Technical Terms of the "Black Art"

From Abklatsch to Zwiebelfisch

Abklatsch — a pull or offset — transferring an outline layout onto a printing surface in order to work up a colour scheme.

Affiche — (French: placard) a poster or bill, usually printed on thin white or coloured poster paper (Affichenpapier).

Alfapapier — esparto paper — a soft, thick-feeling, good printable paper.

Atlaspapier — satin ("atlas") paper, similar to ice paper; its surface feels like satin silk to the touch.

Ausbringen — deliberately spacing the composition out ("running out") to reach a particular number of lines or pages (the opposite of Einbringen).

Ausrücken — setting words outside the type area at various points in the margin = marginalia.

Ausschlachten — "stripping" — removing rules and spacing material from existing composition (the plain text setting is left standing).

Auszeichnen — to emphasise parts of the text by l e t t e r s p a c i n g and the like.

Bastardschriften — bastard types — letterforms lying between the character of Fraktur and roman (Antiqua), and of other typefaces too.

Blankschlagen — filling out gaps in the forme — where images or portions of type are still missing — with spacing material.

Blockade — letters turned upside down, used to mark illegible or doubtful passages in the manuscript.

Borgis — 9-point type size (English: bourgeois).

Büttenpapier — handmade (mould-made) paper with no defined grain direction.

Cicero — 12-point type size (the Continental pica).

Colonel — 7-point type size (English: minion).

Corps — designation of the body and shank of a type, given together with its point size.

Diamant — 4-point type size (English: diamond).

Duodez — duodecimo — a small book format of 12 leaves to a printed sheet.

Durchschießen — to lead — inserting leading between the lines of solid-set (unleaded) composition.

Durchschuß — leading — the filling material placed between lines.

Einbringen — to "take in" — compressing the composition into a given space.

Einziehen — indenting — setting opening lines or paragraphs in from the left margin.

Fahnenabzug — galley proof — the first hand pull of the composition, taken for correction.

Faksimile — facsimile — an absolutely faithful reproduction of an original text or drawing, e.g. manuscripts.

Fische — "fish" — letters from another fount that have crept into the composition by mistake.

Flattermarke — collating mark (back mark) — a mark placed in the spine fold, stepped progressively lower from sheet to sheet between the first and last page, used to check the gathering of the sheets.

Fliegenkopf — "fly's head" — a letter standing upside down in the composition.

Fleisch — the shoulder — the parts of the type body surrounding the printing face.

Frosch — the movable part (the knee) of the composing stick.

Gemeine — the lower-case letters of the alphabet (also called minuscules), as opposed to Versalien = capitals.

Gespan — the colleague working with the compositor in the same "alley" — the gap between two rows of type racks.

Hering — "herring" — a printer's term for a reprimand, telling-off or rebuke.

Hochzeit — "wedding" — words or portions of text accidentally set twice (a doublet).

Hurenkind — widow — a short closing line appearing as the first line of a page.

Imprimatur — the authorisation to print ("let it be printed").

Index — table of contents or register/index.

Inkunabeln — incunabula — cradle prints (the earliest printed books).

Insertio — a 6½-point type size still used occasionally in the setting of advertisements.

Jungfer — "maiden" — a page or column set by the compositor without a single error.

Kanon — a type size of 36 point = 3 cicero in body size (English: two-line great primer / canon).

Kapitälchen — small capitals — capital letters cut to the size of the lower-case letters.

Kolumnenschnur — page cord — the cord used to tie up and secure a page of standing type.

Konus — the cone — the upper part of a type, tapering outward toward the bottom, which carries the printing face.

Korpus — 10-point type size (English: long primer).

Kornätzung — grain etching — a halftone in which the breaking-up of the mid-tones was done with the grain screen, little favoured in practice.

Küvette — colour filter.

Layout — a layout — the arrangement sketch for a printing job.

Leiche — "corpse" — an out — words or portions of text left out during composition.

Leporello — concertina (zigzag) fold.

Ligatur — ligature — a combination of letters cast on a single body, such as ch, ck, ff, etc.

Logotype — logotype — a type carrying a frequently occurring combination of letters.

Lumbeck — the Lumbeck method — adhesive binding using gauze and cold glue to join the book block and the cover.

Majuskel — a capital letter (majuscule).

Marginalien — marginalia — notes standing in the margin outside the type area.

Melotypie — melotype — the printing of music notation using ordinary letterpress type.

Minuskel — the small (lower-case) letter, as opposed to the majuscule.

Neuries — a printer's ream — a unit of paper quantity = 1,000 sheets when purchased.

Nonpareille — 6-point type size (English: nonpareil).

Nudel — the "noodle" — a felt-covered roller with which the compositor presses the paper against the inked type when taking hand pulls.

Paschulke — a compositor who sets only part-composition (piece setting).

Paginieren — to paginate — to furnish the pages of a printed work with page numbers.

Parenthese — the term for a round bracket (parenthesis).

Perl — 5-point type size (English: pearl).

Petit — 8-point type size (English: brevier).

Plano — a flat-lying, unfolded sheet of paper.

Portepagen — boards used as interleaving between the pieces of broken-up standing type.

Primzahlen — signature figures — the first page numbers of the printed sheets, e.g. in octavo: 1, 17, 33, 49, and so on.

Punkt — the point — the typographic unit of measure = 0.376 mm.

Quart — quarto — an old book format (2 leaves = 4 pages).

Reißlänge — breaking length — a measure of strength in paper testing (the length of a paper strip at which it tears under its own weight).

Ries — ream — a unit of paper quantity = 500 sheets when purchased.

Rubrik — the headings of chapters and sections.

Sabon — a type size of 60-point body (coarse Sabon = 66 point).

Schiff — galley — a metal tray with raised sides for holding the composed type.

Schmutztitel — half-title (bastard title) — usually placed after the endpaper in books.

Schrenzpapier — a wrapping or packing paper made from waste paper.

Schriftkegel — the type body — the height of the printing face in terms of its extent (the body size).

Schusterjunge — orphan — the opening line of a paragraph left standing as the last line of a page.

Schweizerdegen — "Swiss dagger" — a journeyman who has trained as both compositor and pressman.

Speck — "bacon" — the common term for a piece of easy, profitable work in composing and printing (fat).

Splendid — generously spaced composition, with ample paper margins and heavy leading.

Sperrung — letterspacing — the handling of the s p a c e between letters and words.

Stumpf halten — "setting flush" — beginning a piece of composition with no indent on the first line and closing with a full line (still customary in newspaper work when several compositors set one text under time pressure).

Tenakel — copyholder — a manuscript holder fixed to the type case or the composing machine.

Tertia — 16-point type size.

Text — 20-point type size (English: double pica).

Textura — textura — a gothic (blackletter) type.

Typograph — letterpress printing; a (creative) typesetter/compositor.

Umbruch — making up — assembling the composition, first pulled as galleys, into the correct page size, page order, and so on.

Vakat — a blank page that the compositor must build up from spacing material so the forme is complete when locked up.

Versalien — capitals, as opposed to the Gemeine (lower-case).

Vertaturzeichen — the "turn" correction mark, used to indicate that letters, lines, images or pages are standing upside down.

Vignette — vignette — a small pictorial ornament on the margins, titles and opening pages of printed works, sometimes within the text as well.

Winkelhaken — the composing stick — the compositor's hand gauge (see illustration above).

Zeug — "stuff" — all letters that are damaged, whether on the face or otherwise, and are no longer fit for printing (batter).

Zwiebelfische — "onion fish" — letters that, on distribution, have gone into the wrong type case; also called Fische ("fish").