paper, or produce specks, to surround the printing with a yellow hue, from the too great preponderance of the oily ingredients; or to soil the paper during the subsequent processes. The excellence of the Printing of Baskerville was chiefly attributable to his discoveries in the art of Ink Making.

The late Mr. Bulmer, also, who printed some of the most splendid works of the last half century, was very successful in his experiments. The manufacture is now in the hands of several persons, who are eminent in this art, and who have made it a distinct branch of business.

STEREOTYPE PRINTING,

which is a modern improvement, is a mode of rendering a work permanent in Type, in the following manner. When the Type has been accurately corrected, the Pages of Type are properly arranged for the purpose, when a cast is taken of them in a Plaster Cement, which becomes hard when dry: into this mould melted Type Metal is poured, and thus a perfect counterpart of the Type is produced of each Page, in one solid Plate.

This mode was brought into notice by the late Lord Stanhope. The first attempt to render a work thus permanent, and which appears to have been adopted solely with the view of preventing error, was made by a Printer at Leyden, about a hundred years since. He produced a Quarto Bible, Printed from solid Pages, but these were rendered solid by soldering together the backs of the Types. The present mode is, of course, a great improvement on this; as instead of incurring the heavy expense of so large a quant.i.ty of moveable Type, the same result is produced, and the Type from which the cast is taken remains uninjured, to be used again and again, for the same, or any other purpose.

Stereotype Printing is thus a very valuable process, for works not liable to alteration, as Bibles, School Books, and other works of which large numbers are required, as it would be impossible to keep the moveable Types standing for such works, without a very great outlay of Capital.[22-*]

Another mode of Printing, is that called

LITHOGRAPHIC PRINTING,

or PRINTING FROM STONE. This is also a recent invention. It was brought into England about twenty years since. Invented by M. Senefelder, of Munich. It is founded on the principles of Chemical Affinity. A Writing or Drawing is made on Stone, with an Ink prepared with a sort of unctuous ingredient--to this is applied another Ink of a contrary quality; the Ink with which the Writing or Drawing is made, remains on the Stone, while that with which the Printing is performed, separates from it, and is thus transferred to the Paper. This method has been brought to very great perfection; so much so, as to produce Prints from Drawings possessing nearly all the beauty and delicacy of Copperplate or Steel Engravings. It is also very useful in multiplying Fac-similes, as it admits of Printing from the hand-writing itself, when written with Ink prepared for the purpose. At Munich, Paris, and St. Petersburgh, this mode of Printing has been adopted in the Government Offices. All Resolutions, Edicts, Orders, &c., agreed to at the Cabinet meetings, are written down on paper, by the Secretary, with Chemical Ink, and in the s.p.a.ce of an hour, an ample supply of copies is obtained. For Circulars, and in general, all such orders of Government as must be rapidly distributed, an invention like this is of the utmost consequence, and it is probable that eventually it will be universally employed. In time of war it would prove of the greatest use for the general staff of the Army, completely supplying the want of a field Printing-Office, and especially as it admits of greater despatch and secresy. The Commanding Officer might write his orders with his own hand, and in his presence a number of impressions might be taken by a person who could neither write nor read. In mercantile transactions, it is very generally employed where a quick and accurate multiplication of Price Lists, Letters, and Accounts, is of the utmost importance.

COPPER-PLATE PRINTING.

Copper, or Steel-plate Engravings, are Printed by a different process.

The Copper, or Steel-plate Press, is formed of two Rollers, one placed over the other, with only a sufficient s.p.a.ce between to allow a board to pa.s.s, when a strong force is applied. The Plate is then laid on a small fire adapted to the purpose, so as to heat it sufficiently to liquify the Ink, and cause it to diffuse itself over every part of the Engraving. It is then made perfectly clean, so as to leave no soil on the paper, except from the parts indented. It is then laid on the board, the Paper spread upon it, and a soft cloth being added, the Roller is turned by a Cross Lever, when the Print, with all its varied tints, is immediately produced.

ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD.