Frederick W. Hamilton

“ It seemed a strange comment on human inventiveness that while new machines had been found for doing so many kinds of man’s work, while the simple screw press of Gutenberg had developed into the steam-driven platen and cylinder, and while so many improvements had been made in the manufacture of type, the setting of type was exactly where it was in 1450. ”

“ When any question rises it is usually safer to use the long form of comparison in the case of two-syllable adjectives and to use the short form in the case of one-syllable adjectives. The proper use of the long form is one of those niceties of diction which come only with careful observation and with training of the ear and of the literary sense.
The word most should never be used, as it often is, in the place of almost. Careless people say "I am most ready" meaning "I am almost, or nearly ready." The phrase "I am most ready," really means "I am in the greatest possible readiness." ”

“ The idea of the freedom of commerce and industry, so dear to the modern political economist, had not yet been conceived. All industry was subject to the most minute regulations partly imposed by the state and partly imposed by the guild. All the concerns of human life were subject to regulation, including even what people in different ranks of life should eat, drink, and wear. As there was no trade organization to regulate printing, of course it became immediately the subject of governmental interest. ”

“ The primary purpose of all printing is to be read. Anything that adds to the legibility of the printing improves it; anything that detracts from its legibility harms it. How can we so divide words that the legibility and intelligibility of the text will be maintained, the line justified to register, and the beauty of the page enhanced? These ends—legibility, intelligibility, and beauty—are the aims of all the rules which have been devised for the division of words. ”

“ Under English common law all combinations of workmen were considered as contrary to public policy, regarded as combinations in restraint of trade, and dealt with very harshly. A single workman might work or refuse to work for whatever pay or under whatever conditions he pleased, but an agreement of two or more on this basis, that is to combine for pay, hours, and the like, was a criminal conspiracy. ”

“ To set an entire paragraph of quoted matter in a foreign language in italic, or even to use italic too freely for phrases, practically nullifies the value of it as a display letter for the sub-headings or for any other part of the book in which distinction is really needed. Quotation marks, indention, smaller type, or any of the marks which distinguish quoted matter are sufficient.
III. At one time it was quite customary to set all quotations, whether in English or a foreign language, prose or verse, in italics, but that fashion is now happily obsolete. ”

“ The growth of the universities from the 12th century onward played a great part in the multiplication of books and the growth of libraries. Then, as now, the library was the heart of the university. Even more than now the students depended on its contents. Obviously only the richest students could buy any great number of books, and, equally obviously, every student needed to use them, bought what he could, borrowed the rest, and became a book collector for the rest of his life. ”

“ Always remember that the real business of the comma is just that of helping the meaning of the words and of preventing ambiguity by showing clearly the separation and connection of words and phrases. If there is possibility of misunderstanding without a comma, put one in. If the words tell their story beyond possibility of misunderstanding without a comma, there is no reason for its use. ”

“ The use of the press in squeezing grapes for wine, in molding cheese and squeezing out the whey, and for a great number of other purposes was so common that the problem of the exertion of pressure was already solved. Everything was ready but the type, and when one sees how far men had gone toward the use of type one wonders that the invention was not made long before it really occurred. Probably it was only waiting for the imperious demand of necessity to spur some one to the making of the necessary experiments. ”

“ It so happens that the peculiar conditions of the printing industry had a very marked effect in the changes which took place in the industrial world in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The attempt is made to show the working of these influences in the treatment of certain parts of the subject. The main purpose, however, throughout has been to give the young printer of today an idea of the work and life of the old printers, who were very human men, engaged, though under different conditions, in the same struggle to earn their bread and butter which occupies our attention today. ”