![]() Metal type read backwards, from right to left, and a key skill of the compositor was their ability to read this backwards text.ĭuring typesetting, individual sorts are picked from a type case with the right hand, and set into a composing stick held in the left hand from left to right, and as viewed by the setter upside down. The form was placed in a press and inked, and then printed (an impression made) on paper. If done correctly, all letters were of the same height, and a flat surface of type was created. ![]() The compositor assembled these sorts into words, then lines, then pages of text, which were then bound tightly together by a frame, making up a form or page. A tray with many dividers, called a case, contained cast metal sorts, each with a single letter or symbol, but backwards (so they would print correctly). During much of the letterpress era, movable type was composed by hand for each page by workers called compositors.
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