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

paper:

• handmade, rough-surfaced
• of-white
• shows pattern of broad-spaced lines (chain lines) crossed by close together lines (wire lines)
• smooth edges cut by binder or rough, uncut, or unopened

binding:

• endpapers, of a different color or texture, at the front and back of book, added by binder
• then strips of paper waste to secure spine
• then boards, stiff upper and lower covers made of wood (in early days) or pasteboard, then millboard, covered with leather or rough paper
• decorated with heated brass tools, using gold leaf (gilt) or plain (blind)

Printing Type

casted in an alloy of led, antimony, and tin called type-metal which had a low melting point, didn't shrink or expand with temperature differences

height to paper varied from 24.0-27.5mm before standardization in eighteenth century (international type standards not established until late nineteenth century)

fount: group of type-cast alphabets of one body and design

making type:

1. relief patter cut by hand on the end of a steel punch (~45mm long)
2. punches were hammered into small blocks of copper (matrices), each matrix trimmed to squared and set to correct depth (process called justification -- different from justification in typesetting)
3. matrices fixed to a mould, a teel box clad in wood for insulation
4. typecaster puts two halves of mould together, holds them with left hand
5. drops molten type-metal into mouth of the mould with right hand while jerking hand to get metal into recesses of matrix
6. lays down ladle, removes spring holding matrix in place, pryes out type with iron picks
7. jets of metal from mould mouth snapped off, type planed to be smooth
8. type inspected for defects

casting type was very skilled; required precision jerks of hand for particular letts