take

In letterpress and hand-set type composition, a take is a discrete batch of manuscript copy assigned to a single compositor for setting into type. The quantity varies, but a take typically comprises enough text to fill roughly one galley or between 500 and 1500 words, depending on type size, column width, and the complexity of the matter. The compositor receives the take with copy marked up for font, size, leading, and special instructions, then works through it at their own pace before handing off the composed type to the next stage of production.

The division of copy into takes serves practical and economic purposes. It allows multiple compositors to work on the same job simultaneously, shortening overall turnaround time and balancing the workload across the composing room. Takes also create natural checkpoints for proofreading and correction before type moves to the makeup stage, where individual takes are combined into pages and locked into chase. A printer scheduling a large book might divide it into ten or twenty takes and distribute them among available compositors.

Newspaper and job printing shops typically use smaller takes, sometimes as little as a stick or two of type (roughly 80 to 120 words), to keep the press fed with fresh material and allow faster turnaround on breaking news or rush orders. Book work usually employs larger takes to reduce overhead and maintain consistent spacing and style across longer passages. Some compositors worked piecework and were paid by the take, making the definition and measurement of each take a matter of wage negotiation and workshop politics.

The term reflects the physical reality of handwork: the compositor literally takes the copy, sets it, and passes the result forward. In modern offset and digital workflows, the concept has largely disappeared, though copy still flows through production in logical units. Understanding the take system is essential for reading historical printing records, production timesheets, and shop accounts that document work by the take rather than by the finished page or book.