Glossary of Print Workshop Terms
Rather than define each printing term as it occurs in the text, I have assembled them here in a glossary. The definitions, often condensed, derive mostly from Herbert Simon and Harry Carter, Printing Explained (Leicester, 1931). As early as 1886, Clemens used many of these same terms in his speech, “The Compositor,” delivered to a group of printers on Franklin's birthday; Hartford Courant, 20 January 1886. As late as 1909, in the essay “Is Shakespeare Dead?” Clemens would write: “If a man should write a book and in it make one of his characters say, ‘Here, devil, empty the quoins into the standing galley and the imposing-stone into the hell-box; assemble the comps around the frisket and let them jeff for takes and be quick about it,’ I should recognize a mistake or two in the phrasing, and would know that the writer was only a printer theoretically”; What Is Man?, pp. 336–337.
bearers Strips of the same height as the type put in the form to make the ink-rollers run smoothly.
bed The surface in the press against which the feet of the type rest.
box-partitions The divisions forming compartments in the case.
case A shallow wooden tray divided into compartments of different sizes in which printers keep type.
chase A rectangular frame of iron in which pages of type are locked up before the whole is put on the bed of the press.
composition Selecting types from the case, placing them in the composing-stick, and justifying each line of type.
compositor One who sets up type, often shortened to “comp.”
counter-sunk rails Rails on which the type bed may be moved and adjusted under the platen.
devil A printer's devil is the youngest or newest apprentice printer who performs much of the dirty work of a printshop, such as washing type or inking forms, and who is often black with ink. The name may be associated with the belief that Faust was in league with the devil.
distribution Dispersing washed type back into the case after printing has been completed.
double-leaded See “leaded.”
doubles The compositor's common mistake of setting a word or phrase twice over; also used by pressmen to mean a sheet which is pulled twice.
em The square of a body of type. The common method of measuring in America is by ems. The number of ems in a line is multiplied by the number of lines, and the result gives the quantity set.
en Half the width of an em.
form The collection of type pages and of wooden and metal furniture (or filler blocks) when they are locked up in the chase by means of quoins.
frisket A thin metal frame covered with paper and linen hinged to the tympan of the press which serves to protect margins from ink-smears during the impression, to keep the sheets from moving, and to pull the paper away from the type when the tympan is raised.
galley A metal tray with one open end on which type is placed as it is composed in lines in the stick.
galley-proof A proof taken from type in the galley before the type has been made up into pages.
guide A piece of reglet or lead which some compositors used to keep their place in the copy hanging in front of them on the upper case. MT plainly considered the use of a guide the mark of an inferior compositor.
hell-box A box into which battered or broken type-metal is thrown.
imposing-stone A stone-topped table or a flat, firm surface to which type is transferred from the galley and upon which it is locked up in the chase.
ink-ball A covered ball on a handle used for inking galleys. The ink-roller was reserved for inking the form prior to printing.
jeff for takes To play a game of chance with em-quads to determine which compositor has first choice of takes.
justify To space elements within a line of type so that the length will come out exactly as it should be. Only a skilled compositor justifies well.
leaded Set with leads or strips of type-metal less than type-high to create interlinear space between lines of type.
lock up To fit quoins in a form and tighten them so as to hold the type and the furniture firmly within the chase.
lye-hopper A device used in the process of producing a wood-ash lye solution used to clean type after printing.
out An omitted word or words in the galley of type, usually corrected by resetting a good many lines to accommodate the omission.
over-run “Over-running a page” means to carry words backwards or forwards in correcting.
pi A hodge-podge of mixed up type, often the result of “pi-ing the form”—dropping the form and spilling out the lines of type.
platen-springs Springs designed to lift the platen off the impression.
proof-slip A trial print made from a galley for the printer's reader or the author to scrutinize and mark mistakes or alterations on.
prove a galley To make a proof-slip from a galley.
quads Quadrats, or blocks of type metal less than type high and of varying thicknesses used as spacing material within the line of type.
quoins Wedges of wood or metal often used in pairs to tighten or lock up forms.
reglets Strips of wood less than type high and of various thicknesses. Springy and resilient, they keep type matter efficiently under pressure in the form.
rule Composing-rule, a strip of metal placed over a line of type in the stick to make it easier to drop letters into the next line.
sheep-foot An iron claw hammer used to tighten quoins in the chase.
signature A sheet of paper making four or more pages when folded and often having an identifying letter or figure at the bottom of the first page.
solid Set without leads; that is, having no horizontal space between the lines of type.
space A hair-space is less than one-half em.
standing form A form stored for re-use.
standing galley A galley upon which matter is emptied; here, a galley where units of type are kept for re-use, firmly tied up.
stick The composing stick is a narrow, flanged metal tray, closed at one end and with an adjustable stop at the other. The compositor holds the stick in his left hand and assembles several lines of type in it with his right.
strap-oil Concerns an initiation trick in the print-shop: presumably dispatching a new apprentice to the saddler's shop for “strap-oil” and then paddling him for failing to find it.
strike galley-proof See “prove a galley” above.
take A take is a section of copy given to one compositor when there are several compositors working at a single job. A “fat” take is an assignment which requires little exertion, such as poetry or leaded matter as opposed to a “lean” take of closely written pages of prose. See “jeff for takes” above.
tie up To tie up dead matter is to wind printer's cord several times around a page or unit of type matter that has already been printed. Dead matter may be stowed away to be washed and distributed at some future time, or it may be held for use again.
token Half a ream, once 240 and now 250 sheets of paper.
towel In his speech to the Typothetae of 1886 MT noted that one of the apprentice's duties was to replace the towel, “which was not considered soiled until it could stand alone.”
turned letters Letters set upside down.
tympan In a hand-press, the thin wooden frame across which is stretched cloth or parchment and upon which the sheet about to be printed is laid.
type A single letter or mark of punctuation cast on the top surface of a block of type metal. One of the apprentice's duties was to gather up type dropped to the floor by the compositors, and to put the good type in the pi-pile and the broken type in the hell-box.
work off To print off.
wrong fonts The mistake in composition of using a letter of the wrong size or of different design from the rest.