Around 1450, Johannes Gutenberg introduced what is generally regarded as an independent invention of movable type in Europe (see printing press), along with innovations in casting the type based on a matrix and hand mould. The history of printing began as an attempt to make easier and reduce the cost of reproducing multiple copies of documents fabrics wall papers and so on The Phaistos Disc ( Phaistos Disk, Phaestos Disc) is a disk of fired Clay from the Minoan palace of Phaistos, possibly dating For the use of the technique in art see Woodcut on the technique and Old master print for the history in Europe and Woodblock printing in Japan. Intaglio (pronounced in-TAL-yo ɪn'tælɪəʊ is a family of Printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface known as the matrix or plate A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth thereby transferring an image Lithography is a method for Printing using a plate or stone with a completely smooth surface Offset printing is a commonly used Printing technique where the Inked image is transferred (or "offset" from a plate to a rubber blanket then to the Chromolithography is a method for making multi-color prints. This type of color printing stemmed from the process of Lithography, and it includes all types of lithography A rotary printing press is a Printing press in which the images to be printed are curved around a cylinder Flexography (also called surface printing) often abbreviated to flexo, is a method of Printing most commonly used for packaging (labels tape bags Screen printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink blocking stencil A dye-sublimation printer (or dye-sub printer) is a Computer printer which employs a printing process that uses heat to transfer dye to a medium such as a plastic A photocopier (or copier is a machine that makes Paper copies of documents and other visual images quickly and cheaply Pad printing is a printing process that can transfer a 2-D image onto a 3-D object A laser printer is a common type of Computer printer that rapidly produces high quality text and graphics on plain paper A dot matrix printer or impact matrix printer refers to a type of Computer printer with a print head that runs back and forth on the page and prints by impact striking For the type of printer which uses sparks and aluminised paper (and is sometimes referred to as a "thermal printer" see Spark printer. Inkjet printers operate by propelling variably-sized droplets of liquid or molten material ( Ink) onto almost any sized page Digital printing is the reproduction of Digital images on a physical surface 3D printing is a category of Rapid prototyping technology A three dimensional object is created by layering and connecting successive cross sections of material Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg ( 1398 &ndash February 3, 1468) was a German Goldsmith and printer who is credited A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth thereby transferring an image A Hand mould is a two-part mould used for Casting small metal objects that could be operated by hand Gutenberg was the first to create his type pieces from an alloy of lead, tin and antimony—the same components still used today. Characteristics Lead has a dull luster and is a dense, Ductile, very soft highly Tin is a Chemical element with the symbol Sn (stannum and Atomic number 50 Antimony (IPA (Received Pronunciation, /ˈæntɪmoʊni/ (US is a Chemical element with the symbol Sb (stibium meaning "mark" and ^[1]

Compared to woodblock printing, movable type pagesetting was quicker and more durable. For the use of the technique in art see Woodcut on the technique and Old master print for the history in Europe and Woodblock printing in Japan. The metal type pieces were more durable and the lettering was more uniform, leading to typography and fonts. In typography a font (also fount) is traditionally defined as a complete character set of a single size and style of a particular Typeface. The high quality and relatively low price of the Gutenberg Bible (1455) established the superiority of movable type, and printing presses rapidly spread across Europe, leading up to the Renaissance, and later all around the world. Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible or the Mazarin Bible) is a printed version of the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible that A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth thereby transferring an image The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere Today, practically all movable type printing ultimately derives from Gutenberg's movable type printing, which is often regarded as the most important invention of the second millennium. ^[2]

Precursors

Origin of the letterpunch

Movable type traces its origins to the punches used to make coins: the reverse face of a Tetradrachm Greek coin from Athens, 5th century BC, featuring letters and the owl symbol of Athena. main - title Coin keywords numismatics coin review The tetradrachm (τετράδραχμον was an Ancient Greek silver coin equivalent to four drachms It was in wide circulation from 510 to 38 BCE The history of Ancient Greek coinage can be divided (along with most other Greek art forms into three periods the Archaic the Classical and the Hellenistic Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's ATHENA was an Antimatter research project that took place at the AD Ring at CERN.

The technique of imprinting multiple copies of symbols or glyphs with a master type punch made of hard metal first developed in coining around 3000 BC in ancient Sumer. The musical instrument is spelled Cymbal. A symbol is something --- such as an object, Picture, written word a sound a piece A glyph is an element of writing Two or more glyphs representing the same symbol whether interchangeable or context-dependent are called Allographs the abstract unit they A mint is an industrial facility which manufactures Coins for Currency. The 30th century BC is a Century which lasted from the year 3000 BC to 2901 BC Sumer ( Sumerian: sux-Latn [[Ki (earth ki]]-[[EN (cuneiform en]]-'''ĝir15''', Akkadian: Šumeru; possibly Biblical Shinar Bars or ingots of precious metal were imprinted with a distinctive stamped design; the act of stamping the ingots certified them as currency by the power of the authority symbolized by the type image. An ingot is a material usually metal that is cast into a shape suitable for further processing Precious Metal is the eighteenth episode in the of the popular American Crime drama, which is set in Las Vegas, Nevada. These metal punch types can be seen as precursors of the letter punches adapted in later millennia to printing with movable metal type.

By 650 BC the ancient Greeks were using larger diameter punches to imprint small page images onto coins and tokens. Events and trends Occupation begins at Maya site of Piedras Negras Guatemala. main - title Coin keywords numismatics coin review In the study of Numismatics, token coins or tokens are coin-like objects used instead of Coins The field of tokens is part of Exonumia. Cylinder seals were a related form of early typography capable of printing small page designs in relief (cameo) on wax or clay—a miniature forerunner of rotogravure printing used by wealthy individuals to seal and certify documents. A cylinder seal is a cylinder engraved with a 'picture story' used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface generally wet Clay. For the "brief appearance" see Cameo appearance. For the "chemical emergency software" see Computer-Aided Management of Emergency Gravure may also refer to Gravure idol. Rotogravure ( roto or gravure for short is a type of intaglio Printing

The artists who made the first coin punches were in effect the first typographers and type designers. Their designs, including glyphs and words, were stylized with a degree of skill that could not be mistaken for common handiwork—salient and very specific types designed to be reproduced ad infinitum. The term graphic design can refer to a number of artistic and professional disciplines which focus on visual communication and presentation Ad infinitum is a Latin phrase meaning " to Infinity." In context it usually means "continue forever without Unlike the first typefaces used to print books in the 13th century, coin types were neither combined or printed with ink on paper, but "published" in metal—a more durable medium—and survived in substantial numbers. An ink is a Liquid containing various Pigments and/or Dyes used for coloring a surface to produce an Image, text, or Paper is thin material mainly used for writing upon printing upon or packaging As the portable face of ruling authority, coins were a compact form of standardized knowledge issued in large editions, an early mass medium that stabilized trade and civilization throughout the Mediterranean world of antiquity. The Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around and surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea. Classical antiquity (also the classical era or classical period) is a broad term for a long period of cultural History centered on the Mediterranean

The Phaistos Disc

For further information, see Phaistos Disc. The Phaistos Disc ( Phaistos Disk, Phaestos Disc) is a disk of fired Clay from the Minoan palace of Phaistos, possibly dating

The enigmatic Minoan Phaistos Disc (1800–1600 BC) has been considered by one scholar as an early example of a body of text being reproduced with reusable characters: it may have been produced by pressing pre-formed hieroglyphic "seals" into the soft clay. The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization which arose on the island of Crete. The Phaistos Disc ( Phaistos Disk, Phaestos Disc) is a disk of fired Clay from the Minoan palace of Phaistos, possibly dating A few authors even view the disc as technically meeting all definitional criteria to represent an early, if not the earliest incidence of movable type printing. ^[3][4]

Woodblock printing

Main article: Woodblock printing

Yuan dynasty woodblock edition of a Chinese play

Prior to the development of metal movable type, printing was performed with blocks carved from wood. For the use of the technique in art see Woodcut on the technique and Old master print for the history in Europe and Woodblock printing in Japan. The Yuan Dynasty ( Pinyin: Yuáncháo Dai Ön Ulus (Дай Юан Улс was a ruling Dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai

Movable type

Non Printing Movable Type in the Roman Empire

Movable type was used by the Romans but never developed for printing. In the Roman waterworks, messages were raised in relief on the lead pipes that fed fountains, baths, and private homes. As a rule, these short texts recorded the name of the emperor or the municipal official who had paid for the pipes.

Molds for each letter in the Latin alphabet were made and individually placed into a carved slot in a stone slab to make the required sentence. Ensuring that the molds lay flush with the surface of the stone, they locked the type into place and laid the stone slab on a large flat tray. Then they poured molten lead across slab and tray, forming a large metal sheet. Once cooled, the sheet could be rolled into a cylinder and soldered at the seam. On the pipe's contour, the message appeared in raised letters.

Canadian classicist A. Trevor Hodge has noted that this overlooked Roman technology "tempts one into speculating how close the ancient world was to making the full-scale breakthrough into printing. " However, since there was no paper in Roman Empire at that time, a key ingredient in invention of movable type printing was missing.

Invention of ceramic movable type printing

The first known movable type system for printing was created in China around 1040 AD by Bi Sheng (990–1051). Bì Shēng ( 990-1051 AD was the inventor of the first known Movable type Printing system Events By Place Africa Construction of the Al-Hakim Mosque begins in Cairo. ^[5] Bi Sheng's type was made of baked clay. As described by the Chinese scholar Shen Kuo (1031–1095):

When he wished to print, he took an iron frame and set it on the iron plate. Shen Kuo or Shen Kua ( (1031&ndash1095 style name Cunzhong and pseudonym Mengqi Weng, was a Polymathic Chinese In this he placed the types, set close together. When the frame was full, the whole made one solid block of type. He then placed it near the fire to warm it. When the paste [at the back] was slightly melted, he took a smooth board and pressed it over the surface, so that the block of type became as even as a whetstone.

For each character there were several types, and for certain common characters there were twenty or more types each, in order to be prepared for the repetition of characters on the same page. When the characters were not in use he had them arranged with paper labels, one label for each rhyme-group, and kept them in wooden cases. ^[6]

If one were to print only two or three copies, this method would be neither simple nor easy. But for printing hundreds or thousands of copies, it was marvelously quick. As a rule he kept two forms going. While the impression was being made from the one form, the type was being put in place on the other. When the printing of the one form was finished, the other was then ready. In this way the two forms alternated and the printing was done with great rapidity. ^[7]

In 1193, Zhou Bida, an officer of Southern Song Dynasty, made a set of clay moveble type method according to the method described by Shen Kuo in his Dream Pool Essays, and printed his book Notes of The Jade Hall 《玉堂杂记》. The Dream Pool Essays ( Pinyin: Meng Xi Bi Tan; Wade-Giles: Meng Ch'i Pi T'an Chinese: 夢溪筆談／梦溪笔谈 ^[8]

As late as 1844 there were still books printed in China with clay moveable types. Year 1844 ( MDCCCXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year ^[9] However, Bi Sheng's fragile clay types were not practical for large-scale printing. ^[10]

Invention of wooden movable type printing

A revolving table typecase with individual movable type characters arranged primarily by rhyming scheme, from Wang Zhen's book of agriculture, published 1313 CE. This article is about Wang Zhen agronomist and inventor For other historical figures with this name see Wang Zhen (disambiguation.

Wooden movable type was first developed around 1040 AD by Bi Sheng (990–1051), as described by the Chinese scholar Shen Kuo (1031–1095), but was abandoned in favour of clay moveable types due to uneveness of the moveable wooden type after soaked in ink, also due to the presence of wood grains. Bì Shēng ( 990-1051 AD was the inventor of the first known Movable type Printing system ^[11] In 1298, Wang Zhen, a governmental official of Jingde, Anhui province, China, re-invented a method of making moveable wooden types. This article is about Wang Zhen agronomist and inventor For other historical figures with this name see Wang Zhen (disambiguation. Anhui (in Chinese: 安徽 Ānhuī) is a province of the People's Republic of China. He made more than 30,000 wooden movable types and printed 100 copies of Records of Jingde County (旌德县志), a book of more than 60,000 Chinese characters. A Chinese character, also known as a Han character ( is a Logogram used in writing Chinese (hanzi Japanese ( Soon afterwards, he summarized his invention in his book A method of making moveable wooden types for printing books. Although the wooden type was more durable under the mechanical rigors of handling, repeated printing wore the character faces down, and the types could only be replaced by carving new pieces. This system was later enhanced by pressing wooden blocks into sand and casting metal types from the depression in copper, bronze, iron or tin. ^[5] The set of wafer-like metal stamp types could be assembled to form pages, inked, and page impressions taken from rubbings on cloth or paper. ^[5]

A particular difficulty posed the logistical problems of handling the several thousand characters whose command is required for full literacy in Chinese language. A Chinese character, also known as a Han character ( is a Logogram used in writing Chinese (hanzi Japanese (

In spite of these shortcomings, wooden movable types were used continually in China. Even as late as 1733, a 2300 page volume, 《武英殿聚珍版丛书》, was printed with the system on order of the Yongzheng Emperor. Year 1733 ( MDCCXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The Yongzheng Emperor (雍正帝 → yōngzhèngdì) (born Yinzhen (胤禛 → yìnzhēn) December 13, 1678 - October 8

Metal movable type in Korea

Main article: History of typography in East Asia

"Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Son Masters", the earliest known book printed with movable metal type, 1377. For the article on the development of printing in Europe see History of western typography. Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris.

Transition from wood type to metal type occurred ca. 1230 AD during the Goryeo Dynasty of Korea and is credited to Choe Yun-ui. The Goryeo Dynasty ( 918 - 1392) (also spelled Koryŏ was a Sovereign state established in 918 by Taejo Wang Kon. Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries a civilization and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. Choe Yun-ui was a Korean civil minister during the Goryeo Dynasty. A set of ritual books, Sangjeong Gogeum Yemun were printed with the movable metal type in 1234. ^[12][13] Examples of this metal type are on display in the Asian Reading Room of the Library of Congress in Washington, D. The Library of Congress is the De facto National library of the United States and the research arm of the United States Congress C. ^[14] The oldest extant movable metal print book is the Jikji, printed in Korea in 1377. Jikji is the abbreviated title of a Korean Buddhist document whose full title can be translated "The Monk Baegun's Anthology of the Great Priests' Teachings ^[15]

The techniques for bronze casting, used at the time for making coins (as well as bells and statues) were adapted to making metal type. The following description of the Korean font casting process was recorded by the Joseon dynasty scholar Song Hyon (15th c. ):

At first, one cuts letters in beech wood. One fills a trough level with fine sandy [clay] of the reed-growing seashore. Wood-cut letters are pressed into the sand, then the impressions become negative and form letters [molds]. At this step, placing one trough together with another, one pours the molten bronze down into an opening. The fluid flows in, filling these negative molds, one by one becoming type. Lastly, one scrapes and files off the irregularities, and piles them up to be arranged. ^[12]

A potential solution to the linguistic and cultural bottleneck that held back movable type in Korea for two hundred years appeared in the early 15th century—a generation before Gutenberg would begin working on his own movable type invention in Europe—when King Sejong devised a simplified alphabet of 24 characters (hangul) for use by the common people, which could have made the typecasting and compositing process more feasible. An alphabet is a standardized set of letters basic written symbols each of which roughly represents a Phoneme, a Spoken language, either But Sejong's brilliant creation did not receive the attention it deserved. Adoption of the new alphabet was stifled by the inertia of Korea's cultural elite, who were "…appalled at the idea of losing Chinese, the badge of their elitism. "^[5]

Proliferation of movable type was also obstructed by a "Confucian prohibition on the commercialization of printing" restricted the distribution of books produced using the new method to the government. Confucianism ( is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of the fifth century B ^[16] The technique was restricted to use by the royal foundry for official state publications only, where the focus was on reprinting Chinese classics lost in 1126 when Korea's libraries and palaces had perished in a conflict between dynasties. ^[16]

A page from bronze moveable type book by Hua Sui, printed in 1490

Metal Movable type elsewhere in Asia

During the Mongol Empire (1206–1405), printing using movable type spread from China to Central Asia. The Mongol Empire ( Mongolyn Ezent Güren or mn Их Mонгол улс Ikh Mongol Uls; 1206–1368 was the largest contiguous Empire The Uyghurs of Central Asia used movable type, their script type adopted from the Mongol language, some with Chinese words printed between the pages, a strong evidence that the books were printed in China. The Uyghur (also spelled Uygur, Uighur, Uigur, Uyghur: ئۇيغۇر) are a Turkic people of Central Asia. ^[17]

In the 1298 book Zao Huozi Yinshufa (造活字印书法/造活字印書法) of the Chinese official Wang Zhen, there is mention of tin movable type, but this was largely experimental. This article is about Wang Zhen agronomist and inventor For other historical figures with this name see Wang Zhen (disambiguation. Tin is a Chemical element with the symbol Sn (stannum and Atomic number 50 ^[18] It was not until the In Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 AD) that metal movable type was successfully employed, and invented separately from Korea. The Ming Dynasty ( or Empire of the Great Ming ( was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol -led Successful use of metal movable type in China was first employed by Hua Sui in 1490 AD with his bronze type. Hua Sui ( Traditional Chinese: 華燧 Simplified Chinese:华燧 Hanyu Pinyin: Huá Suì (1439-1513 AD was a Chinese Scholar and ^[19]

In 1574 the massive 1000 volume encyclopedia Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era 《太平御览》/《太平御覧》 were printed with bronze moveable type. The Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era ( is a massive encyclopedia compiled by a number of officers commissioned by the imperial court of the Song Dynasty with

In1725，the Qing Dynasty government made 250,000 bronze movable type characters and printed 64 sets of the encyclopedic Gujin Tushu Jicheng Complete Collection of Illustrations and Writings from the Earliest to Current Times 《古今图书集成》/《古今圖書集成》. Year 1725 ( MDCCXXV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Not to be confused with Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty of Imperial China The Gujin Tushu Jicheng ( is a vast encyclopaedic work written in China during the reigns of Qing emperors Kangxi and Yongzheng Each set consisted of 5040 volumes, making a total of 322,560 volumes printed using movable type.

Metal movable type in Europe

Main article: History of western typography

Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz is acknowledged as the first to invent a metal movable type printing system in Europe. Contemporary typographers view typography as craft with a very long History tracing its origins back to the first punches and dies used to make seals and Currency Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg ( 1398 &ndash February 3, 1468) was a German Goldsmith and printer who is credited Mainz (ˈmaɪ̯nʦ (Mayence is a City in Germany and the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth thereby transferring an image Gutenberg was a goldsmith familiar with techniques of cutting punches for making coins from moulds. A goldsmith is a Metalworker who specializes in working with Gold and other Precious metals usually in modern times to make Jewelry. Between 1436 and 1450 he developed hardware and techniques for casting letters from matrices using a device called the hand mould. A Hand mould is a two-part mould used for Casting small metal objects that could be operated by hand ^[20] Gutenberg's key invention and contribution to movable type printing in Europe, the hand mould was the first practical means of making cheap copies of letterpunches in the vast quantities needed to print complete books, making the movable type printing process a viable enterprise.

Gutenberg and his associates developed oil-based inks ideally suited to printing with a press on paper, and the first Latin typefaces. A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth thereby transferring an image In Typography, a typeface is a set of one or more Fonts designed with stylistic unity each comprising a coordinated set of Glyphs A typeface usually comprises His method of casting type may have been different from the hand mould used in subsequent decades. Detailed analysis of the type used in his 42-line Bible has revealed irregularities in some of the characters that cannot be attributed to ink spread or type wear under the pressure of the press. Scholars conjecture that the type pieces may have been cast from a series of matrices made with a series of individual stroke punches, producing many different versions of the same glyph. ^[21] It has also been suggested that the method used by Gutenberg involved using a single punch to make a mould, but the mould was such that the process of taking the type out disturbed the casting, creating variants and anomalies, and that the punch-matrix system came into use possibly around the 1470s. ^[22] This raises the possibility that the development of movable type in the West may have been progressive rather than a single innovation. ^[23]

Gutenberg's movable type printing system spread rapidly across Europe, from the single Mainz press in 1457 to 110 presses by 1480, of which 50 were in Italy. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Venice quickly became the center of typographic and printing activity. Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the Significant were the contributions of Nicolas Jenson, Francesco Griffo, Aldus Manutius, and other printers of late 15th-century Europe. Nicolas Jenson (also spelled Nicolas Janson, Nicholas Jenson, or Nicolaus Jenson; born 1420 in Sommevoire, France, died 1480 Francesco Griffo (1450- 1518 also called Francesco da Bologna was a fifteenth-century Venetian Punchcutter. Aldus Manutius (1449/1450 – February 6, 1515) the Latinized name of Teobaldo Mannucci, sometimes called Aldus Manutius the Elder to distinguish

Despite some conjectures (see^[12]) there is no evidence that movable type from the East ever reached Europe. For the article on the development of printing in Europe see History of western typography.

Type-founding

A piece of cast metal type, Garamond style long s / i ligature. Garamond is the name given to a group of old style serif Typefaces named for the punch-cutter Claude Garamond (c The long, medial or descending s ( ſ) is a form of the minuscule letter ' S ' formerly used where 's' occurred in the middle I is the ninth letter of the Latin alphabet. Its English name is i (aɪ See also: Sort (typesetting). See also Letterpress printing In Typesetting by hand compositing a sort is a piece of metal type representing a particular letter or Symbol

Type-founding as practiced in Europe and the west consists of three stages.

Punchcutting: If the glyph design includes enclosed spaces (counters), a counterpunch is made. The counter shapes are transferred in relief (cameo) onto the end of a rectangular bar of mild steel using a specialized engraving tool called a graver. For the "brief appearance" see Cameo appearance. For the "chemical emergency software" see Computer-Aided Management of Emergency Carbon steel, also called plain carbon steel, is Steel where the main alloying constituent is Carbon. The finished counterpunch is hardened by heating and quenching (tempering), or exposure to a cyanide solution (case hardening).

The counterpunch is then struck against the end of a similar rectangular steel bar—the letterpunch—to impress the counter shapes as recessed spaces (intaglio). Intaglio (pronounced in-TAL-yo ɪn'tælɪəʊ is a family of Printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface known as the matrix or plate The outer profile of the glyph is completed by scraping away with a graver the material outside the counter spaces, leaving only the stroke or lines of the glyph. Progress toward the finished design is checked by successive smoke proofs; temporal prints made from a thin coating of carbon deposited on the punch surface by a candle flame. The finished letterpunch is finally hardened to withstand the rigors of reproduction by striking.

One counterpunch and one letterpunch are produced for every letter or glyph making up a complete font.

Matrix: The letterpunch is used to strike a blank die of soft metal to make a negative letter mould, called a matrix. In hot metal Typesetting, a matrix (often abbreviated to "mat" is a mould for casting the letters known as sorts used in Letterpress printing

Casting: The matrix is inserted into the bottom of a device called a hand mould. The mould is clamped shut and molten type metal alloy consisting mostly of lead and tin, with a small amount of antimony for hardening, is poured into a cavity from the top. Characteristics Lead has a dull luster and is a dense, Ductile, very soft highly Tin is a Chemical element with the symbol Sn (stannum and Atomic number 50 Antimony (IPA (Received Pronunciation, /ˈæntɪmoʊni/ (US is a Chemical element with the symbol Sb (stibium meaning "mark" and When the type metal has sufficiently cooled the mould is unlocked and a rectangular block approximately 4 centimeters long, called a sort, extracted. See also Letterpress printing In Typesetting by hand compositing a sort is a piece of metal type representing a particular letter or Symbol Excess casting on the end of the sort, called the tang, is later removed to make the sort the precise height required for printing, known as "type height", approximately 0. 918 inches.

Typesetting

A case of cast metal type pieces and typeset matter in a composing stick

Modern, factory-produced moveable type was available in the late 19th century. It was held in the printing shop in a job case, a drawer about 2 inches high, a yard wide, and about two feet deep, with many small compartments for the various letters and ligatures. The most popular and accepted of the job case designs was the California Job Case, which took its name from the Pacific coast location of the foundries that made the case popular. ^[24]

Regardless of who actually invented the case, in order to make his typesetting more efficient, the inventor arranged the compartments according to the letters' frequency of use. The more frequent letters (t, n, e, i, o, r) are arranged in a rough circle directly in front of the typesetter, while the less-frequently used letters and characters are further away. The arrangement of the letters in the California Job Case became so popular and commonly adopted that a skilled typesetter could "read" the text set by another typesetter, just by watching the positions of the compartments where the typesetter reached for his letters.

The California Job Case has three sections, with the rightmost sections containing capital letters in alphabetic order except for the "J" and "U", moved to the lowest line to help avoid confusing them with "I" and "V" respectively. The lower case letters and punctuation marks are in the left and center sections, with the numbers 1 to 8 at the top of the center section, while the ligatures (combined letters, such as "ff", "fi", "æ" etc. Æ ( minuscule: æ) is a Grapheme formed from the letters A and E. ) are in various locations about the exterior.

In addition to placing the most commonly used letters in setting text in a given language in the easiest positions for the typeseter to get to, the characters' boxes varied in size depending upon the frequency of usage of the character. Thus for English the "e" box is the largest while the "j", "k", "q", "x", and "z" boxes are the smallest.

Prior to the adoption of the California Job Case, the capital letters were stored in a separate drawer or case that was located above the case that held the other letters; this is why capital letters are called "upper case" characters while the non-capitals are "lower case".

Other large compartments in the California Job Case held spacers, which are blocks of blank type used to separate words and fill out a line of type, such as em and en quads (quadrats, or spaces. A quadrat is a block of type whose face is lower than the printing letters so that it does not itself print. ). An em space was the width of a capital letter "M" -- as wide as it was high -- while an en space referred to a space half the width of its height (usually the dimensions for a capital "N").

Individual letters are assembled into words and lines of text with the aid of a composing stick, and the whole assembly is tightly bound together to make up a page image called a forme, where all letter faces are exactly the same height to form a flat surface of type. The forme is mounted on a printing press, a thin coating of viscous ink is applied and impressions made on paper under great pressure in the press. A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth thereby transferring an image "Sorts" is the term given to special characters not freely available in the typical type case, such as the "@" mark, etc.

See also

• History of western typography
• Spread of printing
• Type foundry
• Typesetting
• Odhecaton — the first sheet music printed with movable type

References

Literature

• Nesbitt, Alexander The History and Technique of Lettering (c) 1957, Dover Publications, Inc. ISBN 0486402819 , Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 57-13116. Dover Publications is an American book Publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward Cirker and his wife Blanche The Dover edition is an abridged and corrected republication of the work originally published in 1950 by Prentice-Hall, Inc. under the title Lettering: The History and Technique of Lettering as Design.

• The classic manual of hand-press technology is

Moxon, Joseph (1683–84), Mechanick Exercises on the Whole Art of Printing (ed. Herbert Davies & Harry Carter. New York: Dover Publications, 1962, reprint ed. )