The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-01-07

shows for itself what Mr. Douglass
has accomplished; for the type for the
pamphlet was set by the Chinese. the
book was printed and bound by them.
The pamphlet says, in recording the
trials of the print shop at the mission:
s'In April, 1898, the work of the
and technical efforts rendered more
effective through the arrival of Mr..
c. w Douglass, a practical printer of
considerable experience, with keen
relish for missionary work
In part the pamphlet says: THE
coming of Mr. William Gamble in
1858 gave a considerable impetus to
the work of the press. He arrived
with new type, matrices and a type
casting machine; but what was of
greatest Importance, he possessed
keen business faculty, an inventive
spirit and indOminable perseverance.
He very soon revolutionlzed the meth
Cd of casting Chinese type by making
matrices with electrotyping methods
and inventing the type case arranged
according to radicals that is now SO
generally in use
''The investigations that we're IN
dertaken in order to perfect the Chi
nese fonts and type cases were quite
elaborate For the purpose of aScer-
tanning how many characters were IN
common use, especially in Christian
books, Mr.. Gamble had an examina-
ton made of the Bible and twenty
seven other books printed at the
octave pages. These books were
found to contain an aggregate of over
100000 characters, but only fully
$3.50 different characters. To this
list $50 characters found in the font
of the London Missionary society of
Hong Kong were added, making a
total of 5000. CThe fonts now made
by the Presbyterian Mission Press
contain about 1000 different kinds.9
Mr.. Gamble next divided the 5000
characters into fifteen groups accord
ing to the frequency of their use.
From the fact that 13 characters We're
found to occur over 10000 times each
in the twenty-eight volumes examin-
ed, 224 over 1000 times. and SO on,
he settled the proportions of the fonts
and the relative sizes and numbers of
the subdivisions in the type cases
In describing the press work shops
the pamphlet says: LAS We look around
at the forms ready for the presses, we
notice that bi-lingual works, in the way
of dictionaries and vocabulariess are
well represented. The progress of Ro-
manizatiOn is evident from the amount
of English type required for the pro-
duction of conoquial works.
with the c1ick-click of the English
type conpositors' movements in our
ears, we go next door to the room
where Chinese type is set up. The il
1ustratiOn shows Il part of the room.
and the view of the nearest type case
will indicate the advantage of the ar
Tangement instituted by Mr.. Gamble.
The 1000 different kinds of type are
classified in 215 divisions according to
the radicals. thus enabling the compos-
itor to quickly pick his way.
There are 40, go different characters
in Kanghi's dictionary and as there are
frequently calls for rarer characters
than the matrices provide for, there is
constant work for the engraver, who
cuts out the needed face from a type
high blank.
1--WE find 50 compositors setting up
the Chinese Christian IntelIigencer, a
Presbyterian weekly; the Chinese
Christian Review of the Times pub