Gaskell 1972

Book Production: The Hand-press Period 1500-1800

The Hand-printed Book

printing process:

1. compositor: type --> composing stick (several lines) --> galley (whole page); tie with string, move to the next
2. imposition: arrange many pages of type for one sheet --> fix in a pair of iron frames (chases), one for each side --> locked together, two chases of type create a forme
3. trial prints (proofs) made from formes; compared with copy; errors marked by corrector (possibly author), marked proofs used by compositor to correct type
4. formes placed on printing press: wooden frame; screw, worked by hand, to force the platen down onto the type; movable carriage for type and paper to run under platen; worked by two pressman --> one fits paper on frame, folds it down onto the type, and runs the carriage under the platen; the other inks the type; printed one side, then another
5. arranged piles of printed sheets along a bench, picking them up one by one to collate the sheets
6. collated sheets sent to binder, who folded each sheet and sewed them together into volumes

foliation: numbering leaves pagination: numbering pages

direction line: first word of the next page at the bottom of the page

head: top of book tail: bottom of book

gathering: one or more pair of leaves (conjugate paires) joined at the back, made from one folded sheet, or fraction of a sheet, or several folded sheets tucked inside one another (quired)

• identified by a signature, a letter or letters of the alphabet placed in the direction line of the first recto, often repeated on subsequent rectos, indicating order of the gatherings
• main signature series begins with the text; title page, dedication, etc., often not included because they would have been printed last -- reprints may begin signatures at the beginning

imprint: identifying printer on the title page colophon: identifying printer at the back of the book