THE OLD SCHOOL PRESS

Moments in the making of The Colours of Rome.

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Skeleton time


The bed of my proof press would take four pages of this size but I shall be printing just two pages at a time. The task now is to construct the skeleton for the forme. I arrange suitable furniture around the text blocks so that the pages are the correct distance apart and an appropriate distance from the head of the page. I have a large set of metal components that allow me to build mini-chases, in this case a pair 36em wide and a little over thirty-four lines deep. I place other furniture around these so that they are sitting centrally across the bed. The rollers will be running down the page of lines – not ideal but if my rollers are adjusted to the correct running-height all should be well.
The measure is in fact 32em but there is a 4em outer margin on each page into which the page number will drop - you can see the gaps for them in the lower outer corner of each mini-chase.

Copyright © Martyn Ould 2013.