| Melbourne Museum of Printing | Our Glossary of Printing and Typography LETTERPRESS COMPOSING, STEREOTYPING, STAMPMAKING |
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| SUGGESTION: HOW TO EXPLORE THIS GLOSSARY | |||||||||||||||||||
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IF YOU KNOW THE NAME OF A TERM, GO TO THE ALPHABETIC PAGE eg to find PICA choose the Alphabetic Page N-Q. You will find several meanings of this word, and that it is mostly used in TYPE MEASUREMENTS. | |||||||||||||||||||
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IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO EXPLORE OTHER TERMS ABOUT TYPE MEASUREMENTS look in the Thematic Glossary about Typecasting and Type Measurements | |||||||||||||||||||
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| ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THESE DEFINITIONS INCLUDE: | |||
| usu = usually | cf = compare with | eg = for example | typic = typically |
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | angle quad | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| spacing unit of triangular section, to facilitate setting lines at an angle | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | border | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| line of decoration: unit borders (separate types), patterned slug, or continuous strip border | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | brass circle & oval1 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| devices to print a circle or oval rule with type in the middle. Often for business seals or stamps | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | brass circle inner | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| strip of brass rule formed into circle to go inside brass circle outer, leaving room for types. | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | brass circle outer | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| square block of brass, circular opening for type, type-high rule machined around opening | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | brass oval | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| oval shaped outer and inner, as for brass circle | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | brass rule | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| rule strips (see rules) made of brass for long wear | ||
| VERB | card | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| use pieces of card (thinner than finest leads) for fine justification | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | column rule . . . 1 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| light faced vertical rule between columns of type | ||
| ABBREVIATION | comp . . . . . . . 1 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| compositor | ||
| VERB | compose | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| set types into words, lines, paragraphs and documents | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | composing stick .. 1 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| hand tool used in composing lines of type | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | compositor | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| person whose job is to compose type or put together pages of type | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | compositor's saw | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| circular saw bench with sliding table, clamp, gauges to cut leads and slugs | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | crosspoint former | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| device to thread brass downrules through lead crossrules (for business forms) | ||
| ABBREVIATION | diss | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| distribute | ||
| VERB | distribute | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| replace material after use into correct storage places, esp handset | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | double caps case | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| this is the typical upper case, with divisions for two capital alphabets, perhaps one is small caps | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | dustproof cabinet | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| type cabinet providing almost no gap between cases. Dustproof cases have no "lip" for pulling. | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | dustproof type case | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| type case to suit dustproof cabinet. Have no lip, so needing pull handles | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | dusty type case | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| type case with pulling lip, requiring a substantial gap between cases. "Dusty": reverse nickname | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | em quad | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| (in handset type) space piece of square proportions. Also 2-em, 3-em quads | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | floating accent | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| accent cast separately and set above the appropriate letter | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | forme [US form] | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| matter (type or blocks) assembled into chase ready for printing | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | foundry type | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| handset type of a quality made in a traditional typefoundry | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | fount . . . . . . 1 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| set of types (or mats) complete with all normal characters (one face and size) | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | furniture | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| strips of larger spacing (wood, lead, light metal, bakelite) | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | furniture rack | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| to accommodate 5 or 10 each of 2,3,4,5,6,8,10 by 20 to 60 picas typically | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | galley . . . . . . 1 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| tray for holding composed type before or after printing: metal or wood | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | galley magnet | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| strong permanent magnet: attaches to galley to hold lines for proofing or storage | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | galley proof | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| proof taken from type on the galley, a rough copy to be read for errors | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | galley rack | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| rack to hold a number of galleys (typically 50) | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | hair space | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| a letterspace thinner than a thin space: no standard: often cut from leads | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | hairline rule | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| rule with very fine face, usually on a wider body: hairline on 2pt or 6 pt | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | high space | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| a letterspace of full (shoulder) height, used where kerns need to be supported | ||
| VERB | impose | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| arrange type matter and illustrations within a chase in position for printing | ||
| VERB | justify (a line) | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| adjust interword spacing so that line exactly makes the measure and is tight | ||
| VERB | justify (a page) | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| adjust spacing between lines so that each page makes exactly the right length | ||
| VERB | lead out [led] | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| to lead out a paragraph is to increase its length by leading | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | lead rack | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| typic lengths 10 to 60 picas (steps of 1) often with two divisions per length | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | lead [led] . . . . 1 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| strip of spacing material mainly used between lines: size is eg 2 pt x 18 picas | ||
| VERB | lead [led] . . . . 2 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| place leads between consecutive lines to increase effective line spacing | ||
| VERB | letter space . . . 2 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| use thin or hair spaces between letters usu in one word to avoid big word spaces | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | line gauge | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| ruler used by LP comps, calib in picas (and other units): usu with hook end | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | lineup table . . . 1 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| metal table with rolling, calibrated guides for exact positioning of items | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | low space | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| normal handset space: top of body is well below type shoulder: see high space | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | lower case . . . . 1 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| the lower, or frontmost of a pair of cases, holding most used characters | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | mallet | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| wooden or rawhide hammer: used with planer and with shooting stick | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | measure . . . . . 1 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| length of lines: stick is set to this: every line must make the measure | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | mid (middle) space | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| a word space equal to one-quarter of the em [US: 4-to-em space] | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | mounting block | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| block of any material for mounting engravings or steroetypes to type height | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | mutton | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| guard word for 'em', to distinguish from 'en': see nut | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | nonpareil [nomprul] | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| strip of 6pt lead or reglet: drop some nonpareils between those lines | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | nut | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| guard word for 'en', to distinguish from 'em'. | ||
| EQUIVALENT TERM | pi | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| cute term, using the Greek letter pi to represent the word pie - see Printer's Pie | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | pica . . . . . . . 5 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| strip of 12pt lead or reglet: grab a few picas | ||
| EQUIVALENT TERM | pie | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| see printer's pie, pi | ||
| VERB | pied | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| if you pie a job, the type is spilt or disarranged | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | planer | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| flat wooden block: placed on type during lockup and tapped with mallet | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | printer's pie | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| the mess of types formed when quantity of type is spilt or dropped: a pied job | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | quad . . . . . . . 1 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| spacing material within the line but wider than word spaces: em quad, 3-em quad | ||
| VERB | quad . . . . . . . 2 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| use quads to quickly fill out blank portion of a line: quad the line [out] | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | quad caps case | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| upper case with four sets of divisions. One use is for founts with four face sizes eg Mono Spartan | ||
| EQUIVALENT TERM | quadrat | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| the original term for quad before the abbreviation became the normal term | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | quoin | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| wedge or wedging device for locking type, spacing, etc into chase for printing | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | quoin, mechanical | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| expanding device of metal with wedges, cams, screws, etc | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | quoins, pair of | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| pair of wooden wedges or cast iron wedges, tightened by knocking together with a shooting stick | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | random top | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| sloping top applied to type cabinets or frames, flexibly allowing work space and storage boxes | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | register quoin | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| small quoin placed each side of a block to adjust its position with in the forme | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | reglet | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| wooden spacing strip (similar function to leads) usu 6 and 12 pt, also 18 and 24 pt, by any length | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | rule . . . . . . . 1 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| type-high strip of any material which prints a straight line: the line so printed | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | rule . . . . . . . 2 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| may be brass, typemetal, wood, steel: may be multiple line, dashed or dotted | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | rule . . . . . . . 3 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| face may be hairline or point width: eg 2pt rule on side of 6pt body | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | rule forme | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| typeforme containing rules, leaders, verticals etc to print a business form eg an invoice | ||
| VERB | set type | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| [hand set] pick up types, arrange them to form words, justify them to a line | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | setting rules | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| piece of brass rule, exact length, used in composing stick as an aid. Typical set from 6 to 48 ems | ||
| EQUIVALENT TERM | setting stick | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| another term for composing stick | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | shooting stick | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| hand tool for tightening wooden quoins: used with a mallet | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | slug . . . . . . . 3 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| (standing slug): heading re-used in each edition of paper, like MARKET REPORT | ||
| VERB | slug . . . . . . . 4 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| to place new slugs (addits or corrections) into an existing job (on a galley) - also "to slug in" | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | slug . . . . . . . 5 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| a six or twelve-point lead (archaic usage) | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | slug, blank | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| slug (Linotype or Ludlow) produced with no characters: casting blank slugs | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | space | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| word spaces and quads: usu well below character shoulder height: typical 0.750" | ||
| EQUIVALENT TERM | stick | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| informal term for composing stick | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | stone | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| working surface for assembling pages of type: made from stone/marble/cast iron | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | thick space | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| a word space equal to one-third of the em [US: 3-to-em space] | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | thin space | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| a word space equal to one-fifth of the em [US: five-to-em space] | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | triple caps case | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| upper case with three sets of divisions | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | type | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| the relief surface from which words are printed: individual letters or slugs | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | type cabinet | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| storage rack for type cases. May have 1, 2 or (rare) 3 columns of cases, 17 to 24 cases per column | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | type case | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| storage drawer for handset type; up to 98 divisions for letters, figures, punctuation and spaces | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | type case frame | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| a rack to carry type cases but with open framework, often sloping top | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | type height | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| height-to-paper: from foot to face: Anglo-American 0.918" (23.32 mm) | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | type high gauge | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| device to measure height of block or type: simple U tool to dial readout gauge | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | typeface . . . . . 2 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| the raised surface of the type, the part that prints, is its face | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | upper case . . . . 1 | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| the upper, or rearmost of a pair of cases, holding the less used characters | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | word break | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| a hyphenation, where word is divided rather than being carried whole to next line | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | word space | LETTERPRESS COMPOSING |
| the space-types normally used for inter-word spaces: thick, mid and thin | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | brass circle & oval2 | STEREOTYPING, RUBBER STAMPS |
| typesetting device often used by stampmakers for company seals and official-looking stamps | ||
| VERB | cast . . . . . . . 3 | STEREOTYPING, RUBBER STAMPS |
| pour stereo metal into the casting box, one internal surface carrying the matrix, making stereotype | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | casting board | STEREOTYPING, RUBBER STAMPS |
| hard pulpboard with ribs, placed over the matrix and gauges, forming the ribbed back of stereotype | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | casting box | STEREOTYPING, RUBBER STAMPS |
| cast-iron moulding box: the stereo matrix is placed inside surrounded by casting gauges | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | casting gauges | STEREOTYPING, RUBBER STAMPS |
| steel strips placed around the matrix for casting. Form edges of cast, control stereo thickness | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | cliche [klishay] | STEREOTYPING, RUBBER STAMPS |
| French word for stereotype: a moulded copy | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | flong | STEREOTYPING, RUBBER STAMPS |
| thick paper-like material, either dry or moist, pressed over type to make a stereotype matrix | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | matrix . . . . . . 2 | STEREOTYPING, RUBBER STAMPS |
| sheet of material with impression of typeset in it, usu moulded under pressure | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | plaster matrix | STEREOTYPING, RUBBER STAMPS |
| the plaster-cast matrix process places no pressure on the type and produces a grainless stereo | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | rubber stamp making | STEREOTYPING, RUBBER STAMPS |
| a traditional sideline for general printers, using types, matrix, raw rubber, glue and wood mounts | ||
| NOUN, UNCOUNTABLE | rubber stereos | STEREOTYPING, RUBBER STAMPS |
| rubber stereotypes, made like rubber stamps, basis for flexographic printing eg on plastic bags | ||
| NOUN, COUNTABLE | tail of matrix | STEREOTYPING, RUBBER STAMPS |
| length of hard paper pasted to edge of matrix to extend it to the mouth of the casting box | ||
Persons wishing to use these are asked to contact the author at Melbourne Museum of Printing.
Comments and suggestions about terms and definitions will be very welcome.
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