distribution

In letterpress printing, distribution is the labour-intensive work of sorting used metal types back into the divided compartments of a typecase after they have been used in composition and printing. Once a forme has been printed and is no longer needed, the individual sorts must be cleaned and returned to their correct boxes, or they become worthless to the print shop. This reverses the compositor's work and is essential to maintaining usable type stock.

The process demands precision because each character must go into its designated compartment. A standard case layout, such as the upper case and lower case used in English printing, has between 80 and 100 compartments of varying sizes. Sorts for frequently used letters like e, a, and t occupy larger boxes; rare characters and ligatures occupy smaller ones. A distributer working from a composing stick or galley reads the type as it comes and places each sort by hand into its box. Speed and accuracy are equally valued.

Distribution can be done by the compositor who originally set the type, but in larger shops it is often performed by apprentices or dedicated distribution workers. The work is monotonous and requires sustained attention. A distributer who is careless or fatigued will drop sorts (damaging them), put letters in wrong boxes, or fail to remove dried ink and spacing material, leaving the case polluted for the next user. Wrong-sorted types create composition errors later and waste a compositor's time hunting for missing characters.

The term itself comes from the distribution or dispersal of types back across the case compartments. In the era before stereotype and electrotype, when type had to be used many times, good distribution practices directly affected shop productivity and profitability. Distributing a single large job of many thousands of sorts could occupy one worker for days. The physical wear on hands and eyes was recognized as one of the harder aspects of print shop labour.