THE AUTHOR'S

PRINTING AND PUBLISHING

ASSISTANT.

As it is very desirable that Authors, and those who may have to give directions to the Printer, should be acquainted with the manner in which Printing is performed, it may be proper, in commencing this little Work, to give in the first place a brief outline of

THE PROCESS OF PRINTING.

The Printing Office is divided into two branches; the one entitled the Composing, the other the Press Department.

The Composing-Room is furnished with a number of what are called Cases,* properly fitted up, which are placed before the Compositor. The Compositor then places the Manuscript before him, and taking a small iron frame, or measure, adapted to the purpose, fixes it by a screw to the width which the Page he is to set up is intended to be, and commences the putting it into Type, in the following manner. Supposing the first words of the Manuscript to be "The City of London," he first selects the Capital Letter T, then the Lower-Case letter h, and then e, each from their respective compartments; after this he takes what is called a Space,‡

* Shallow frames of wood, divided into as many compartments as there are Letters, Capital, Small Capital, and ordinary (called Lower-Case), together with Italic, and the different Stops, Marks, and other Points employed for Reference, Quotations, &c.

† Technically called Copy.

A blank piece of Type metal, or one without a Letter, of which there are various kinds; used also to separate the lines from each other, according as the pages may be; whether full, having the lines close together, or light, with a greater distance between them.