The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1890-01-24
HOW SHEET MUSIC is PRINTED.
A Process of Which the Public Knows Very
Little-EYery Page Printed by Hand.

was the writer, this article will be read
with interest. A walk through the
printing rooms Of the largest music pub
fishing house in Boston, under the tutel-
age of its courteous foreman, is full of
interesting instruction.
1t was into one of the many "lofts" in
which the establishment abounds that
the reporter was taken. One door was
filed with a veritable lacework of long
poles, placed horizontally, which were
loaded out of sight with sheet music
hung upon them to dry. The whole
place had the air Of washing day at
home, and the reporter involuntarily
glanced around if perchance he might
get a glance of cold dinner lying about.
Gas fast as the sheets are printed we
hang them here over night said the
foreman, "and then place them between
~pasteboards and press them fiat. Then
they are ready for market. Come up
into the press rooms"
The press rooms are very unlike their
newspaper prototypes. Not a sound
loud enough to interfere with conversa-
ton is heard in them, for sheet music is
printed all by hand.
Two kinds of presses are used; the old
style "plank" press and the improved or.
SD" press. The latter consists of q slid
ing table several feet square, on which
are two raised blocks just the size of a
sheet of music, on which are placed the
plates from which the printing is done.
The plates having been linked and the
paper laid on them, the printer gives a
turn to an immense wheel, 81 feet in
diameter, the sliding table slides under q
large roller covered with a belt, and the
paper is forced against the plate, thus
giving the impression; and another eyo
luton of the wheel brings the apparatus
back to its original position. The plank"
press is like the other, except that in
using it the plates are linked on a bench
and laid on the blocks every time an I'M
preston is taken, while with the sd"
press the plates are not removed from
the blocks until the edition is run off.
"Now, here is a man printing title
pages" said the foreman. 1--WE print
only one sheet at a time, and a man can
take from 800 to 1900 impressions a
day. This plate, which looks exactly
like silver, is composed of zinc, lead and
britannia, and is made almost exclusively
in New York. Every publishing house
manufactures its own ink. 1t can't be
bought. 1t is very particular stuff and
must be made just so, and it is a very
delicate matter to make and take care of
it. This title page has been engraved by
hand. The design is sunken, you see.
When engraved the plate is put on a hot
block, and beeswax is melted into the
design. That, too, is a ticklish matter.
II we wipe it off too soon, we spoil it,
and if we let it get too hard it crumbles
and won't hold the ink. Once bees
waxed, a plate can be used for printing
for years.
Engraving the music plates is a diff
ferent process, however, from that used
in making the title page. The engraver
has to havea separate tool for every kind
of note-half, whole, quarter, rests, etc.
His outfit costs $400. He does not carve
into the plate as wood engravers do, but
stamps out each note separately with a
hammer. You can imagine what nice
work it is to adjust the tools just right,
and how hard it is to engraye a sheet of
music"
The reporter watched the process of
printing, and saw something like this;
After the plate had been fastened to its
block OF the press the printer inks it
with q hood roller, just as other printers
ink their type in taking proofs. He then
wipes the plate carefully with a cloth;
the ink sticks to the beeswax, which
covers the design or the notes, and the
rest of the plate is comparatively clean.
A second wiping with another rag leaves
all but the design shiningly clean, the
paper is laid on, and the great wheel, re-
volving soon takes the impression and
returns the printed pages to the printers
hand. The plate is then wiped again,
reinked, rewiped twice, and, in fact, I'M
dergoes the same process between each
impression.
sit is a curious fact" continued the
foreman, "that although this work is all
done by hand the printers touch
the paper. A piece of p~asteboard is
folded double and used as a holder, and
with that the printer handles all his
sheets, and never lets his inky hands
come in contact with them."
Isn't music printed from type some
times?' asked the reporter.
Eyes. When we want to run off a
large edition of some cheap stuff, books
or something of that sort, we set the
music up in type, stereotype the page
and print from it, just as you newspaper
fellows do. But the work isn't as hand
some, and, besides, there is some music
written that can't ba sat I'M with tvpe
All music plates after being used are
stored in fireproof vaults andindexed for
possible future use. The foreman states
the curious fact that in the great collec-
ton of which he has charge there are
more pieces of music whose names begin
with S than of any other letter, while
the I's are close second. Boston Globe.