THE 
 
 WITH PLAIN DIEECTIONS FOR ITS USE, 
 
 so AS TO ALLOW 
 
 * I* 
 
 EVERY ONE TO BE HIS OWN PRINTER. | 
 
 MDCCCXLIV. 
 
Typographic Library and S 
 Museum of the American | 
 Type Founders Company ! 
 
 No 
 
 Shelf ^ 
 
 8*01 
 
 Cabinet s 
 
 Exhibit Case. 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
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THE 
 
 JPcrtabIc |)rinting 
 
 WITH PLAIN DIRECTIONS FOR ITS USE, 
 
 SO AS TO ALLOW 
 
 EVERY ONE TO BE HIS OWN PRINTER. 
 
 
 MDCCCXLIV. 
 

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riCA, WITHOUT LEADS. 
 
 THE 
 
 PORTABLE PRmTI^J^O OFFICE. 
 
 My dear Nephew, 
 
 I SEND you, as a Christmas gift, a box, 
 containing what is not usually sent as a present 
 to youth, but what I hope you will find not the 
 less agreeable and acceptable. Formerly the cus- 
 tom was, and often still is, to present boys of your 
 age, at the merry season of Christmas, with a box 
 full of toys, such as French tops, battledores and 
 shuttlecocks, marbles, and a picture book or two. 
 These, as in the case of all mere toys, after being 
 admired, and for a short time employed for amuse- 
 ment, are either soon broken, or, when their no- 
 velty is gone, are laid aside and forgotten. But 
 what you will find in the box which accompanies 
 this letter, will prove useful to you at all times, 
 and the more you use its contents, the longer you 
 will take pleasure in them. The box holds within 
 itself the whole materials for a miniature printing- 
 office, by employing wffiich you wdll derive not 
 
PICA, LEADED. 
 
 only entertainment^ but be rendered capable of 
 forming some idea of that unparalleled and won- 
 derful art — I mean the Art of Printings of which 
 it may be truly said^ that^ more than any other 
 human invention^ it changed the moral condition 
 of the worlds and elevated the tone of society^ in 
 all civilised countries, to a height of improvement 
 which was, till its discovery, altogether unknown. 
 
 On opening this box you will find these articles, 
 namely: — A beautiful and complete 
 
 ittimature printing press. 
 
 Slightly fastened to the bottom of the box with four screw nails. When unscrewed, place it on 
 
 a table, fastening it firmly with the same nails. 
 
 A pair of cases, upper and lower. 
 
 A small fount of long primer type, with a small 
 assortment of Gothic type, same as the above. 
 A composing stick and rule for setting. 
 
 A galley. 
 
 An ink board. 
 
 A tin case of ink, and two ink balls. 
 
 A sponge to clean the balls, after being used. 
 
 A brush, and a bottle of ley, to wash the types 
 Avith, also after being used. 
 
LONG PRIMER, WITHOUT LEADS. 
 
 These (which are all made in the first style of excellence as 
 to accuracy, &c.) will enable you, with application on your part, 
 to set up and print your own compositions, or anything else 
 you desire to print. I might have sent you a present of books, 
 but with these you will be able to make books for yourself. 
 By the aid of such an assortment of printing materials, the 
 student at College would be able to print his exercises, the 
 author could print his poetry, and the merchant who has an 
 extensive correspondence would find himself in a condition to 
 print, without much trouble to himself, such of his letters as 
 he wishes to preserve. For a thousand purposes, indeed, 
 where printing is required, a box containing such things as 
 these will be found to be of infinite utility. It is, therefore, with 
 no small degree of pleasure that I send you this, as a present, 
 in preference to any other thing, of a more showy character 
 perhaps, but of a less ingenious and useful description. 
 
 T will now proceed to explain and describe the mode of 
 using the different articles above enumerated, and show you 
 how you are to acquire the art of printing for yourself. 
 
 In printing, the first thing you do is to place the types to- 
 gether, which is called setting up or composing. The pair of 
 cases contains all the letters of the alphabet, with the points, 
 spaces, figures, &c. required. One of these cases holds the 
 capital letters, and the other the small letters. The former, 
 for convenience, is usually placed above the latter, which is 
 in consequence called by printers the lower case. When you 
 use them, instead of a frame, you will have to place them on 
 a table, with the case holding the capitals placed opposite you 
 against the wall, at an inclination of about the angle 45 ; the 
 lower case, containing the small letters, as being more in use, 
 lieing nearer your hand. The upper case is divided into 
 fifty- six compartments or separate boxes, all of equal size, 
 
LONG PRIMER, LEADED. 
 
 and these boxes contain two sets of capital letters, one named 
 
 full capitals/' the other '' small capitals." The lower case 
 is divided into fifty-two compartments or partitions. These 
 are of four difierent sizes ; some at the top and the ends being 
 a little smaller than the divisions of the upper case; others 
 nearer the centre being as large as two of the small divisions; 
 others as large as four; and one as large as six. This differ- 
 ence in the size, as you will soon learn, arises from more of 
 some of the letters in the lower case, that is of the smaller 
 type, being required than others. The letter e, for instance, 
 is oftener required than any other letter of the alphabet, from 
 the frequency in which it occurs in the w^ords of the English 
 language. It is therefore necessary to provide a larger quan- 
 tity of it, and this requires a larger partition or box. 
 
 To assist you in setting, you will find the partitions, both 
 in the upper and lov\^er case, marked with the difierent letters, 
 and with the thick and thin spaces, and quadrates, the latter 
 of which are used for filling up the lines at the end of para- 
 graphs, and making blank lines. 
 
 The partitions or boxes in the lower case are arranged, not 
 as the letters follow each other in the alphabet, but so as to 
 allow those in most frequent use to be nearest your hand 
 when you are putting the types together; thus, the letter e, 
 as being the letter most used, is placed immediately beside 
 you. Next to e, the letters in most frequent use are — c, d, i, 
 s, m, n, h, o, p, u, t, a and r; and these are all so arranged 
 near each other, as to be readily obtained when wanted. 
 
BREVIER, WITHOUT LEADS. 
 
 The spaces which are required for separating the words, lie close at your 
 hand, at the bottom of the central or middle division of the lower case. 
 
 Standing in the centre before the pair of cases, you hold in your left 
 hand the composing stick. This is the little frame made of gun metal, 
 which you will find beside the other things in the box herewith sent. 
 The composing stick is made perfectly true and square, and will hold 
 thirteen lines. The matter or copy which you are to put in type, you 
 place immediately before you, upon the least used part of the upper case, 
 where you may readily see it. One by one you put the letter of each 
 word and sentence into your stick, securing each letter with the thumb 
 of your left hand, which you will have in consequence to keep continually 
 moving from the beginning to the end of a line. Your right hand is 
 employed picking up the types as you require them. In each letter 
 there is a nick, which indicates the bottom edge of the letter; and in 
 arranging the types, you must place the nick outwards in the composing 
 stick, with the face of the letter upwards. In composing, you will place 
 a 3 m space between the words, and when you arrive at the end of a line, 
 and be unable to take in a whole word or syllable, you must stretch it 
 out by increasing the space between the words. This is accomplished by 
 changing the 3 m space to two 5 m spaces, a 4 and a 5 m space, or an 
 n quadrate, as the line may require — a process which is termed justifying. 
 
 When you have filled the stick, that is, completed thirteen lines, you 
 must lift them out, and place them in the galley. This you will find a little 
 difficult, until practice enables you to do it with ease. The way to do it, 
 is to place your rule in front of the last line, then put your forefingers 
 in front of the rule, your thumbs against the first line at the back of the 
 stick, and your middle fingers on the sides; then raise it out of the stick 
 from the back, letting the stick drop upon the case. This done, you will 
 proceed with other thirteen lines, until the galley is filled by the contents 
 of successive sticks. This will enable you to have as many lines set up 
 as will fill an octavo page, which consists of 6| inches long and 3J inches 
 broad. In a book of the octavo size, there are 16 pages to the sheet. 
 
 When you have completed a page, you will bind it tightly round with 
 a cord, and proceed to take what is called a proof. You will place the 
 page on the table of the press, then put the slips at each side, and screw 
 tightly at both sides and at the bottom. After supplying the balls with 
 ink, which must be spread and prepared for the purpose on the inkboard, 
 press them on its surface so as to cover all the types, and then, after 
 laying the paper, which should have been previously damped carefully, 
 on the inked page, bring the press down upon the latter, and thus you 
 
BREVIER, LEADED. 
 
 will have an impression of it. This proof you will compare carefully with 
 the copy, that any blunders in it, such as wrong types, false punctuation, 
 and loose spacing, may be corrected before you print off the copies you 
 want. After you have finished printing them, you will have to sponge 
 the balls, and wash and clean the types, as they stand in the page, with 
 the ley, or printer’s wash, which is a solution of potash, which you will 
 find in the small bottle in the box. With regard to the inkballs, to keep 
 them soft and in order, when you have finished working with them, you 
 will put a little ink upon them, then wrap a wet rag round them, and lay 
 them aside. In preparing your paper for working, you will cut up the 
 sheets to the size of your page, and place two or three slips upon a wet 
 wrapper, then sprinkle a little water over the slips, repeating the sprink- 
 ling as often as you add a few slips to those first laid down. AVhen this 
 is finished, cover the heap with another wet wrapper, and place a board 
 over it, with a weight sufficient to press the water through the paper. In 
 a few hours you will turn the slips, so as to mix them thoroughly, placing 
 the weight upon them as before, and the paper will be ready for working 
 in two or three hours after. 
 
 When you have washed the types, you will next have to put them back 
 into their cases, that they may be ready for setting up another page or 
 another book. This is called by printers distributing them. Lifting a 
 quantity of the type (as it is arranged in lines) with your rule, and hold- 
 ing it in your left hand — ^resting it on your middle finger, with your fore- 
 finger at the back, and keeping the face of the types towards you — take 
 up one or two words between the two forefingers and the thumb of your 
 right hand, and return the letters, one by one, each to its proper place, 
 taking care that one letter only is dropped at a time, until you have 
 
 restored the whole to their proper boxes. 
 
 Hoping that the box and its contents will afford you much entertain- 
 ment of an instructive and rational nature, 
 
 I remain, my dear Nephew, your affectionate Uncle, 
 
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