1. Setting Type:
- Printers would start with individual metal pieces called "type." Each piece had a raised letter, number, or punctuation mark on its face.
- They arranged these types by hand, one character at a time, in a composing stick, a specialized tool that held the type in place.
- Printers followed the written copy provided by the editors or writers to compose the text line by line.
2. Justification:
- After composing a line of type, printers needed to justify it, meaning they had to make it even and flush on both the left and right sides of the composing stick.
- They used small metal spaces and quadrats (blank pieces) to adjust the spacing between words and letters, achieving the desired justification.
3. Locking the Chase:
- Once a line of type was justified, it was carefully transferred to a metal frame called a "chase." The chase held multiple lines of type together and ensured they remained in the correct position during printing.
- The type and the chase were then secured tightly to prevent any movement.
4. Inking and Printing:
- An ink ball made of leather was used to apply printer's ink to the raised surfaces of the type. This process, known as "inking up," transferred ink to the type's raised areas.
- A blank sheet of paper was placed over the inked type in the chase. Using a press, the printer applied pressure, transferring the ink from the type onto the paper, producing an impression of the text.
- This process was repeated for each page, line by line, until the entire newspaper was composed and printed.
The typesetting process was highly skilled and required great precision and attention to detail. It could take several hours or even days to prepare a single page of a newspaper, making early newspaper production a time-consuming and laborious task.