PRINTING AND BOOKMAKING.
 

AMA
 

It will be seen by this that the letter most used in
German, which leads also in English and French, re¬
quires as many characters in a font as the next two to¬
gether, and that the second letter, n, has half as many
again as it needs in the other two languages. The or¬
der in frequency in the three tongues is :
 

the customer should be forewarned that he buys only
the labor of good average workmen, and that the ex¬
pense of all improvements he may suggest is justly
chargeable to him.—De Vinne.

Alterations should be charged for at double the price
of hour work.    It must be considered that while this is
 


 

1
 

2
 

3
 

k
 

5
 

6
 

7
 

8
 

9
 

1 ^^
 

11
 

12
 

13
 

Ik
 

15
 

16
 

17
 

18
 

19
 

20
 

21
 

22
 

23
 

21,
 

25
 

26
 

German......
 

e
 

n
 

r
 

i
 

d
 

a
 

t
 

U
 

S
 

Im
 

K
 

0
 

1
 

h
 

b
 

W
 

f
 

V
 

z
 

k
 

V
 

C
 

1
 

Y
 

X
 

q
 

French.......
 

e
 

s
 

1
 

n
 

r
 

a
 

t
 

u
 

1
 

h
 

Im
 

d
 

C
 

P
 

^
 

h
 

V
 

b
 

f
 

q
 

X
 

y
 

j
 

w
 

k
 

z
 

English.......
 

e
 

t
 

a
 

0
 

1
 

s
 

n
 

h
 

r
 

U
 

1
 

u
 

c
 

m
 

f
 

w
 

y
 

g
 

P
 

b
 

V
 

k
 

q
 

3
 

X
 

z
 

The first heavy mark in each line indicates that one-
half the letters in actual composition are comprised in
those thus cut off, and the second mark shows that
three-quarters are to the left. Thus it will be seen that
in German one-half of all composition in small letters is
done in e, n, r and i, and three-quarters in these and d,
a, t, u and s additional; in French, half in e, s, i, n, r
and a, and three-quarters in these and t, u, 1 and o addi¬
tional ; while in English half are in e, t, a, o, i and s,
the three-quarters being made up of these and n, h, r, d
and 1. This study is one of importance, for a part of
the letters must be left in the case, so that it may be
adapted to different work. If this proportion thus left
is too great, the characters do not become evenly worn,
and there is a great variation in their height to paper,
making the impression very irregular.

Alteration of Margin.—At one time, when large
paper copies were published of almost everything that
interested a certain class of students or literary men, al¬
terations of margin were common. They have become
less so now, but are still frequent enough to be consid¬
ered. Books on small pages, after having been worked
off, so far as their regular edition is concerned, are then
adapted to a new and larger size of paper, the latter
being far fewer in number than the first. It is un¬
usual to do this at present with large octavos or real
quartos, as the book would then be too large, but 12mo,
16mo and smaller are the sizes most used. In such
work the chase should be much larger than the orig¬
inal edition requires, at least four or five inches longer
if only four pages are to be worked, and six or eight
inches longer if eight pages are to be handled at a time.
In this kind of work it is much better to have the whole
of the signature printed at once, and then turned, than
the other way. Fold the sheet on which the larger pa¬
per is to be printed, and mark with a lead pencil where
the top, bottom, inside and outside of the page will
come, and then with a bodkin punch a hole completely
through. The margin will then be right everywhere if
this plan is followed. The furniture for the head and
back should be in metal, and each should be in one
piece, if possible. If the form is taken from the press
it should be carefully unlocked and the pieces put in
one by one, the matter being pushed up against them
and quoined before another page is begun. It is better,
however, to do this on the press, and then there will be
no danger of letters dropping out.

Alterations.—It is the duty of the office to see that
no proof of displayed work is submitted to the customer
unless it be done in a workmanlike manner. If it is
badly or tastelessly arranged the office should bear the
loss of making the alteration and not the customer, un¬
less it has been done in accordance with his special direc¬
tions. The office, as an expert, should decide what is or
what is not workmanlike, the standard being, not the
production of some specially skillful workman, but those
of the average of ordinary good compositors. If the
work is decided to be displayed fairly, then the customer
should be charged with the expense of all alterations.
When the suggested alteration is trivial it may not be
worth while to insist upon this claim; but in all cases
 

going on the stone is occupied, a special revision must
be made by the proof-reader, and there must frequently
be lifting of cases, galleys and forms. More of the
foreman's time is also required.

Altezza del Carattere (Ital.).—The height of the
letter.

Alum is sometimes used by compositors to contract
the skin on their fingers, so that the type can be held
more securely in distribution. The matter is never so
slippery as to require the use of this substance except
when it has been badly rinsed, the lye still remaining
on the surface and in the crevices, and the only value of
the alum is as a reminder to the foreman that the form
should be locked up again, taken to the trough, and
washed a second time.

AlYord, Corydon A., a celebrated printer of New
York, was born in Winchester, Conn., about the year
1812, and learned his trade in Hartford. He left that
city soon after the expiration of his time and went
to Philadelphia, but in 1844 came to New York and
opened an office at the corner of John and Dutch
streets. At the begin¬
ning, and for a num¬
ber of years, he only
did presswork on
books, but afterwards
laid in type for use.
His work was much
sought after, as he
took an extraordinary
degree of pains with
it, and in the manage¬
ment of wood-cuts he
was undoubtedly the
most skillful printer
of his day in the coun¬
try. His was the last
place in New York
where hand - presses
were extensively
used. He took an ac¬
tive part in the estab¬
lishment of the Master Printers' Society, since known as
the Typothetae, and became its second president. He
wrote well, and several times sjDoke at length upon sub¬
jects connected with the art. Through the misconduct
of those in whom he placed confidence he was obliged
to retire from business in 1871, his establishment being
taken by the New York Printing Company, and returned
to Hartford, where his last years were spent in preparing
a local history of Hartford and Winchester, He died
November 28, 1874.

Amateur Printers.—Those who follow the call¬
ing, not with an intention of making their livelihood
thereby, but of earning a little money with which to
supplement their income from other sources or to lessen
the expense that printing would otherwise be to them.
It is inaccurate to apply this term to those who have
never been apprenticed to the trade, or who have little
practical skill, but who carry it on as a livelihood.
Many of our  most   enterprising  employing printers

17
 

CORTDON A.  ALVORD.