Setting type by hand is a sequence of small, reversible decisions that becomes a single irreversible one: the lockup. Everything before that moment can be corrected with a tweezers and a little patience. Everything after it is either correct or it is a reprint. This is the part of letterpress that most rewards slowing down, because the material is unforgiving in a very literal sense — a stick of type dropped on a stone floor is a stick of type to be re-set.
Hand composition works in the opposite direction to reading. Type is set left to right in the stick but sits upside down, so the first letter of the line is nearest your left hand and the letters run away from you. A line that is set correctly looks, in the stick, like a line of type lying on its back with the faces pointing away.
The stick, and the order of operations
A composing stick is an L-shaped metal tray with one adjustable end. Set the measure — the line length — with the adjustable knee and lock it. Most sticks are marked in picas and points; a 24 pica measure is 4 in, and a typical book measure is 18 to 26 picas. Set the measure before you set a single letter, because changing it mid-line means re-setting the line.
Hold the stick in the left hand with the closed end against the palm and the adjustable knee away from you. Place each letter with the right hand, sliding it down against the previously set type so the line stays tight. The nick — the groove cut across the foot of the type — faces outward, toward the top of the stick. Nick up, always. A letter set nick down will print upside down, and it will do so at exactly the moment you are not checking.
Nicks, feet and the logic of type
- The nick is a groove in the foot of the type. It shows the orientation, and on most faces it also distinguishes the roman from the italic of the same body size.
- The foot is the end that stands on the bed of the press. The face is the end that carries ink. Type-high is measured foot to face.
- The shoulder is the bevel between face and shank. It limits how close two letters can be set and it is why some pairs of letters never look evenly spaced.
- The beard is the space between the face and the shoulder. A deep beard holds ink and can print as a shadow if the form is over-inked.
Type is measured in points, and the body size is not the same as the printed height of the letter. A 12 pt letter usually prints about 8 pt tall, because the body includes the space above and below the face. This is why a 12 pt and a 14 pt face on the same body can be mixed without changing the leading, and why measuring a printed letter with a rule tells you very little about the type size.
A case laid out in the conventional arrangement — capitals in the upper case, minuscules in the lower, figures and punctuation in the same compartments every time — is faster to set from after a week than any arrangement you invent yourself.
Spaces, quads and getting a line to justify
Spaces are the blank material between words, and they are not all the same width. A word space is the standard gap; a quad is a space as wide as the body size — an em quad at 12 pt is 12 pt wide, an en quad is 6 pt. Justification is the process of adding spaces between words until the line exactly fills the measure, so that both ends are flush and the type locks solidly.
| Space | Width at 12 pt | Where it is used |
|---|---|---|
| Hair space | About 1.5 pt | Fine adjustment in tight lines and around punctuation |
| Thin space (5-to-em) | 2.4 pt | Word spacing on condensed settings |
| Mid space (4-to-em) | 3 pt | Ordinary word spacing at small sizes |
| Thick space (3-to-em) | 4 pt | Ordinary word spacing at text sizes |
| En quad (2-to-em) | 6 pt | Larger gaps; end-of-line fill |
| Em quad | 12 pt | Indents, paragraph openings, large gaps |
The aim in a justified line is spaces of even width, not the smallest possible number of spaces. A line with two enormous gaps looks worse than a line with six even ones. If a line will not justify without a gap you can see from across the room, take a word to the next line and set the line again. Setting a line three times is normal; setting it three times is also faster than trying to rescue a bad one with hair spaces.
- Set the line without any spaces at all, in one tight run.
- Count the remaining gap in the measure and estimate the spaces needed.
- Insert spaces between words, starting from the left.
- Check the measure against the stick gauge. Add or remove a thin space to close the last fraction.
- If the gaps are uneven, take a word out and start the line again.
When a line is finished, lift it out of the stick with the setting rule underneath, or slide it directly into a galley if you are setting a long text. A galley is a shallow tray; lines sit in it in order until there are enough to make a page.
If a stick of type is dropped, sweep it into a tray and sort it back into the case before doing anything else. Mixed type in a case costs you hours later. Sorting it immediately costs twenty minutes.
Leading: the space between lines
Leading — pronounced "ledding", and named after the strips of lead once used to do it — is the blank space between successive lines of type. It is specified as a pair of numbers: 10 on 12 means 10 pt type with 12 pt from baseline to baseline, giving 2 pt of leading. Set solid means the leading equals the body size, so the lines touch.
For a hand-set page, 2 pt of leading on 10 pt or 12 pt type is a good starting point and reads comfortably. Below that the page looks dense and the ascenders nearly touch the descenders. Above 4 pt of leading at text sizes the lines begin to float apart and the reader loses the thread of the line.
Leading also changes the page depth. If you know the type area is 40 lines deep, the leading determines whether those 40 lines occupy 400 pt or 480 pt. Work out the page depth from the leading before you set the text, not after.
Lockup: furniture, quoins and the planed form
Lockup is the act of transferring set type from the galley into a chase and wedging it so tightly that it cannot move under the pressure of the press. It is the moment the job becomes fixed, and it is where most beginners lose a form.
Lay the type in the chase
Place the type face up in the chase in the position it will occupy on the sheet. Chase dimensions are fixed; the position of the form within the chase is not.
Fill the gaps with furniture
Furniture is type-high blocking in wood or metal. Fill the empty space between the form and the chase edge, using the widest pieces that will fit and metal only for the final fine adjustment.
Insert quoins
Quoins are expanding wedges placed at right angles to each other, so that expansion in one direction cannot shift the form in the other. Two are the minimum; three is safer on a wide form.
Tighten gradually and in turn
Bring each quoin up a little at a time, alternating, until the form is tight but not strained. A form that goes tight on the first quarter-turn of one quoin is a form that is over-packed.
Plane and test
Lay a straightedge across the face. Tap down any type that sits proud, with a planer or a block of wood and a light mallet. Lift the chase an inch and set it down; nothing should shift or rattle.
Test the lockup by lifting the chase and tapping a corner with the heel of your hand. A correctly locked form is a single solid object. If anything moves, the furniture is too narrow somewhere or a quoin is not carrying load.
Proofing and correcting
Proof before you print a run. Pull one impression on a proof press or by hand, read it against the copy, and mark corrections. Corrections are made by unlocking the relevant section, replacing or adding type, and re-locking — which is why a form should be locked so that any line can be reached without disturbing the whole page.
- Read the proof out loud. It is the only reliable way to catch a doubled word or a transposition.
- Check the measure on every line, not just the first. A short line can hide at the bottom of a page.
- Check that all the spaces are the right height. A space that is a fraction low will print as a grey smudge.
- Look for turned letters — the nick is the tell. A letter set nick down is the commonest error in hand-set work.
Once a form is locked and proofed, keep it in the chase. Taking type back to the galley to correct it means re-imposing the page, and re-imposing is where new errors get introduced.
Keeping the case in order
A case of type is a working tool and it degrades. Letters get put back in the wrong compartment, and a case with three sorts out of place will slow you down for months. Distribute type back into the case at the end of a session, not the end of the week, and check the compartments you know you are careless about.
If you run out of a letter — a sort — you have three options: set the line differently, borrow the letter from another case of the same face, or stop and order more. Do not substitute a letter from a different face because it is the right size. It will not match, and it will be visible in the print even if it is not obvious in the stick.
Mind your p's and q's. In the stick they are the same shape, and the only thing between them is which way the nick is turned.Attributed to the composing room
Hand setting is slow, and that is the point. A page set by hand has been read letter by letter by the person who set it, and it shows in the spacing. Learn the stick, learn the quoin, and the press becomes the easy part.
