The Foundry
Unlike the linotype, the monotype delivers its type in separate letters—hence the name.
The same year which saw the linotype installed on the top floor saw the monotype make its home on the floor below. The monotype machine was introduced for the purpose of setting the numerous novels and magazines belonging to the House, the linotype being devoted more to the setting of weekly newspapers and serials. The monotype installation now consists of five keyboards and five casters. The result of the introduction of the linotype and monotype machines has been that the combined output of this department is over 80,000,000 words per annum.
There is still a fair amount of work which needs hand-setting, and the equipment of "cases" for "stick work" remains considerable.
After the copy has been set up, either by hand or by machine, it is passed on to the readers. In the early days of the firm the Reading Department occupied a suite of quiet rooms at the summit of a tower built at the top of the grand staircase, but the number of readers so increased that it became necessary to find accommodation for them elsewhere. They are now on the second floor, where they occupy two sides of the "well" around which the works are built. After the proofs have been read and corrected they are returned to the composing department and made into pages for printing straight from the type, or the type is sent to the stereotyping department to have facsimile plates cast from it, as is the case when more than one set of a particular job is required, or when the length of the "run"—i.e. the number to be printed—would wear out the type if the printing were done direct. The stereo-typing department is distributed between the second and third floors.
The electrotyping department, which particularly caters for the illustrations, contains the most modern machinery required for this process, and the excellence of the electroplates produced may be judged from the illustrations
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