Chapter IV

The Typescript Book or Memorandum: Typescript

Word count: 8500

∣📄 p.31 The typewriter has been well established as the device by which all scholarly work is prepared for publication. Authors often use it when drafting their manuscripts. Typed copy is always submitted to the publisher by the author and to the linotyper by the publishers. The fact that the typewriting stage intervenes so many times in the preparation of reading matter for distribution raises a question as to whether typescript could be carried not only as far as the linotyper, but also as far as the reader. In other words, what is the case for the typescript book?

In terms of the number of words written or the number of words printed and read, typescript rivals newsprint as the standard conventional writing form of contemporary civilization. Everyone is familiar with the typescript letter. Business men use information sheets and confidential letter services that are really periodicals in mimeographed form; they are becoming increasingly accustomed to seeing catalogues and statistical studies produced in typescript by “near-print” methods. The Government frequently mimeographs its reports. But the use of typescript is not generally associated with the publication of the internal documentation of scholarship. This is true, not on account of any deficiency from the standpoint of legibility, but because the possibilities of reproducing typescript economically and attractively have not been fully explored by the scholarly world.

This is really surprising in view of the fact that nearly everyone knows in a general way the qualities of the typewriter and the extent to which it has affected office practice. The typewriter itself is so cheap and widely distributed, and the skill to use it is so easily acquired, that its operating costs are low. Bond paper, filing cabinets, folders, and loose-leaf notebooks have been standardized to sizes ∥ that conform to it. Office appliances, even the office offset press, are keyed to its 8½″ x 11″ sheet. There is only one standard measurement that has never conformed to it—that is library shelving. Library shelving is spaced to care for pages 10″ or less in height. Libraries receiving typescript books on full-size typewriter paper are put to the inconvenience of shelving them with oversize books. But elsewhere the typewriter has brought equipment and practice into line with its dimensions.

By what means may the typescript book be produced? It may be a first copy from under the typewriter ribbon, as so many of our theses are, or it may be a copy multiplied by hectograph, mimeograph, or photo-offset. The choice of any of these reproduction methods for the multiplying of typescript material depends upon the degree of legibility afforded by the technique selected and upon the costs involved, which may be analyzed, as in the case of the printed books, as first costs (composition and area costs) and running costs. Of the methods mentioned, photo-offset presents the most complex problems in cost levels and legibility on account of the possibility of photographically reducing the size of the typescript in making a photo-offset copy.

The four mechanical devices for multiplying typescript will be separately analyzed in the following chapter, but it is necessary in the first instance to understand the characteristics of the typewriter itself.

The Standard Typewriter

The standard typewriters are priced at about $110.00. The type is standardized in two sizes, known as pica and elite. The pica typewriter lays down ten letters to the inch, the elite, twelve. How do these typescript letters compare with the letters ∣📄 p.32 [note: this page is set in different typefaces to illustrate spacing] of relief printing? A peculiarity of typescript as compared with print-face is the equal width of the letters. The typescript “i” is just as broad as the “m”. This equal width is a necessary consequence of the mechanical system by which the type- writer spaces letters. A number of design- ers have proposed or attempted a typescript face that will resemble print-face; the task of making such a typescript face is rendered difficult simply because of the equal spacing of the typewriter mechanism. A change of the spacing system that would give the “i” a narrow space and the “m” a broad one would greatly complicate the machine and make it more expensive.

A new spacing mechanism has recently appeared in Germany. One model is available in America, in the hands of Edwards Brothers. This paragraph has been typed with it. Note that there are three different letter widths—the narrow letters such as f and i, the middle-sized letters such as d and g, and the two broad letters, w and m. The typewriter letter levers are linked each with one of two spacing rods; the m and w are given additional width by the typist, who strikes the space bar when- ever she uses these two letters.

The difference in spacing is easily seen when set in a column in groups of six.

This new spacing device opens a new field for the designers of typescript face.

Special types are available, such as micro-elite, laying down fourteen letters to the inch, or ultra micro-elite, laying down sixteen letters to the inch. Their interlinear spacing is usually six lines to the inch. A sample page done with micro-∥ elite type is shown in Figure XXVIII.

The Equivalence of Type and Typescript

If the horizontal measurement of typescript were taken as the basis in assigning it a position in the point system of typography, the following table of equivalents would result:

Pica typescript would be equivalent to 14-pt. type.
Elite typescript would be equivalent to 12-pt. type.
Pica reduced to 80% of normal size to 10-pt. type.
Pica reduced to 70% of normal size to 9-pt. type.
Pica reduced to 60% of normal size to 8-pt. type.
Pica reduced to 50% of normal size to 7-pt. type.
Pica reduced to 40% of normal size to 6-pt. type.
Pica reduced to 30% of normal size to 5-pt. type.

If, on the other hand, the vertical measurement of typescript were taken, it would be obvious that

Pica typescript would be equivalent to 10-pt. type.
Elite typescript would be equivalent to 8-pt. type.
Pica reduced to 80% of normal size to 7-pt. type.
Pica reduced to 70% of normal size to 6-pt. type.

The relative importance of the horizontal and vertical measurements of type controlling legibility has not been determined; it is, therefore, difficult to work out an accurate table of equivalents between print-face and typescript sizes and reductions. Since groups of letters or words, instead of single letters, constitute a sensory unit, it is probable that the vertical measurement of type is a more important factor in its effect on the reading rate, and consequently upon legibility, than the horizontal measurement. If such is the case, it would follow that typescript, despite its horizontal spread, is but slightly more legible than print-face of the same vertical point size. Figure XV shows blocks of 11-, 9-, 7-, and 6-point print-face type and corresponding blocks of typescript reduced to approximately the same legibility. The reader may note how far legibility affects word content by comparing the samples. To judge how far legibility suffers when typescript is so reduced as to lay down the same word content as print-face type on an identical area, the reader is asked to examine Figure XXIX.

∣📄 p.[32a] Exhibit to illustrate comparison of print face types of various sizes and styles with typescript of varying reductions, having approximately the same legibility.

∣📄p.[32b] (blank) ∣📄 p.[32c]

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∣📄p.[32e] (blank) ∣📄 p.[32f]

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The Uneven Right-Hand Margin

Closely related to the fact that typescript letters are of equal width is the inability of the machine to make an even right-hand margin. The linotype or monotype readjusts the spacing of the letters in a line in such a way as to make all of the lines on a page equal in length or, as it is said, to “justify” them. The typewriter cannot do this, except by one or two expensive means, which require either a special typewriter and an extra typing, or a special kind of paper.

By using the Varityper, and by resorting to two typings, an even right-hand margin can be made. On the first copy the typist makes the right-hand margin come as near the line as possible, usually missing it by not more than two or three letters long or short. Then the copy is blue- penciled to indicate places where the space can be extended or contracted. In a second typing, each line will be written exactly as it is in the first copy, except that the extra letters will be absorbed in the line by crowding the spacing between the words or letters, or a short line will be stretched out by increasing the spaces between the words or letters. Opinions differ as to whether the resulting copy looks choppy or uneven. A sample of Varitype work is shown in Figure XVII. As has been said, this process requires the use of the Varityper machine, which has a variable horizontal spacing, and of course the extra typing process adds to the composition cost for labor and proofreading. This method of justifying the right-hand margin could be used for hectographing and mimeographing as well as for photo-offset work.

There is another method which can be used for justifying the right-hand margin. The Vogeltype Aligning Paper Corporation, Federal Trust Building, Newark, New Jersey, has devised a special kind of stretchable paper cemented to a backing sheet. The copy is typed on this paper in the conventional manner without regard to alignment. After the sheet is taken from the typewriter, short lines are stretched to the correct length, as illustrated in Figure XVI. At present the paper is priced at $.24 a sheet in quantities of twenty-five sheets, with reductions in price for larger quantities. The sheets are made to contain from forty-eight to eighty lines ∥ of type each, and each line has a maximum length of 9″. Separate sheets are made for vertical line spacing of three, four, four and one-half, five, and six lines to the inch. For great primer type (eighteen point), four lines to the inch give the most readable results; pica and elite type give the best results with five and six- space paper respectively. From a typographic standpoint, copy set with these spaces between the lines is more readable than when lines are set closer to each other. The typing area of the sheets ranges from 9″ x 10″ to 9″ x 16″.

A third device for justifying typescript is a mechanism in the process of development by Professor Charles C. Peters of the Pennsylvania State College. An attachment to an ordinary typewriter automatically controls the length of the line. This attachment consists essentially of a screw which progressively displaces the carriage in relation to the writing point. The justifying requires a preliminary or fair copy typing to indicate the number of spaces by which the line must be lengthened or shortened. In the format typing, the proper one of seven controls is engaged at the beginning of each line, and the excess of deficiency in length is apportioned equally among the fifty-four or so spaces. The apparatus at present writing permits lengthening or shortening by a maximum of three spaces. Pending the patenting of the device and its assignment to a commercial company, Dr. Peters will furnish a simple form of this device for use with any make of typewriter for $12.00, or a more automatic form for $25.00. Changes necessary in the typewriter itself restrict the line which may subsequently be written with it to about seven inches in the case of the 10″-typewriter. An alternative is to purchase through Dr. Peters a typewriter with the adjustment already made, for $60.00 or $75.00, depending upon the type of attachment furnished. The reader is referred to Statistical Procedures and Their Mathematical Bases, by Dr. Peters and Walter P. Van-Voohis (1935) as an example of a photo-offset book for which the master copy was prepared by Dr. Peters’ device.

The Varityper and the Electromatic Typewriter

There are two special typewriters ∣📄 p.34 which are at once more expensive and more useful for certain typing processes. The Varityper, mentioned above, was developed from the Hammond machine; it permits the typist to choose among a number of type faces, type sizes, and corresponding vertical and horizontal spacings. These alternatives are here tabulated and some of the faces available are shown in Figure XVIII.

Eighteen characters to the inch may be had on the “T”, “L”, and “W” in place of the sixteen characters to the inch, and on the “Q” in place of the fourteen, at an additional charge of $25.00 per machine. The fourteen-to-the-inch spacing and the sixteen-to-the-inch spacing are the same as those called “micro-elite” and “ultra- micro-elite” on the standard typewriters.

All type plates are priced at $5.00. each. The Varityper is sold for $210.00 to $360.00 for the power-run models, ranging from a 9″- to a 24″-carriage, and for $140.00 to $160.00 for the non-motor models, which can be obtained with a 9″-carriage only.

The Electromatic typewriter has the standard typescript faces and spacings, but makes the impression with electric power rather than finger power. It is especially useful in increasing the number of legible carbon copies, where pressure in the typewriter strokes is all-important. The Standard Electromatic typewriter is sold for $225.00 for the 12″-carriage and $250.00 for the 16″-carriage. ∥

Typing Stages in Book Production: Draft, Fair, and Format Copies

Typing costs exhibit an interesting flexibility: they vary with the number of times a given text is retyped in the course of its preparation. In the normal production of a book the text is likely to be several times copied and corrected. Are the costs of all these typing operations to be lumped as composition costs?

The accurate study of the typewriting costs to be assessed against the multiplication of the book requires that they be separated from those incidental to the writing of the book. For purposes of clarity, therefore, three stages in the typescript preparation of a book may be distinguished from each other.

The first stage is the making of the draft copy. This is the author’s product. It may be in longhand or in typescript, or in a combination of both. It is the pile of pages, often much interlined and scratched, which the writer turns over to a typist, if he can afford one.

The second stage in the preparation of the book is here called the making of the fair copy. The fair copy is the manuscript as it has been prepared for submission to an editor if the book is to be printed; it is the pile of typescript that comes back from the typist. Sometimes the author prepares his own fair copy; sometimes the so-called fair copy is not very fair. But as a normal stage in the normal

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movement of a book, this fair copy typing can be set apart from the making of the draft copy. It is a more mechanical procedure; a typist can make the fair copy, only the author can make the draft copy.

If the book is to be multiplied in typescript, a third stage will intervene, and a third typing may be necessary. The text must be transferred to the printing surface medium required by the chosen reproduction process. Also the usual one-column, double-spaced format used for the fair-copying operation may not be the most desirable format for the finished typescript book; the margins of the fair copy may be too narrow for maximum legibility in hectographing; the one-column format of the fair copy may be less desirable than a two-column one if mimeographing is decided upon; the typed letters of the fair copy may not be dark enough or clean-cut enough to photograph well for photo-offset reproduction. The final typing required to put the text in the desired format on the hectograph master sheet, the mimeograph stencil, or the master copy paper for photo-offset is called the format typing.

To summarize: the draft copy is a step in the writing of a books; the cost of making it is not a composition cost in the case of either the printed book or the typescript book. The cost of the format typing, which is always a stage in the multiplication of the typescript book, is always a true composition cost. The fair copy may be copy for the linotyper or photo-offset typist, in which case its cost is not a true composition cost, as its making is a stage in the writing process. If it is merged with the format typing in any of the typescript bookmaking processes, it is a step in the multiplication of the book, and its cost is a true composition cost.

The Fair Copy as a Stage in the Writing Process

The author of a book is usually ex∥ pected to bring his work through the fair copy stage at his own expense. The cost of preparing the fair copy depends in part upon the condition of the draft copy. There may be a variation of 20% to 33⅓% in the typing charges due to the condition of the draft. The cost depends also upon the number of unusual symbols and figures that occur, as it takes longer to type technical and tabular material than straight non-technical text. But fundamentally the cost of preparing a fair copy from a draft is determined by the length of the manuscript.

The unit of measurement for typewriter work ought to be the keystroke, but it is usually the page of 250 to 300 words, double-spaced. The keystroke corresponds roughly to the em of linotype composition. Whereas the number of ems per word is usually only four or five, the number of keystrokes varies from six to seven.

It is estimated that in copying typescript, a standard speed ought to be 5,500 to 11,700 keystrokes per hour, equivalent to 915 to 1950 words.¹ This should cover from three to seven pages. By gathering estimates of standard speeds and figures for wage levels, consulting advertisements in writers manuals, and collecting specific commercial estimates from typing bureaus, a rough estimate has been made of the cost of typescript copying, per thousand words:

Estimate of Costs of Typescript Copying, per 1000 Words, in Units of More Than a 1000 Words:

Estimate of costs based on normal speeds and wage levels ($15 to $25 per week) … $.27 to $.44

With minimum wage and maximum efficiency, $.20; with maximum wage and minimum efficiency, $.72. If typing is done by a stenographer receiving a maximum wage of $25.00 per week, the cost would be (a) at maximum efficiency, $.33; (b) at minimum efficiency, $.72; if typing is done by a ∣📄 p.36 secretary receiving a maximum wage of $35.00 a week, the cost would be (a) at maximum efficiency, $.46; (b) at minimum efficiency, $102.²

A consideration of these costs gives rise to the question of whether or not it would be profitable to turn over a draft copy in fairly good condition to a publisher without having a fair copy made. It must be taken for granted that printing requires a carefully prepared fair copy. If an imperfect copy is set before the linotyper, the author’s correction charges mount rapidly. As a matter of fact, the author often sends to the editor a supposedly fair copy which still contains innumerable crudities and easily corrected errors. The editors of publishing houses have learned to expect this. They maintain in their offices readers who can go over the author’s supposedly fair copy and make it ready for the linotyper. This service is necessarily assessed into the cost of printed books as an editorial cost. It will be seen that the typescript book may be produced without incurring this ∥ cost—and also without the perfection that results from this editorial work. If an author is subsidizing the publication of his book, he pays for the production of a perfect fair copy whether his payments go to a typists or to his publisher or both; if the book is published commercially, the charge for some stages in the making of a fair copy may be avoided by the author.

The Fair Copy as a Stage in the Multiplication of a Book: the Merging of the Fair and Format Copies

The making of the fair copy is a stage in the multiplication of a book only when it is merged with the making of the format copy for a typescript book—that is, when a format copy is made directly from a draft copy. Whether or not it is profitable to prepare the format copy directly from the draft depends on the condition of the draft copy, the format chosen, and the reproduction technique utilized.

It costs roughly 20% to 66% more to type a format copy in two columns single-spaced from a draft than it costs to type a fair copy in one column double-spaced from a draft copy. It may cost as much as 200% more to prepare a complicated format copy from a draft copy than it costs to prepare a fair copy in ordinary one-column format.

The argument in favor of merging the different typing operations is the greater the cheaper the reproduction process. Thus the typist who makes a carbon ∣📄p.[36a] (blank) ∣📄 p.[36b]

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copy makes it customarily while preparing the fair copy. She does not plan to make a fair copy and then retype the whole text in order to make a couple of carbons. If she is making a hectographed edition, there will be more of an excuse for extra typing simply because the typing is a smaller proportion of the cost of the whole job. The argument is even stronger for a permissible separate format typing in the case of mimeograph, and strongest of all in the case of the rotaprint, multilith, or photo-offset processes. The shift is not technological, but due to a change in cost perspective. In relation to the expense for materials and paper involved in a long run on the rotaprint or multilith, the extra composition cost of an additional format typing seems small, while in relation to the corresponding expenses of a run of fifty hectographed copies, the additional typing charges seem large. Therefore, it can be expected that the fair copy will be used as format copy more often in hectographing than in mimeographing, and in mimeographing more than in offset work.

The Preparation of the Format Copy from the Fair Copy

Rates for preparing the format copy from the fair copy are determined by the character of the text and by the format and reproduction method chosen. As has been said, it takes longer to type technical material than non-technical, and it costs more to type in a two-column format than in a one-column one. Quotations from Cleveland typing bureaus show that a format copy in two columns may be prepared from fair copy at an additional charge of about 30%. But the reproduction method chosen is the chief factor in determining the cost of additional typing: it is just as easy to type on a hectograph master sheet as on ordinary typewriter paper and only a little more difficult to cut a mimeograph stencil. But it is more of an art to prepare master copy for photo-offset reproduction. Extra care is required on the part of the typist in order to produce copy that will retain its legibility when its size has been decreased. The best results are obtained when certain kinds of master paper and typewriter ribbons are used and when special typewriters like the Varityper or the Royal photo-offset typewriter are used; ∥ these devices and supplies are not available to the author or even to the average typing bureau, and it is for this reason that photo-offset companies usually prefer to have the master copy for photo-offset material prepared in their own establishments. The effect of a variation in apparatus and typist’s skill in the preparation of the format copy for photo-offset is illustrated in Figure XIX. The page has been printed on the same press with the other pages of the book; it would not be different from other pages except for the differences in the original typing, as indicated on the sample page.

Quotations made by photo-offset establishments for preparing typed master copy for photo-offset work range from $.56 to $1.70 per 1000 words. The usual quotation is about $1.25. The $1.70 figure was given for the preparation of a special two-column format with justified lines. One company quoted $1.00 per 1000 words for technical material in units of several hundred pages.

As work of this type is definitely chargeable as composition, it is interesting to compare these rates with those of linotype composition: the wage cost for linotype composition at $1.15 per hour ranges from $.92 to $1.55 per 1000 words according to the number of ems set per hour; the shop price of linotype composition at $3.50 per machine hour ranges from $2.80 to $4.67 per 1000 words.

These possibilities of merging or shifting typescript composition costs have given rise to some inaccurate thinking on the subject of the typescript book. Sometimes a saving in composition cost seems to appear like a rabbit out of a magician’s hat. The topic is sufficiently important to warrant further clarifying, which may be set up as a formula:

will it always follow that A plus B is greater than C? Will there always be a saving in working directly from the draft copy? Obviously, the answer depends upon ∣📄 p.38 the actual condition of the draft copy and the rigidity of the requirements of the format copy. If the draft copy is in very good shape, and the material is to be hectographed or mimeographed in a standard typescript format, the two processes may well be merged and the extra typing saved. But if the draft copy is very rough and the format is a complicated one—such as a large two-column arrangement with foot- notes—to be subjected to photographic reduction and multiplied by photo-offset, the intermediate step of making the fair copy is necessary.

In general it should be noted that if the author completes a format copy for any of the typescript book publication processes, he absorbs the entire composition cost of the process, as well as part of the editorial expense. This is not a true reduction of the publishing costs, but a concealed subsidy from the author to the publisher.

The table on the following page shows the high variation in typescript com- position costs. The spread between low and high typescript costs is just as great as or greater than the spread between low and high linotype costs as analyzed in Chapter III. There is no such thing as a fixed differential in composition cost as between typescript books on the one hand and printed books on the other.

Area Costs and Format

(a) Size of Type

If the variations in the composition costs of a typescript book are the results of different possibilities in the number of times the same matter is to be retyped, variations in area costs are responsive to differences in format, to the number of words that are laid down on a page.

Three factors control the number of words on a page: the size of the type face, the interlinear spacing, and the length of the line. Except when the Varityper or the rare micro-elite and ultra-micro-elite machines are used, or the text is multiplied by the photo-offset process, the choice as to size of type face is limited to pica or elite. The special format problems arising when photo-offset can be used to reduce ∥ typescript will be analyzed in the chapter on that process.

(b) Interlinear Spacing

Common to all typescript bookmaking, however, is the problem of interlinear spacing and length of line. Interlinear spacing as a problem in typescript format corresponds to leading in relief composition. In normal size typescript the option is given between single space and double space. The standard ratchet, whether for elite or pica type, lays down six lines to the inch single-spaced, and three lines double-spaced.

Opinions differ as to the best spacing of lines. According to Horde, context is so dominant a factor in legibility that no conclusion can be drawn from the relative effects of changes in size of type and leading; Vernon’s work,⁴ on the contrary, has led to a conclusion on spacing—namely, that the best interlinear spacing for speed of reading book type is:

Approximately

• ⅒ inches (or 7 points) for 12-pt. type.
• ¹⁄₁₄ inches (or 5 points) for 9-pt. type.
• ¹⁄₁₇ inches (or 4 points) for 6-pt. type.

If elite typescript is taken as the equivalent of 10-point type, the spacing of the ordinary elite typewriter, when set for single spacing (six lines to the inch) comes very near to the ideal. The spacing of pica typescript is too narrow when set for single-spacing, too open when set for double-spacing. But special ratchets laying down four, five, and five and one-half lines to the inch are available for the standard typewriters. The price, including installation charges, varies between $1.50 to $5.00.⁵ An elite typewriter set single space or a pica typewriter set special space (five lines to the inch) probably offers the most efficient and legible interlinear spacings.

But since the standard typewriter equipment does not provide this spacing and the elite typewriters are distinctly less common than the pica, the most useful information about formats must be worked out with the less efficient apparatus, namely, ∣📄 p.39

∣📄 p.40 pica typescript set either single or double space.

(c) Length of Line

Experimental evidence summarized by Vernon shows that the length of a line should not be greater than 10cm. or less than 7.5cm. (2.9″ to 3.9″). Edwards Brothers in their Manual of Lithoprinting⁶ hold that a maximum length of line is determined by the formula N 30/72 where N is the type size in points—a formula which yields the result that 5″–5.8″ is the maximum length of line for pica type, 6.4″–4.2″ for elite type. These standards yield interesting results when applied to the smaller sizes of print or photographically reduced typescript. For straight typing in full size they suggest the conclusion which must already have come to the minds of many readers—that the standard typewriter page 8½″ wide must be used with wide margins if the script is ∥ to be legible. Since under some conditions wide margins are wasteful, there results a certain disharmony between the interests of economy and legibility in respect of length of line. This waste is greater in the case of elite typescript, where the interlinear spacing is more economical, than in the case of pica typescript. The wastefulness in length of line can be overcome by setting up a page format in two columns—though this increases composition costs even while it reduces area costs.

In the following chapter on carbon copying, hectographing, mimeographing, and photo-offset reproduction, certain alternative formats will be presented, together with the cost differentials that separate them. The reader can judge whether the difference an legibility is worth the cost.

Notes