furniture
The pieces of wood or metal put around pages of type to make proper margins and fill the spaces between the pages and the chase.
Industrial printing
200 entries in this trade.
galley
An oblong tray of wood or brass, with upright sides, for holding type which has been set, or is to be made up, etc.
galley proof
A trial page or proof of continuous text that has not been divided into pages.
go to bed
Of a newspaper: to finish being prepared for printing.
gods
The quadrats used by printers in throwing on the imposing stone, similar to the movement in casting dice.
gold blocking
A technique where gold foil or another metallic foil is applied using heat and pressure from an engraved block or die to emboss designs or patterns onto a surface.
gravure
A type of intaglio printing process, in which an image is engraved onto a rotating copper cylinder.
grease
Synonym of fat (“work containing much blank, profitable to the compositor”).
great primer
The size of type between English and paragon, standardized as 18-point, used in the printing of large-format English bibles.
gutter
One of a number of pieces of wood or metal, grooved in the centre, used to separate the pages of type in a form.
hair stroke
A fine line drawn out at the top or bottom of a letter.
halftone
A picture made by using the process of half-toning.
handman
One who assembles printing type by hand.
handpress
An early printing press operated by means of a handle that applied pressure on the form.
headband
A thin slip of iron on the tympan of a printing press.
height to paper
In typefounding, the length of a type from its face to its foot.
hellbox
A receptacle where cast metal sorts were thrown after printing.
hickey
A serif or other ornamentation on type.
hot metal
Printing type cast from molten metal; hot metal typesetting.
imperial
A writing paper size measuring 30 × 22 inches, or printing paper measuring 32 × 22 inches.
imposing stone
The stone on which the pages or columns of type are imposed or made into forms.
imposing table
A work table, topped by an imposing stone, used by impositors in type-setting.
imposition
Arrangement of a printed product’s pages on the printer's sheet so as to have the pages in proper order in the final product.
ink-block
A block or table onto which the ink is spread, which is then transferred by the rollers or inkballs.
insetter
A device for inserting pre-printed color segments into a monochrome publication.
intaglio
Any printing method in which the ink is laid upon the sunken parts of the printing form.
jeff
To play or gamble with em quads, throwing them as dice.
jeffing
A dice game played with em quads.
kicker
A device that periodically displaces a newspaper from the print production line, to aid in gathering the newspapers into fixed-size bundles.
Latin
The nonsense placeholder text (often based on real Latin) used in greeking.
lead out
To pad out (text) by inserting lead slugs between words.
leporello
Any printed material (book, leaflet etc.) having such folds; a concertina.
letter-quality printing
A printing method that produces solid letters that are as clear or clearer than those produced by a typewriter.
letterpress
The printing process in which ink is applied to the top surface of a raised image area, which is then pressed against paper to transfer the image.
line art
Artwork to be reproduced with one solid color, contrasted with artwork having tone or shading (halftones), or full color (color separations).
line printer
A high-speed impact printer, most often used by older mainframes, that prints an entire line in a single operation.
linecasting
The use of a linecaster to cast entire lines of type in metal slugs.
linoblock
A linoleum block used in block printing.
linocut
A type of woodcut in which a block of linoleum is used for the relief surface; the design cut into the block.
make-ready
The process of preparing something for use.
master copy
The copy that acts as the main or original version among several copies, such as the master proof where changes from other author copies are combined, or a similar master manuscript with edits transferred to it.
matrix
In hot metal typesetting, a mold for casting a letter.
metal master
A metal sheet used in offset printing for carrying ink onto the rubber printing form.
mixed case
The use of both uppercase (capital) and lowercase (small) letters within a text.
monoline
A type of composing machine in which each line of type is cast as a single slug.
monotype
A print made by creating the design using oil paint or printer's ink on metal or glass, then transferring the image directly to paper.
multigraph
A combined rotary typesetting and printing machine for office use. The type is transferred semi-automatically by means of keys from a type-supply drum to a printing drum. The printing may be done by means of an inked ribbon to print "typewritten" letters, or directly from inked type or a stereotype plate, as in a printing press.
O
American Library Association abbreviation of octavo, a book size (20-25 cm).
octavo
A sheet of paper 7 to 10 inches (= 17.78 to 25.4 cm) high and 4.5 to 6 inches (= 11.43 to 15.24 cm) wide, the size varying with the large original sheet used to create it. It is made by folding the original sheet three times to produce eight leaves.
oddment
A part of a book that is not a portion of the text, such as the title, index, etc. (usually plural).
page proof
A trial page or proof that has been made up into pages.
paper jam
A malfunction in a computer's printer or a photocopier or similar device occurring when sheets of paper become jammed inside.
parallel
A character consisting of two parallel vertical lines, used in the text to direct attention to a similarly marked note in the margin or at the foot of a page.
patch
An overlay used to obtain a stronger impression.
perfecting
The process of printing on both sides of the printed-on material during its single pass through the printing press.
photo machine
A phototypesetter machine.
photo-offset
A method of offset printing that uses photolithographic plates.
photolithography
A lithographic procedure in which printing plates are made using a photographic process.
pica stick
A type of ruler used to measure by hand the spacing in prints, designs, mock-ups, and proofs.
pick
A particle of ink or paper embedded in the hollow of a letter, filling up its face, and causing a spot on a printed sheet.