{"id":1931,"date":"2018-12-04T21:00:55","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T20:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/metaltype.co.uk\/wpress\/?page_id=1931"},"modified":"2024-04-21T09:35:40","modified_gmt":"2024-04-21T08:35:40","slug":"1931-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/metaltype.co.uk\/wpress\/1931-2\/","title":{"rendered":"1954 Compositors Handbook"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many Thanks to Mike Wilson, from Yorkshire in the UK, for sending in this story.<\/p>\n

This 104-page booklet was full of tables and facts for the printing trade.<\/span><\/p>\n

Following a diary, there were tables for working out night rate payments, starting from \u00a36 10s 6d (\u00a36.51) per week. Then followed four pages of the correct symbols for correcting proofs, and more pages on casting off for Monotype composition. Casting off enabled one to find how many lines would fit a certain page depth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sizes of cards were given as well as figures for the calculation of income tax. Facts about poster work, punctuation and foreign currency followed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Imposition was explained at length and included section heads of Signatures, Gutters, Backs, Heads, Tails and Off-Cuts. Imposition was a skill I never mastered.<\/span><\/p>\n

Book Founts<\/h3>\n

Near the end of the book there were pages of book founts from the Stephenson Blake and Caslon foundries: Old Style, Plantin, Bodoni, Modern No.17, Modern No.20, Caslon Old Face, Perpetua, Verona, Cheltenham, Baskerville, Bell, Bembo, Blado, Centaur, Ehrhardt, Fournier, Garamond, Gill, Goudy, Imprint, Lutetia, Poliphilus, Rockwell, Romulus, Scotch Roman, Times, Van Dijck and Walbaum. Some of these typefaces have all but disappeared, but to the man in the street they all look like this font (Baskerville). <\/span><\/p>\n

The typeface Times Roman was designed to fit the narrow columns of newspapers, and is now a default font for newspapers and magazines. I prefer Antiqua as it is a little wider and I like my work to be a little different. Antiqua is a \u2018serif\u2019 typeface, while Arial is \u2018non-serif.\u2019 Serifs are the small finials to the letter. Serif fonts have characters which vary in width, while sans serif do not.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many Thanks to Mike Wilson, from Yorkshire in the UK, for sending in this story. This 104-page booklet was full of tables and facts for the printing trade. Following a diary, there were tables for working out night rate payments, starting from \u00a36 10s 6d (\u00a36.51) per week. Then followed four pages of the correct … Continue reading “1954 Compositors Handbook”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,7,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1931","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-books","category-historic","category-ukeurope"],"yoast_head":"\n1954 Compositors Handbook - Metal Type<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Details of a 1954 booklet full of tables and facts for people employed in the printing trade\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metaltype.co.uk\/wpress\/1931-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"1954 Compositors Handbook - Metal Type\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Details of a 1954 booklet full of tables and facts for people employed in the printing trade\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/metaltype.co.uk\/wpress\/1931-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Metal Type\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-21T08:35:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/metaltype.co.uk\/wpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CompsHandbook-180x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MTPrinting\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/1931-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/1931-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"1954 Compositors Handbook - Metal Type\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/1931-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/1931-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/CompsHandbook-180x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-04T20:00:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-21T08:35:40+00:00\",\"description\":\"Details of a 1954 booklet full of tables and facts for people employed in the printing trade\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/1931-2\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/1931-2\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/1931-2\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/CompsHandbook-180x300.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/12\\\/CompsHandbook-180x300.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/1931-2\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"1954 Compositors Handbook\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metaltype.co.uk\\\/wpress\\\/\",\"name\":\"Metal Type\",\"description\":\"Yesterday\u2019s Technology . . . 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