Type consists of little rectangular sticks of metal. Size is measured in points, and there are various shapes of letters in all sizes. It is sold in 'founts' containing all the letters in the proportion they are used in English. Naturally the bigger the letters the more a fount costs, but a fount of this type, which is 10 pt. Gloucester Bold Condensed, is about £2. It contains one hell of a lot of letters but you really need another half fount for a page of this size because about a third of your type is ALWAYS left over.
The type is set up in a little adjustable tray called a 'composing stick', and tightened up by adjusting the spaces, which come in 5 sizes. This is known as 'justifying' the line. When several lines have been set up you grasp the unstable mass firmly and lift it into the bed. (This is a nerve-wracking operation.) You can set up type about as fast as one-finger type-writing.
As for illustrations, I can only tell you what we do, which we're sure is all wrong. James does the woodcuts with a razor blade on plywood. You can use lino but James would rather have plywood. That's all I can tell you so far but we hope to develop as we learn. Photo-engraving, for example.
In SLANT 4 I hope to discuss some of the more general problems of the fan editor.
Data entered by Judy Bemis
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