I have extended these tables of Signatures and folios to 18mo., which is a size that has been much in use of late years; and in the table of 18mo. I have given it as usually imposed, as three half sheets of 12mo. with three signatures; the first signature in each sheet is with a capital letter, the intermediate signatures are small capitals.

SIXTEENMO.

—A sheet of paper folded into sixteen leaves or thirty-two pages is termed a sixteens or sixteenmo.

SIXTY-FOURMO.

—A sheet of paper folded into sixty-four leaves or one hundred and twenty-eight pages is termed sixty-fours or sixty-fourmo.

SLICE.

—The false bottom of a large galley, made to slide out, for the purpose of keeping a quarto or a folio page upon it, without disturbing it, as being safer than transferring it to a page paper. See Galley.

Slice is also the name of an iron implement used in the ink block to transfer the ink from the tub or other receptacle, and to scrape it together in a mass, clear of the balls when ink is taken with them; it has an iron pin through it near the bottom of the handle, so that if it falls flat on the ink block, it will rest on this pin, which prevents the handle from being smeared with ink.

SLIPS.

—In printing encyclopædias, dictionaries of arts or sciences, and similar works, which frequently undergo great alterations in the proofs, they are occasionally pulled on slips of paper, of the length and half the breadth of a demy leaf of paper. This is done on account of the facility of adding new subject matter, or taking some away, without having to overrun and to re-make up the sheet, after it has been imposed in pages.

SLUR

—When from any cause at press, the impression on the paper is smeared, it is said to Slur.

This may arise from many causes—if the tympan joints are loose, it will be produced by the least lateral movement of the tympan after it is turned down—if the ear of the frisket touches the inside of the cheek in running in, it will cause it—if the press runs close, so that the inner tympan touches the face of the platen, it is very likely to slur; and I have often observed this in wooden presses that had been altered to obtain the additional power, for the platen was brought so low and near to the face of the letter in the form, as not to allow room to run in clear. In presses where the tympans are large, if the slur pin does not act, that corner of the tympan will come in contact with the form first, and cause a slur, particularly if the tympans are in any way rickety, or twisted by drawing on the parchment. Where the winter has been justified with cards, to produce a greater spring in the pull, it has been known to produce slurring. The first step towards curing this defect is to ascertain from what cause it arises; and then it is not difficult: but it has often caused great trouble to discover the cause.

The following are my old Pressman’s directions “To prevent Slurring and Maculing;” and though it will be perceived that some of them apply only to wooden presses, yet the whole may be useful.

“1. Keep the face of the inner tympan and platen clean and dry.

“2. Be sure that the parchments are tight both on the inner and outer tympans; also that the tympans are not rickety, nor the joints slack.

“3. Guide cramps are a great preventive to slurring and maculing.

“4. The tenons in the head and winter must exactly fit the mortises in the cheeks.

“5. The short bolts must be screwed tightly up, to fix the nut or box firmly in the head, and must not have the least play.

“6. The garter must fit the spindle and hose, and the spindle must fit the hose, as exactly as possible.

“7. The hose must work perpendicularly, and steady in the shelves.

“8. The platen must be tightly and properly tied, or otherwise fixed, so that it shall come down upon the face of all the types in the form at the same moment.

“9. The wheel must be well justified on the spit.

“10. The railing of the inner tympan must not rub against the platen, in running in or out.

“11. The shanks of the points must not be so far over the outer part of the tympan as to rub against the cheeks of the press.

“12. If a clumsy smith has made the joints of the frisket so thick as to cause the tympan to rub against the face of the platen, he must alter them at his own expense.

“13. The shelves must be quite steady.

“14. The press stone must be worked down with hard pulling until it becomes a fixture.

“15. The frisket must be quite even, and fall flat on the form; and the paper which is pasted on it must not bag.

“16. Fix the winter as solid as possible.

“17. Let the tympans fall easily on the form, neither driving them from you, nor pulling them to you in letting them down; neither let the platen touch them till they are quite run in, nor run them out till the platen is quite clear of them.

“Exclusively of the aforesaid, there may be many other causes of slurring, which the pressman can only discover by close attention. I have often found cork bearers a great preventive.

“I have heard many complaints of the middle pages of a twelves form maculing at a two-pull press; but this is not always the fault of the press. The cause frequently is owing to blankets being in the tympan which have been used for folios, quartos, octavos, &c. &c.; and instead of its being a macule, it is nothing more than that part of the blanket which had covered the short cross of other work, and in the twelves form caused a deep and ugly impression, looking like a macule: this evil can only be remedied by new blankets, or confining the use of them to 12mo. forms.”

SLUR PIN.

—A flat-headed screw, that goes through the off side of the outer tympan, near the head band, so as to rest on the chase or furniture. Its use is to prevent the off corner of the tympan from coming down on the types before the other parts, which when it happens causes slurring.

SMALL CAPITALS.

—Capitals of a smaller size than the regular capitals of a fount, but cast on the same body; thus the small capitals of Double Pica are about the same height as English capitals. They bear off more from each other, and are stouter, in proportion to their size, than the capitals of the same fount. They are used for running titles; for heads of chapters; for emphatic words; and for subordinate lines in titles and jobs. Till of late years small capitals were only cast in England to founts of Roman letter; the type founders cast them now occasionally to Italic letter, and they form a useful sort.

Moxon does not mention small capitals; nor are they in the plan of the cases of Roman letter which he gives in his work. See Sorts.

SMALL NUMBERS.

—Under 1500 laid on, is accounted a small number. See Great Numbers; and see Lay on.—M. We now look on all numbers under 500 to be small numbers.

SMALL PICA.

—The name of a type, one size larger than Long Primer and one smaller than Pica. It is half the body of Double Pica in depth. Moxon does not enumerate it in his Table of the sizes of each body; but, after giving the names of the different types, he says, “These are the bodies most of use in England; but the Dutch have several other bodies: which because there is little and almost no perceivable difference from some of these mentioned, I think they are not worth naming. Yet we have one body more which is sometimes used in England; that is a Small Pica, but I account it no great discretion in a master printer to provide it: because it differs so little from the Pica, that unless the workmen be carefuller than they sometimes are, it may be mingled with the Pica, and so the beauty of both founts may be spoiled.” See Types.

This was published in 1683, and opinion has changed so much respecting this size, that at the present day there are perhaps more works printed with it than with any other size.

SMOUT.

Workmen when they are out of constant work, do sometimes accept of a day or two’s work, or a week’s work at another printing house: this by-work they call Smouting.—M. In fact we only term it smouting when the business of a house is slack, or, in other words, when work is insufficient to employ fully the workmen regularly employed, and they go to some other house for temporary employment, till such time as there is sufficient for them in their own house, when they return.

Soaking Pull. See Easy Pull.—M.

Sockets for the Gallows. See Gallows Sockets.

SOFT INK.

Ink or varnish moderately boiled.—M. It is now generally termed Weak Ink.

The varnish of soft or weak ink is not so strong as that for fine ink; it does not require so much time and labour to distribute it on the balls and rollers, and it more readily covers the face of the type: on these accounts, as well as the expense, it is used for common work, as it enables the pressman to make more riddance; it is also used for machine printing, as the rollers passing rapidly over the forms with their own weight only, are found not competent to coat the face of the type with strong ink.

Soft Pull. See Easy Pull.—M.

Solace. See Ancient Customs.—M.

Solid Dig. See Bad Work.

SOLID MATTER.

Matter that is composed without any leads between the lines, is termed solid matter; in the scale of prices of 1810 it is designated ‘without space lines.’ Previously to that time it was paid the same price as leaded matter, but then there was an advance allowed on it. See Scale.

SOP THE BALLS.

When a pressman has taken too much ink, he is said to sop the balls.—M.

SORTS.

The letters that lie in every box of the case are separately called Sorts in Printers and Founders language; thus, a is a sort, b is a sort, c is a sort, &c.—M.

In houses that have more founts than one of the same sized letter, it would preserve uniformity in the appearance of their work, if the following sorts were all of the same fount in the same sized type, particularly in lists of names, indexes, and articles that run on sorts, as by that means all the sorts in the office might be brought into use, when necessary, which would frequently be of great advantage, both for the convenience of the printer and the appearance of the work: under the present plan, where every fount varies in its proportions and appearance, the printer, in the before-mentioned cases, is put to a great inconvenience and expense, or else has to spoil the appearance of his work by mixing the founts. The adoption of this plan would also be of advantage to the type founder.

Capitals and small capitals.

Figures and fractions.

Metal rules and braces.

Points— , ; : . ! ? ( [ and references * † ‡ § ‖ ¶.

Superiors, and the pound £.

The following additional sorts would also be found useful, and conduce to the more regular appearance of printing.

Accented capitals and small capitals.

Capital and small capital Ç ç.

Points to superiors— , ; : . ’

The Spanish ñ.

SOUNDINGS.

When a pressman has got near the bottom of his heap, and, rapping his knuckles on it, the boards of the horse sound nearly as if he had struck the wood, he says, he is in soundings.

SPACE LINES,

generally called Leads by printers. Thin pieces of type metal, cast to different thicknesses, and different lengths, quadrat high, to put between the lines of matter to make it more open; they are also used to branch out titles, small jobs, and parts of a work where necessary.

SPACE RULES.

Fine lines, cast type high, in short thin pieces, to answer the purpose of brass rule in table work where a number of short pieces of a precise length are required. Two of them are generally equal to a pearl body.

SPACING.

The adjustment of the distance between the words in a line, so that there shall not be any glaring disproportion; also extending a word or a line of capitals by putting spaces between the letters. See Composing.

SPANISH.

Ñ has a peculiar nasal sound, like the French gn: the English have no sound like it, except in the last four letters of the word minion, which bear some resemblance to the last three of the word riñon, in Spanish: as niño, piña.

The note of interrogation is not only used at the conclusion of an interrogatory, but also placed, inverted, at the beginning, in order to warn the reader, unless the preceding words convey a sufficient warning; as ¿ Que es lo que vm. acostumbra? preguntó al enfermo.

The note of admiration is also inverted at the beginning of ejaculations, when the preceding words are not sufficient to prepare the reader; as ¡ Pastas dulces y viandas suculentas! exclamó suspenso y admirado el doctor.—M‘Henry’s Grammar.

SPANISH. [Query, Span-hitch.]

A slight kind of pull at a common wood-press.—Hansard.

SPECIMEN PAGE.

When a new work is put in hand, a specimen page, that is, a page of the proposed size and letter, is composed, and pulled in a neat manner on paper similar to that which is meant to be used. This is to show the effect of the work when printed. It sometimes occurs, that two or three pages are required, of different sizes, and of different letter, before the author or publisher decides in what way the work shall be done. These are called Specimen Pages.

If the work be not proceeded with, these specimen pages are charged by the master printer to his employer; if it goes on, they are included in the general charge.

Spelling. See Orthography.

SPINDLE.

The screw to which the bar of the press is affixed, and which produces the pressure on the platen.

The upper part of the spindle is round, on which a screw is cut, that works in the nut fixed in the head; the next part lower is square, with a square hole in it to receive the end of the bar; the lower part is round and tapering and goes through the hose, to which it is attached by the garter, the spindle having a groove cut round it, into which the two semicircular ends of the garter enter and encircle it, by which contrivance the platen is raised on the return of the bar; the lowest end of the spindle is called the toe, which is hardened steel, and works in the stud of the platen.

SPIRIT.

See Devil.—M. Every chapel is haunted by a spirit, called Ralph. When any man resists the decision of the chapel, and it is determined to enforce it, Ralph, or the spirit, is said to walk; and whatever mischief is done to the resisting party to enforce submission, which is always performed secretly, is invariably imputed to Ralph, or the spirit. See Chapel.

SPIT.

The iron spindle on which the drum or wheel and the rounce are fixed, to run the carriage in and out with. It is square in the middle part, where the wheel is fixed, and has a square end for the rounce to fit on: it works in two pieces of iron, screwed to the outsides of the frame of the wooden ribs.

SPONGE.

Sponge is used both by compositors and pressmen—by compositors, to wet matter that is tied up previous to distributing it—to wet matter that is not tied up, to prevent it going into pie—and in correcting to wet matter, particularly if it be small letter, when it is necessary to transpose it: by pressmen, to wet their tympans with.

SPOTTISWOODE PRESS.

This is a beautiful contrivance, and was, as I understand, the invention of Andrew Spottiswoode, Esq., who has several of them in action in his extensive establishment. It is moved by steam, and prints two forms at the same time, which pass alternately under the platen, producing at its average rate of working seven hundred impressions of each form in the hour.

The frisket is attached to the tympan at the bottom near the tympan joints, so that when the tympan is lifted from the form by the machinery they open at the upper end, contrary to the usual way in presses worked by manual labour, and the printed sheet is left by the tympan resting on the frisket, where the paper was previously laid on.

I believe this is the first successful application of steam, as a motive power, to printing presses with a platen and a perpendicular pressure. I heard the late Alexander Tilloch, Esq., say that he intended to apply it to the presses with which the Star newspaper was printed, but he never carried it into effect; and Mr. Koenig came to England solely for this purpose; but after some years passed in making experiments, assisted by English capital, he was completely foiled in the attempt, and afterwards worked upon Mr. Nicholson’s plan, and produced a machine to print with cylinders.—See Machine.

SPRING OF A FORM.

When a form has a great quantity of furniture in it, and is locked up very tight, it frequently springs up in the middle, so as to endanger its bursting upward; it is then said, the form springs, or it is termed the spring of the form.

In this case it is advisable to examine the furniture, for some pieces may not be planed square by the joiner, and to change them for others of the same size that appear perfect, and do not lock up very tight; tighten the quoins gradually, and frequently plane down while you are locking up; these measures will generally remedy the evil.

SPUR.

The point that pricks the hole in the paper at press, to make register with.

SQUABBLE.

A page or form is squabbled when the letters of one or more lines are got into any of the adjacent lines; or that the letter or letters are twisted about out of their square position.—M.

Stack of Books. See Pile of Books.

STACK OF PAPER.

When paper is received into the warehouse from the stationer, it is piled up in tiers of four, five, six, or eight bundles in each tier, and is called a stack of paper, or a pile of paper.

The warehouseman in piling his paper considers the height of his room, that he may not take up more of the floor than is absolutely necessary, to enable him to stow as much as possible: thus, if he receive one hundred reams, and has height, he will make a stack of six in preference to two or four or five. He crosses the joinings of the bundles in each tier to bind them together, as a bricklayer does in building a square pillar; and I have always found the stack strengthened by laying on every third or fourth tier a number of stout wrappers spread over the bundles.

Paper should never be stacked without interposing something between the bottom of it and the floor, to prevent any water that might accidentally be spilled coming in contact with it, which would certainly mildew and spoil it if it were not perceived at the first; and even then it would require a great deal of trouble to prevent it: where there are not regular stages made, some short pieces of old poling laid a little distance from each other upon the floor will answer very well.

STAGE.

A platform raised a few inches from the floor, to pile books or paper upon, for the purpose of preserving the bottom of the pile from injury, in case of water being spilt in the warehouse.

Where there are no regular stages in a warehouse, substitutes, which answer the purpose very well, may be easily provided, by taking an old paper board, or any pieces of board, and putting three pieces of an old pole under each of them on which to pile the books.

STAINING OF PAPER.

The master printers of the metropolis, till within a few years, dined together annually at some good coffee house or tea gardens in the vicinity of London; and one of the regular toasts after dinner was, “The well-staining of Paper.”

STAMPS.