A dictionary of the art of printing

That the reader may himself form an opinion of these borders, I have given two pages in which several of these pieces are arranged so as to show their effect. Those who are desirous of seeing all the varieties, may find them in the type founders specimen books, where there are a number of borders of different forms and patterns, which are combined in such a manner as to convince the beholder of the superiority of these ornaments over our old class of flowers.

As the French and German type founders, when they produce any new devices, sell matrices of them as articles of trade, the ornaments that are now introduced into England, have consequently all been manufactured from the same punches.

The series of the discourse of the compositor’s copy.—M. It now also means pages of types composed for any work; thus we have Set Matter, and Matter for Distribution, which see.

Matter for Distribution. Types that, having been composed for a work and printed off, are ready for use in another work, are, collectively, called Matter for Distribution.

A few years ago, a new press was constructed by Mr. Medhurst, of London, the great recommendation of which was its simplicity, and consequent cheapness. In its general form it much resembled the iron presses in common use, the principal difference being in the manner in which the pressure was produced. This was accomplished by means of an ingenious arrangement of levers, differing so much from every thing previously employed in machinery, that the inventor described his contrivance as one which exhibited a new power in mechanics.

The principle upon which this press acts will be understood from the annexed sketch of the parts by means of which the impression is given. Instead of a screw, a plain spindle is employed: on the lower part of this spindle there is a swell or collar, A, into which the handle, or working bar of the press, B, is fastened. The upper part of this collar has cups or steps for the reception of two short iron props or pins, C, D, which extend up to the head of the press, and are there supported by the points of two screws, E, F, entering sockets cut out in the heads of the pins, which are made of steel. When the platen is up, these pins stand in an inclined position, as represented in the annexed figure: but when the lever handle is pulled towards the spectator, so as to turn the spindle, the two screws remain stationary, while the props come into a vertical position, thus forcing the spindle and attached platen to descend, as if a screw were employed. It may be observed that, in the figure, G is merely a section of the head of the press, which is supposed to be looked at sidewise, to present the back and front projections, H, I, through which the screws pass.—Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopædia, 1833.

used in prescriptions, &c., with the words at length, and a translation. From Gray’s Supplement to the Pharmacopœia. 5th edit. 8vo. London, 1831.

A. Aa.—Ana, of each ingredient.

Abdom.—Abdomen, the belly; abdominis, of the belly; abdomini, to the belly.

Abs. febr.—Absente febre, in the absence of the fever.

Ad 2 vic.—Ad duas vices, at twice taking.

Ad gr. acid.—Ad gratam aciditatem, to an agreeable sourness.

Ad libit.—Ad libitum, at pleasure.

Add.—Adde, or addantur, add; addendus, to be added; addendo, by adding.

Admov.—Admoveatur, or admoveantur, apply.

Adst. febr.—Adstante febre, when the fever is on.

Aggred. febre.—Aggrediente febre, while the fever is coming on.

Altern. horis.—Alternis horis, every other hour.

Alvo adst.—Alvo adstricta, when the belly is bound.

Aq. bull.—Aqua bulliens, boiling water.

Aq. ferv.—Aqua fervens, boiling water.

Cap.—Capiat, take.

C. m.—Cras mane, to-morrow morning.

Coch. ampl.—Cochleare amplum, a large spoon.

Coch. infant.—Cochleare infantis, a child’s spoon.

Coch. magn.—Cochleare magnum, a large spoon.

Coch. mod.—Cochleare modicum, a dessert spoon.

Coch. parv.—Cochleare parvum, a small spoon.

Cœrul.—Cœruleus, blue.

Col.—Colatus, strained.

Colat.—Coletur, it should be strained; colaturæ, of or to the strained liquor.

Colent.—Colentur, they should be strained.

Comp.—Compositus, compounded.

Cont. rem.—Continuentur remedia, the medicines should be continued.

Contr.—Contritus, ground to a fine powder.

Coq.—Coque, boil; coquantur, they should be boiled.

C. P.—Codex of Paris.

Crast.—Crastinus, to-morrow.

Cuj.—Cujus, of which.

Cujusl.—Cujuslibet, of any.

Cyath. theæ.—Cyatho theæ, in a cup of tea.

P.—Pondere, by weight.

P. Bat.—Pharmacopœia Batava.

P. Belg.—Pharmacopœia Belgica.

P. D.—Pharmacopœia Dublinensis.

P. E.—Pharmacopœia Edinensis.

P. L.—Pharmacopœia Londinensis.

P. L. V.—Pharmacopœia Londinensis [Vetus?] before 1745.

P. U. S.—Pharmacopœia of the United States.

Part. vic.—Partitis vicibus, to be given in divided doses, instead of all at once.

Per. op. emet.—Peracta operatione emetici, when the operation of the emetic is finished.

Post sing. sed. liq.—Post singulas sedes liquidas, after every loose stool.

P. r. n.—Pro re nata, according as circumstances occur.

P. rat. æt.—Pro ratione ætatis, according to the age of the patient.

Pug.—Pugillus, a gripe between the finger and thumb.

S. A.—Secundum artem, according to art.

Semidr.—Semidrachma, half a dram.

Semih.—Semihora, half an hour.

Sesunc.—Sesuncia, an ounce and a half

Sesquih.—Sesquihora, an hour and a half.

Si n. val.—Si non valeat, if it does not answer.

Si op. sit.—Si opus sit, if need shall be.

Si vir. perm.—Si vires permittant, if the strength will allow.

Sign. n. pr.—Signetur nomine proprio, write upon it the usual name, not the trade name.

Sing.—Singulorum, singularum, of each.

S. S. S.—Stratum super stratum, layer upon layer.

Ss.—Semi, a half.

St.—Stet, it should stand; stent, they should stand.

Sub fin. coct.—Sub finem coctionis, when the boiling is nearly finished.

Sum. tal.—Sumat talem, the patient should take one like this.

S. V.—Spiritus vinosus, ardent spirits of any strength.

S. V. R.—Spiritus vinosus rectificatus, spirit of wine.

S. V. T.—Spiritus vinosus tenuis, proof spirit, or half and half spirit of wine and water.

The technical name of a mixture of metals properly so called, with which types and stereotype plates are cast.

In speaking of type metal, I shall first give Moxon’s description of making it, which is curious; and then some interesting observations on the same subject by M. Sage, from the Journal de Physique.

Moxon says—“What the metal founders make printing letters of, is lead hardened with iron: thus, they choose stub nails for the best iron to melt, as well because they are assured stub nails are made of good, soft, and tough iron, as because they (being in small pieces of iron) will melt the sooner.

“To make the iron run, they mingle an equal weight of antimony (beaten in an iron mortar into small pieces) and stub nails together. And preparing so many earthen forty or fifty pounds melting pots (made for that purpose to endure the fire) as they intend to use: they charge these pots with the mingled iron and antimony as full as they will hold.

“Every time they melt metal, they build a new furnace to melt it in: this furnace is called an open furnace; because the air blows in through all its sides to fan the fire: they make it of bricks in a broad open place, as well because the air may have free access to all its sides, as that the vapours of the antimony (which are obnoxious) may the less offend those that officiate at the making of the metal: and also because the violent fire made in the furnace should not endanger the firing any adjacent houses.

“They consider, before they make the furnace, how many pots of metal they intend to melt, and make the furnace sizeable to that number: we will suppose five pots. Therefore they first make a circle on the ground capable to hold these five pots, and wider yet by three or four inches round about: then within this circle they lay a course of bricks close to one another to fill the plain of that platform, with their broad or flat sides downwards, and their ends all one way, and on this course of bricks they lay another course of bricks as before, only the lengths of this course of bricks lies athwart the breadths of the other course of bricks; then they lay a third course of bricks with their lengths cross the breadth of the second course of bricks.

“Having thus raised a platform, they place these five pots in the middle of it close to one another, and then on the foundation or platform raise the furnace round about by laying the bricks of the first lay end to end and flat, close to one another: on the second lay, they place the middle of a brick over a joint (as the bricklayers call it) that is, where the ends of two bricks join together, and so again lay bricks end to end till they trim round the platform. Then they lay a third lay of bricks, covering the joints of the second lay of bricks as before: so is the foundation finished.

“Then they raise the walls to the furnace on this foundation; but do not lay the ends of their bricks close together, but lay the ends of each brick about three inches off each other, to serve for wind holes till they trim round about: then they lay another lay of bricks, leaving other such wind holes over the middle of the last lay of bricks, and so trim as they work round, either with half bricks or bats, that the wind holes of the last lay may be covered: and in this manner and order they lay so many lays, till the walls of the furnace be raised about three bricks higher than the mouths of the melting pots, still observing to leave such wind holes over the middle of every brick that lies under each lay.

“Then they fill the sides of the furnace round about the melting pots, and over them, with charcoal, and fire it at several wind holes in the bottom, till it burn up and all over the furnace, which a moderate wind in about an hour’s time will do: and about half an hour’s time after, they lay their ears near the ground and listen to hear a bubbling in the pots; and this they do so often till they do hear it. When they hear this bubbling, they conclude the iron is melted: but yet they will let it stand, perhaps half an hour longer or more, according as they guess the fire to be hotter or cooler, that they may be the more assured it is all thoroughly melted. And when it is melted, the melting pot will not be a quarter full.

“And in or against that time, they make another small furnace close to the first, (to set an iron pot in, in which they melt lead,) on that side from whence the wind blows; because the person that lades the lead out of the iron pot (as shall be shewed by and by) may be the less annoyed with the fumes of the metal, in both furnaces. This furnace is made of three or four course of bricks open to the windward, and wide enough to contain the designed iron pot, with room between it and the sides to hold a convenient quantity of charcoal under it, and about it.

“Into this iron pot they put for every three pound of iron, about five and twenty pounds of lead. And, setting fire to the coals in this little furnace, they melt and heat this lead red hot.

“Hitherto a man (nay, a boy) might officiate at all this work; but now comes labour would make Hercules sweat. Now they fall to pulling down so much of the side of the open furnace as stands above the mouth of that melting pot next the iron pot, and having a thick strong iron ladle, whose handle is about two yards long, and the ladle big enough to hold about ten pounds of lead, and this ladle red hot that it chill not the metal; they now, I say, with this ladle, fall to clearing this first melting pot of all the coals or filth that lie on the top of the melted metal; while another man at the same time stands provided with a long, strong, round iron stirring poot, the handle of which stirring poot is also about two yards long or more, and the poot itself almost twice the length of the depth of the melting pot: this poot is nothing but a piece of the same iron turned to a square with the handle: and this poot is also in a readiness heated red hot.

“Now one man with the ladle lades the lead out of the iron pot into the melting pot, while the other man with the poot stirs and labours the lead and metal in the melting pot together, till they think the lead and metal in the melting pot be well incorporated: and thus they continue lading and stirring till they have near filled the melting pot.

“Then they go to another next melting pot, and successively to all, and lade and stir lead into them as they did into the first. Which done, the metal is made: and they pull down the walls of the open furnace, and take away the fire that the metal may cool in the pots.

“Now (according to custom) is half a pint of sack mingled with sallad oil, provided for each workman to drink; intended for an antidote against the poisonous fumes of the antimony, and to restore the spirits that so violent a fire and hard labour may have exhausted.”—Moxon.

Smith, who published his Printer’s Grammar about seventy years after the appearance of Moxon’s work, says, “In Germany they use more than three ingredients to their metal, which is there made of steel, iron, copper, brass, tin, and lead; all which they incorporate with each other by means of antimony. This metal, if duly prepared, does not bend, but breaks like glass; it is harder than tin and lead, something softer than copper, and melts sooner than lead. This account I have of Mr. Struke, a printer at Lubec.”

“Observations on the Metallic Mixture made use of for casting Letters, or Characters, for Printing. By M. Sage. From the Journal de Physique.

“Lead and regulus of antimony, melted together in various proportions, form the metal used by letter founders, for casting their different types or characters. When I say that these metals are used in various proportions, I mean, that more or less of the regulus of antimony is mixed with the lead, according to the degree of hardness the types are required to possess. In general, eighty pounds of lead are added to twenty pounds of regulus of antimony, already melted: but, for the small characters, in which a greater degree of hardness is required, seventy-five pounds of lead are used to twenty-five pounds of regulus of antimony; and, for large ones, eighty-five pounds of lead, and fifteen pounds of regulus of antimony.

“These two substances, though of very different specific gravities [Lead, 11·35—Antimony 6·70.—W. S.], remain perfectly combined, and do not separate from each other by fusion, unless the fire made use of is so strong as to burn and volatilize them; in that case, the antimony begins to exhale.

“Letter founders should take care to employ only the purest regulus of antimony, or that which is the most free from sulphur; for, when it contains any of that substance, it acts upon the lead, in the course of time, and forms with it a kind of galena, which acquires a black colour. The letters cast with a mixed metal of that kind, instead of preserving their shining and polished appearance, become dull, and as it were cracked, forming also a sort of efflorescence. When this spontaneous decomposition takes place, the letters become brittle, and lose their form. Of this I have been convinced, by having analysed a mixture of this kind, with which M. Anisson had cast some Arabic characters.

“Having exposed some of the letters, made with this bad metal, to a violent fire, the sulphur it contained burnt, and exhaled, in the form of vitriolic acid. Having then poured the metal remaining in the crucible into an ingot, it acquired a white brilliant colour like silver; which colour did not become sensibly changed, by being left, for the space of six months, in a damp place.

“Regulus of antimony is prepared, in the large way, by melting calcined antimony, in a reverberatory furnace, with dried wine lees; from this is obtained the regulus, which is sold in the form of round cakes, on the surface of which are seen figures like the leaves of fern, &c. which figures are produced from the elements of octoëdral crystals. If the regulus, thus prepared, appears more grey in colour than when it is prepared according to Stahl’s process, it is because it still retains a portion of sulphur.

“At present, there is not found a sufficient quantity of regulus of antimony in commerce to supply the letter founders. It appears to me that, in the place of regulus of antimony prepared as above, we might substitute that which may be prepared with iron. One-fifth part of iron is sufficient to absorb all the sulphur with which antimony is mineralized. When this mixture is melted, it must be poured into a cone: the sulphuretted iron remains upon the surface of the regulus, and is very easily separated from it.

“This process is less expensive, and produces more regulus, than the process made use of by those who work the mines of antimony.

“Regulus of antimony, as we have seen, gives hardness to lead; but a much greater degree of hardness is produced by adding tin to the mixture. I have analysed some nails which were proposed to be used in shipbuilding, and found them to contain three parts of tin, two parts of lead, and one part of regulus of antimony. These nails were sufficiently hard to penetrate oak wood, without being blunted; and this metallic mixture is not acted upon by sea water, which very quickly decomposes iron.”

These observations of M. Sage show the utility of iron in the making of type metal by our predecessors, from its combining with the sulphur contained in the antimony.

Stereotype founders vary considerably the proportions of lead and regulus of antimony in making their metal. The hardest metal made, is in the proportion of ten pounds of regulus of antimony to forty pounds of tea lead; but the general proportions are ten pounds of regulus of antimony to sixty pounds of lead, which are said to make a mixture of a good quality.

Straight lines cast on pieces of metal similar to quadrats, but higher; they are rarely cast to founts larger than English. They are used as leaders; to cut off sums of money from the line which contains the sum total; for transverse lines in columns; sometimes for column rules, but very seldom; and for blanks, where the names of persons, &c., are omitted; em metal rules are sometimes used for divisions in a paragraph instead of a point. They are generally of one em, two ems, three ems, and four ems, but in English founts their size does not exceed three ems; sometimes there are en metal rules cast. Metal rules ought to be cast exactly on the middle of the body, and be continued precisely to the sides, so as to join each other at the ends, even if they are placed alternately with the sides reversed; should this not be the case, the continuity of the line must be broken, and it will necessarily have a disagreeable appearance.

The name of a type one size larger than Nonpareil, and one smaller than Brevier. Moxon does not enumerate this size in his list.

When the pressman has not distributed his balls, some splotches of ink may lie on one or both of them, which in beating he delivers upon the form, so that the sheet printed on has a black blotch on it, which blotch is called a Monk—M. The same effect will take place also with rollers, if care be not taken to roll them backwards and forwards, as well as crossways on the inking table.

It is not necessary in this work to define what music is, nor enter at all into any disquisition on the subject, as the object is the printing of it only; and all that I shall attempt is to give the plan of a pair of Music Cases, with the characters, and a specimen.

The English musical types have never to my knowledge undergone any improvement, till within a few years, when Mr. Hughes cut two new founts, which are looked upon as the best we have, and the largest of which I have used for this article.

Mr. E. Cowper devised a plan for printing music, in which one page was the lines only, and the other page was the notes, &c. only, and the chase was prepared to turn upon a centre fixed in the table of a press: thus the first impression was that of the lines without the notes, &c. on one page, and the notes, &c. without the lines on the other; the form was then turned half round, and the second impression was, the lines on the notes on one page, and the notes on the lines on the other. There is an objection to this plan for good work, which is, that the page of notes requires a different making ready to the page of lines, and when the two are completed they will be unequal in the effect, for either the lines will be too strong, or the notes have too little impression.

Mr. R. Branston struck out a different mode: he produced his music by the usual process for printing it with the rolling press, only the punches were struck deeper in the plate, and he then took a stereotype plate from it in type metal, and after the white parts were blocked out the music was sufficiently in relief to be printed at the type press. Both these plans were adopted to preserve the continuity of the lines, which in types got rounded off by wear where they joined, and spoiled the appearance.

In distributing music, the compositor should be careful not to injure the corners of the lines.

Music of the Presses. When a house has sufficient business to employ all the presses within it, and a master printer walks through his press room when they are all at work, and hears the creaking of the heads, the thumping of the balls, the noise of the running in and out of the carriage, and all the other miscellaneous, and, to unaccustomed ears, discordant noises, he styles them the music of the presses, which he declares to be the finest music in the world, as it brings grist to his mill.

The Music of the Presses, before the introduction of cylindrical machines worked by steam engines, was a standing toast after dinner at all parties among printers; and I hope it will never be neglected.