12mo
A book size using duodecimo-sized pages.
Industrial printing
388 entries in this trade.
18mo
A book size octodecimo-sized pages.
32mo
A book with leaves of such size, about the size of a contemporary trade paperback.
3D print
To use a 3D printer to make (a three-dimensional solid object) from a digital model.
4to
Abbreviation of quarto, a corresponding book size.
64mo
A size of paper or book: 1.87"-2.5" x 2.5"-3.125".
8vo
A book size, corresponding to the page size.
agate
The size of type between pearl and nonpareil, standardized as 5+¹⁄₂-point.
American
A size of type smaller than German, 1-point type.
anastatic
adjectiveIndustrial printing
Of or relating to a printing process in which copies of drawings are printed from facsimiles produced in relief on zinc plates.
anilox
A method used to provide a measured amount of ink to a flexo printing plate, involving a hard cylinder whose surface is covered in tiny cells that capture the ink.
astonisher
An exclamation mark, the punctuation mark “!”.
back gray
A piece of dark, heavy cotton cloth that is run under another piece of cloth to be printed, serving to take up the color on the roller outside the width of the print cloth.
ballstock
The handle of a printer's ball.
bang out
To celebrate (a fellow printing or newspaper industry worker) to mark their completion of an apprenticeship or their retirement by (formerly) hitting metal furniture in the printing room or (more recently) hitting one's desk in the newsroom.
bastard
adjectiveIndustrial printing
Abbreviated, as the half title in a page preceding the full title page of a book.
bastard type
A type having the face of a larger or smaller size than the body.
beard
That part of a type which is between the shoulder of the shank and the face.
bearer
A type or type-high piece of metal interspersed in blank parts to support the plate when it is shaved.
Ben Day
A printing and photoengraving technique dating from the late 19th century, involving coloured dots or some other simple repeating pattern, spaced or overlapping, to produce more complex mixed colours.
bite
A blank on the edge or corner of a page, owing to a portion of the frisket, or something else, intervening between the type and paper.
black-letter
adjectiveIndustrial printing
Written or printed in black letter.
bleed
A narrow edge around a page layout, to be printed but cut off afterwards (added to allow for slight misalignment, especially with pictures that should run to the edge of the finished sheet).
bleeding
Printing past the edge of the leaf (past the trim).
bleeding edge
The situation produced when the image extends beyond the nominal margin.
blind folio
A page number that is counted but not printed on the page.
block
A piece of hard wood on which a stereotype or electrotype plate is mounted.
body
The shank of a type, or the depth of the shank (by which the size is indicated).
bokashi
A technique in Japanese woodblock printing that achieves a variation in lightness and darkness of a single colour by means of ink applied by hand in gradations, rather than uniformly.
bottle
Of pages printed several on a sheet: to rotate slightly when the sheet is folded two or more times.
bourgeois
A size of type between brevier and long primer, standardized as 9-point.
box
To enclose (images, text, etc.) in a box.
brachy
A breve, as applied to Ancient Greek <˘>.
branch out
To white out or expand the whitespace around the title or other words, lines, etc. in a document.
breve
A semicircular diacritical mark (˘) placed above a vowel, commonly used to mark its quantity as short.
brevier
The size of type between minion and bourgeois, standardized as 8-point.
brilliant
The size of type between excelsior and diamond, standardized as 4-point.
camera-ready
adjectiveIndustrial printing
Ready to go to press; ready for publication.
cancel
The suppression on striking out of matter in type, or of a printed page or pages.
canon
A large size of type formerly used for printing the church canons, standardized as 48-point.
cast
To stereotype or electrotype.
cast off
To estimate the amount of space required by the type used for the given copy.
catchline
A temporary note at the top of a page or galley proof to identify it.
catchword
A word at the end of a book page that repeats the first word from the following page. (Such words served as aids to the bookbinder (to check rapidly for correct placement of leaves) and were also viewed by some readers as aids to smooth reading.)
Caxton
A kind of printing-type in imitation of William Caxton's.
chase
A rectangular steel or iron frame into which pages or columns of type are locked for printing or plate-making.
church text
A tall, thin form of black-letter print.
CIJ
Initialism of continuous inkjet.
cliché
A stereotype (printing plate).
clicker
An employee who locks the type in the form to make it ready for printing.
CMY
Initialism of cyan, magenta, yellow.
CMYK
Initialism of cyan, magenta, yellow, key: the colour model used in colour printing.
colophon
A printer's or publisher's identifying inscription or logo appearing at the front or end of a book, or the same appearing on the spine or dust jacket.
color separation
The process of breaking down a colored image into its component colors in order for it to be printed.
colour bar
A pattern of varying tonal density that enables visual and numeric comparisons to be made across multiple printed sheets or pages.
Columbian
A size of type between English and great primer, standardized as 16-point.
column inch
One inch of a printed column; a measure of space allocated.
compose
To arrange (types) in a composing stick for printing; to typeset.
composing frame
A stand for holding cases of type when in use.
composing rule
A thin slip of brass or steel, against which the type is arranged in a composing stick, or by the aid of which stickfuls or handfuls or type are lifted.