Frederick W. Hamilton

“ It often happens that the author can be of great assistance to the printer in making a handsome page. A change of a phrase, or even of a word will avoid a difficulty which cannot be avoided by a printer except at the cost of bad division or bad spacing. If the author is a sensible person he will gladly cooperate with the printer in giving his thoughts clothing appropriate to their intrinsic beauty and value. After the printer has exhausted his resources he should not hesitate to carry his troubles to the author. ”

“ The shortening of the first line is never a blemish, but a too short second line following a hyphened first line is always a fault.
There is a school of ultra-artistic composition in book titles which affects a solid squaring up and hesitates at no means to secure its effects. It sets a definite measure and forces the lines into it, dividing words arbitrarily and using no hyphen. This is a passing fancy and will pass as eccentricities always pass. It should not be used unless the author insists upon it. The man who pays the bills has a right to have his work done as he pleases. ”

“ A rigid adherence, for example, to the rule that not more than two consecutive lines should end with divided words will not justify a badly spaced, unsightly line. There are many things that look worse than a hyphen at the end of the last full line in a paragraph. Avoidance of dividing the last word on a page, however, would justify even bad spacing, because of the gain to the reader. In the last resort, the interests of the reader must always have first consideration.
Division is greatly affected by the length of the measure. ”

“ As a rule division is never used in lines of display. In these cases the display is the important thing. Every word long enough to be divided is important enough to be displayed and emphasized. Divided words are weakened words. Lines of irregular lengths are used of set purpose.
In title pages words of bold display must never be divided. In minor lines of display, such as subtitles and summaries, words are often divided. A subheading of two lines should never be divided in the first line when it is possible to turn the full word over on to the next line. ”

“ Any full consideration of the question of reformed spelling is hardly in place in this book. The author may perhaps be permitted one observation. Innovation in the use of the English language would appear to be primarily the work of scholars, and the adoption of such innovations would seem to belong to the book printer rather than to the commercial printer. The public mind as a whole is conservative. It is not hospitable to changes and does not soon become aware of them, much less familiar with them. ”

“ In the writer's opinion such rules are of very little practical value. Good spelling is not so much the result of remembering and applying rules as it is of observation, practice, and memory. The lists of certain types of troublesome words may be found useful for ready reference.
Syllable formation, pronunciation, and accent are considered because it is hoped that the volumes of this series, particularly those in Part VI (Correct Literary Composition) and Part VIII (History of Printing) , will contribute something to the general education of the apprentice as well as to his skill in the trade. ”

“ Each publication has been compiled by a competent author or group of authors, and carefully edited, the purpose being to provide the printers of the United States—employers, journeymen, and apprentices—with a comprehensive series of handy and inexpensive compendiums of reliable, up-to-date information upon the various branches and specialties of the printing craft, all arranged in orderly fashion for progressive study. ”

“ With the invention of printing, however, the number of these devices was greatly diminished. It became a matter of spacing out the line or dividing the word. Of course that meant frequent word division and called for a systematization of rules with regard to this division. These rules for division are necessarily based on spelling and syllabication.
SPELLING
The idea that there is one right way to combine the letters representing a certain sound or group of sounds, that is a word, and that all other ways are wrong and little short of shameful is a comparatively new idea among us. ”

“ The length of the register being known in advance and nothing but spaces being used in setting the line, the compositor was spared much that makes composition at once a hard labor and a fine art. The result was an irregular margin at the right such as we now see in typewritten letters.
With improvements in types and typography the squaring out of the page soon came into fashion. In many cases this can be done by the careful use of spaces so as to bring a certain number of words squarely out to the end of the line. There have been printers who have insisted that this should always be done. ”

“ This procedure will clear the compositor of all blame. Any questions which then arise lie between the author and the proofreader.
In the case of the reformed spellings, however, the departure from the ordinary appearance of the words is so great that the author cannot be allowed full freedom to set aside the office style. If he is paying for the printing he may insist on his spelling. If he is contributing to a [4] periodical and the printing is done at the publisher's expense it is for the publisher to determine the style of printing to be used. ”

“ The effort would probably resolve itself into an actual learning of the words which present difficulties. The best way to become a good [5] speller is to form the habit of careful reading, observing the form of every word as it passes before the eye and so unconsciously fixing it in the memory. ”

“ This is called a secondary accent. In some cases there may even be a third accent if the word is very long; In'-come, val-e-tu'-di-na'-ri-an. This fact arises from the tendency natural to all human speech to take more or less musical forms. The monotony of a series of stressed or of unstressed sounds would be unbearable. The pronunciation of such a series would be a highly artificial and very difficult performance. Correct pronunciation is very greatly concerned with the proper placing of the accent. Indeed the meaning of a familiar word may be quite obscured by a misplaced accent. ”

“ Correct pronunciation depends upon three things, correct sounding of the letters, correct division into syllables, and correct placing of the accent.
A syllable is the smallest separately articulated, or pronounced, element in speech, or one of the parts into which speech is broken. It consists of a vowel alone or accompanied by one or more consonants and separated by them, or by a pause, from a preceding or following vowel. This division of words into syllables is indicated in dictionaries by the use of the hyphen thus: sub-trac-tion, co-or-din-ate. ”

“ More serious objections are that the system does not provide for words that are long enough to be divided but are yet not consolidated words, and, most of all, that the average compositor is not an accomplished etymologist and knows very little about the derivation, make up, and compounding of the words he has to set up. ”

“ He may be [19] familiar, for example with the word rheostat, but it would puzzle him to tell from what language it is derived, while the word enclave would probably send him to the dictionary for meaning as well as derivation, unless he happened to be used to one particular kind of writing.
Another system, and probably on the whole the best one, requires the division of the word on the accented syllable. ”

“ How are these authorities used in printing offices?
7. What are the rights and duties of the author in the matter of spelling?
8. What may be done in matter of “reformed” spelling?
9. What is a safe attitude for the commercial printer toward “reformed” spelling, and why?
10. On what does correct spelling mainly depend?
11. What is the best way to become a good speller?
12. Why is English difficult to pronounce?
13. What is a diphthong?
14. What is a digraph?
15. What are the two sounds each of c, g, de, th, and s? Give examples of each. ”

“ Care has been taken to make all statements accurate and clear, with the purpose of bringing essential information within the understanding of beginners in the different fields of study. Wherever practicable, simple and well-defined drawings and illustrations have been used to assist in giving additional clearness to the text. ”

“ What about vowel combinations?
23. With what should a syllable not end?
24. With what should a syllable not begin?
25. What is the rule regarding prefixes and suffixes?
26. How do we treat two or three consonants capable of beginning a syllable?
[26] 27. How do we treat two or three consonants capable of ending a syllable?
28. How do we treat doubled consonants?
29. What is accent?
30. Do words ever have more than one accent, and why?
31. What are the two general rules for the placing of accent?
32. What did the early printers do when the words did not fit the line, and why? ”

“ Locking Forms for the Job Press By Frank S. Henry
Things the apprentice should know about locking up small forms, and about general work on the stone. Illustrated; review questions; glossary.
25. Preparing Forms for the Cylinder Press By Frank S. Henry
Pamphlet and catalog imposition; margins; fold marks, etc. Methods of handling type forms and electrotype forms. Illustrated; review questions; glossary.
PART IV—Presswork
26. ”

“ Printers' Rollers By A.A. Stewart
A primer of information about the composition, manufacture, and care of inking rollers. 46 pp.; illustrated; 61 review questions; glossary.
12. Printing Inks By Philip Ruxton
Their composition, properties and manufacture (reprinted by permission from Circular No. 53, United States Bureau of Standards) ; together with some helpful suggestions about the everyday use of printing inks by Philip Ruxton. 80 pp.; 100 review questions; glossary.
[iii]
13. ”