The process of composing and forming types into pages may now be adverted to. Placing the copy or manuscript before him on the upper case, and standing in front of the lower case, the compositor holds in his left hand what is termed a composing-stick. Sometimes this instrument is of wood, with a certain space cut in it of a particular width; but more commonly it is made of iron or brass, with a movable slide, which, by means of a screw, may be regulated to any width of line. In either case, the composing-stick is made perfectly true and square. One by one, the compositor lifts and puts the letters of each word and sentence, and the appropriate points, into his stick, securing each with the thumb of his left hand, and placing them side by side from left to right along the line. When he places a letter in the stick he does not require to look whether he is placing it with the face in its proper position; his object is accomplished by looking at what is called the nick, which must be placed outward in his composing-stick. This is one of those beautiful, and at the same time simple, contrivances for saving labor winch experience has introduced into every art, and which are as valuable for diminishing the cost of production as the more elaborate inventions of machinery. When be arrives at the end of his line, the compositor has a task to perform in which the carefulness of the workman is greatly exhibited. The first letter and the last must he at the extremities of the line: there must be no large spaces left in some instances, and crowding in others, as we see in the best manuscript. Each metal type is of a constant thickness, as far as regards that particular sizr; of letter; though all the letters are not of the same thickness. The adjustments, therefore, to complete the line with a word, or at any rate with a syl lable, must be made by varying the thickness of the spaces between the words. A good compositor's work is distinguished by uniformity of spacing; he will not allow the words to be very close together in' sonic instances, and with a large gap between them in others, as is evident, for instance, in this sentence. In composing poetry, or similar matter. where there is always a blank space at one of the ends of the line, spac ing is very easily accomplished by filling up the blank with larger spaces, or quadrats. But whether prose or poetry, the matter of each line must be equally adjusted and justi fied, so as to correspond in point of compactness with the previously set lines. The pro cess of composing is greatly facilitated by the compositor using a thin slip of brass called. a setting-rule, which he places in the composing-stick when he begins, and which, on a line being completed, he pulls out, and places upon the front of the line so completed, in order that the types he sets may not come in contact with the types behind them, but glide smoothly into their places to the. bottom of the composing-stick.
When the workman has set up as many lines as his composing-stick will conveniently hold, he lifts them out by grasping them with the fingers of each hand, and thus taking them up as if they were a solid piece of metal. He then places the mass in an elongated board, termed a galley, which has a ledge on one cr perhaps both sides. The facility with which some compositors can lift what is called a handful of movable type without deranging a single letter, is very remarkable. This sort of skill can only be attained by practice; and one of the severest mortifications which the printer's apprentice has to en dure is to toil for an hour in picking up about a thousand letters, and then see the fabric destroyed by his own unskillfulness, leaving him to mourn over his heap of broken type, technically denominated pie.
Letter by letter, and word by word, is the composing-stick filled; and by the same progression the galley is filled by the contents of successive sticks. When the composi tor has set up as many lines as fill a page he binds them tightly round with cord, and removes them from the galley.
Sometimes, as in the case of newspaper and similar work, the handfuls of type are accumulated till they fill the galley, and in that form are prepared for press. After the matter is thus far prepared, it is the duty of the pressman to take an impression or proof from the types, in order that the first-proof reader may compare with "copy," or :MS.; after which it is handed to the compositor, so that he may correct the errors which are sure to have been made. Proofs arc usually taken by a press kept for the purpose. After the galley matter is corrected and re-corrected by the compositor, it is divided into pages of the size wanted; and head-lines and figures indicating the number of the pnge being added, the pages are arranged upon a large firm table, and there securely fixed up in an iron frame or chase, by means of slips of wood and wedges, or quoins.
This process, which is called imposing, being completed, and the face of the types being leveled by a planer and mallet, the form, as it is called, is proved, and prepared for press. Proof-sheets being taken, they are subjected to the scrutiny of a reader axii ployed in this peculiar function in the office, the author himself having previously given, effect to his corrections or emendations. When the reader has pointed out words and letters to be altered or corrected, the compositor once more goes over the form, correct ing the errors by lifting out the letters with a bodkin, and, when revised, the' sheet is pronounced ready for printing. The imposing-table at which all these corrections are made is usually composed of smooth stone, nr marble, or cast-iron on the toil, and re quires to be a substantial fabric. See TYPE-SETTING 31ACHINES,