The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1884-05-07
Printers Errors.

As a class, the manipulators of type
may truthfully be called the best (and
worst) abused men in the world, and
without sufficient reason. Very few
| outside of the trade know the difficult
ties under which they labor or have
even faint conception of the skill.
care and patience required. Absolute
| correctness is prime essential to Sc
cure public appreciation, and how very
little is done in the way of assistance.
''Copy" properly prepared is a great
| desideratum and rarely received. That
which is called good is often the very
reverse. 1t may be fair to the eye and
vet blind to the sense. The patron does
not know exactly what he needs. If he
has any ideas upon the subject they
| may be perverted ones, and the little
smattering he has of the art tends to
lead him astray and demand impossi-
bilities. His Judgment has not been
trained in the matter of letters. He
knows nothing of justification" except
that he believes he has it in the largest
sense to give the printer particular
fits'' when an error is found. Why six
line plea and nonparen can not be made
to chime like notes of music is beyond
matter. According to his views It is
the most simple of undertakings to set.
make up and work off one hundred
pages, more OF. less, in the most un-
reasonably sheTt space of time,
Before pouring out the vialS of their
wrath upon the head of the printer, it
might be well for men to pause and con-
slider how much he is to blame. Some
I.oxy
met with the statement that any old
piece of Mosaic work containing few
hundred pieces is exalted to the skies
and pronounced wonderful. 1t re-
quired patience, no doubt, probably
taste and study, but carrying out the
drift of the article ready how very little
in comparison to the tens and hundreds
of thousands of still more slender and
minute particles the printer is required
to handle to make up paper or book.
Take a solid page of the Oubinet as an
example. 1t contains some 27,000
''ems," or about 1000 letters. This
is greatly more than any Mosaic known.
And they had to be placed without any
chiseling or sand-papering, as could be
done in the delicate work of table, chair
or picture.
Taking this as basis, calculation is
easy as to the amount of type a conf
positor handles during his hours of dali
" labor in distribution and setting.
Easy it is also to conceive how such
little fragments of metal viii slip out of
place, how letter or space may be
dropped, word spelled Incorrectly, a
point be wrong, how errors win creep
in despite all care-and the generous
public be outraged at the gross care
lessness and stupidity of the printer
Errors do occur, we must admit. but
they are fabulously uncommon when
compared to chances of their being
made, and books and papers are monn-
ments to the correctness of the craft.
their swiftness and certainty of touch,
education and never-ceasing yigi-
lance.
We write not thus for the craft
They practically know the truth of our
words But we do write for the multi
tude of outsiders, and with the hope
that the simple illustration we have
given may open their eyes to the great
Injustice done to those who, with their
noses in the space box. y toll away tteir
lives for the benefit Of the world st
large. - Rou,lds' pYlnlerS' Cabiiaet,
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