The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1868-05-15
+ Day Nth the Printers.

The last number of the Peoples
Magazine gives us peep inside of some
/ of the London printing offices. The fol-
| lowing extracts are of interest:
The headquarters of the printing trade
/ in London are at the west end of the
/ city. A square block between HolbOrn
| on the north, and the Thames on the
| south, and extending east and west from
/ PaternOster Row to Chancery Lane, con-
/ tains large proportion of all the print
ing offices in the metropolis; although
/ one of the very largest, that of Messrs.
| Cloves * Sons, is one of the Surry side
of the water. But the old printing quar-
tier is an Old-fashiOned spot intersected
| by one large thOroUghfare, Fleet street !;
! by numerous lanes, such a. Fetter Lane
and Shoe Lane; and by a labrynth of
alleys and courts.
A young author, passing through this
district at the dinner hour" will soon
guess that he is not far from his printers
An innumerable swarm-Of boys of all
ages, some in linen jackets, some i'm
coats, but all bearing unmistakeable
marks of printers ink, croud the tho
TOughfare. The first quarter of an hour
| is devoted TO dinner, brOugt from home
in paper, and eaten al frisco land then
after desert of apples or Oranges-and in
summer pine apples, or even, exception
al years, grapes-frOm the long line of
barrOws which arrive regularly to sup
ply these hungry mouths, succeed games.
of leapfrOg, "eat," whinny or cricket,
according to fashion or season. The pc
keep sharp lookout during this hour.
in the interest of order and the peaeeable
passer-by, who welcomes as his best
friend the clock which strikes two. At
fhfs cOunH tho saTnQll frUff dicapnoot
mysteriously up little courts into low
doors, or into more pretentiOus gateways,
and all peace again.
From this crowded locality issue most
of the daily papers. The Times fOrgets
its thunderbolts in the retirement of
Printing-hOuse square, while the Daily
Telegraph faces the rush and roar o
Fleet street the daily News and Morn
ing Star live in Whitefriars the STAN
dard and Morning Herald in Shoe
Lane.
In the queer little courts to the north
of Fleet Street, Turk printing offices of
all sizes, from the room containing u
man and boy, who, with few types
and single hand-press, execute all
kinds of printing with economy and
despatch" to great establishments, each
giving employment to 5000, 5000, or even
5000 persons. Messrs. Bradbury and
Evans reign in Whitefriars her Males
tvs printers and Messrs. SpottiswoOde
& Co., in the knot of New" streets,
Great and Lite, where the houses built
after the great for London have only
beenreplaced within the memory of
middle-aged men.
Many inventions have been exhibited
from time to time, for expediting the
process of composition, but most of
them are so ingenious, that in practice
more brains are required to look after
them than to compose in the ordinary
hand method. Almost the only ma
chine in practical use in London il that
invented by Mr.. Mitchell of New York
This has somehat the appearance of
semi-grand piano without its ease. The
OPERATOR sits at the keyboard, and at
each pressure of key liberates a type
from one of number of brass slides ar
ranged in a row nearly over the Key
board. The types thus liberatedare con
veyed each upon its own tape, in a dl-
rection of right angles to the keyboard,
to q second tape, which conveys them
in an oblique direction to their destlna-
ton. The relative lengths and yeloe-
tiles of the tapes are so arranged that the
types are placed ON the second tape I'm
the order In which they are released by
the operator at the keyboard. Arrived
at the extremity of the second tape, the
letters are seen falling in regular and
rapid succession over a wheel. Below
this type fall' the types range them
selves in continually growing line Of
words.