Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1860-05-03
THE GAZETTE.
HOW A LIVE LONDON NEWSPAPER Is
PRINTED. ~ ~
THURSDAY MORNING, MAY 3, $50.

the mechanical portion OF the office OF the
London Times, aud to spend sufficient time
there to get tolerably good idea Of this i'm
mcnse concern, and the manner IN which
business is done in it. The office, as almost
every body knows. is located IN Printing
House Square" aud probably almost every
body has imagined that Printing House
Square" is large and noisy place in some
busy thoroughfare of London, and that the
Times Office would of course be IN some local.
tv where it could at least be easily found
Such, however, is not the case, and without
a map and constant inquiry, 1t would be al
most impossible for q stranger to lind 1t,
even when placed within block of the Office.
Striking towards the Thames from off Ludg gate
Hill in the vicinity If Blackfriar's bridge, |
threaded half dozen narrow streets, and
when near the river and satisfied that had
lost my way, came upon little triangular
space from one side of which rose dingy
looking brick building, over the door of
which was little sign, 1.-The Times Office"
and underneath, the arms of England. 1t
was perfect solitude, within three minutes
walk of one of the great arteries OF London.
Upon entering, l was shown into small
room, called 1.-The finishing ROOM" Here,
upon presenting my card, was introduced
to u very gentlemanly man, who informed
me that he had been connected with the pa
per for more than forty years, and who offer
ed TO show me over the establishment In
lbs room the forms are all made up, the gal
leys being brought down from the composing
room, and the one adjoining, for that pur-
pose. Here alone were the galleys of matter
and advertisements left over, of the latter OF
which my guide informed me there were often
sixty or seventy columns, for which space
cannot be found even in the immense double
sheet which is daily published The day
before, two thousand advertisements were
taken in at the Office, which is alongside of
this finishing room" and which is devoted
exclusively to the reception of advertisements
and about fifteen hundred different ones
70 into the paper daily, making up from
eight to Ten pages of the sixteen printed
About six columns of these daily, are adyer-
tisements of servants wanting places. These
are charged eighteen pence each, and are
Limited to three lines, many Of them being
rewritten after coming to the office, and made
to conform to the prescribed from. No dit
ference in price is made on account Of any
additional number ofinsertions. From here,
we went into an adjoining room where the
day compostors' were at work upon the
second edition of the paper, which Is printed
at half past twelve O'Clock, and contains, in
addition to the morning news, the letter OF
the Paris correspondent, and such foreign
matter as arrives in the morning mall
There are fifty compositors employed IN this
department, and who, after the evening edl-
ton is worked off, 90 TO work upon the ad-
vertisementS, while there are seventy COM
positors employed upon the night work,
making in all one hundred and twenty COM
pDsitors To correct their matter there are
employed twenty-four proof readers, one half
for the day and the other for thenisat.
From this composing room we went into
the foundry. The morning edition OF the
Times varies from sixty to seventy thousand
copies, and in order to save the time in print
ing. and the expense of setting up an extra
from, duplicate of the original form is made
here 10 be worked upon one press, while the
original itself is on the other This is eff
fected in the following manner:-The form
being brought down here, pulp OF paper
m4che, prepared by some secret process. Is
spread on it, and beaten into 1t with large
heavy brush. This process and the harden
Ing Of the mould occupies but minute and
half, and when it is taken off the form, 1t,
OF course presents perfect fac S.ns'te OF the
form itself. 1t is then placed IN a sort OF
press and while yet pliable, Is shaped In the
circular form which it is necessary the forms
should have to accommodate themselves to
the cylinder presses, and then the molten
type metal is poured in, and In two minutes
more ii is cooled, and, being taken out OF
the mould the imperfections which have oc-
CURED. in the casting are rectihed, and IN
half an hour this form is ready for the press.
|. would require the work Of seventy men
seven hours to effect the same purpose us
this little piece of work-which is done in
thirty minutes.
The pqDier macRs process of moulding, has
been IN use in the Times Office about tive
Years. The secret Of the composition Is
known only to the discoverer, IN Italian
named Dalegani, who lives in London. and
who brings the prepared pulp to the Times
Office every evening. He has not been able
10 procure a patent for his invention, it be-
ing alleged thatit is only an improvement
upon the ancient method Of stereotyping
with plaster moulds. They say they find
tue imposition superior in every respect to
plaster, it being much cleaner, and not In
iuriug the face of the type so much. Six
duplicates may be taken from one OF these
Inouids before it is burnt through. The last
page, containing the leading article of the
Times. is sent down to the foundry about
four o'clock in the morning, and at quarter
past six the impression is off.
From here We went into the paper room,
which is by the side Of the foundry, on the
basement floor, passing through 4 large car
penter's shop, where half dozen men are
kept constantly at work, and looking into
several neat little bath rooms constructed
for the accommodation of the workmen.--
The paper room we found filled up with pa
per: and here | obtained some interesting
statistics as to the amount OF the raw material
consumed in the publication OF the Times. -
The paper is furnished from four paper
mills, the property OF the proprletors OF the
Times, and is made entirely Of linen. Du-
rim" the Russian war, as a great many of
the rags came from Russia, and there be-
inm. therefore, a fear that the supply might
ha cat short, the proprietors offered a reward
of one thousand pounds sterling for the dis
coyerv of substitute for linen. All sorts of
1nateral-straw, vegetable fbres Of a great
man descriptions, shavings, &c.-were sent
them to experiment upon; but they found
nothing which would answer the purpose,
aud by some means managed to keep up the
A., -, nf tho