Dictionary of the Printing and Allied Industries. In English (with definitions), French, German, Dutch, Spanish and Italian

1043 Pages·1983·15.96 MB·English

by  F.J.M. Wijnekus and E.F.P.H. Wijnekus (Auth.)

ELSEVIER'S
DICTIONARY OF THE PRINTING
AND ALLIED INDUSTRIES
IN SIX LANGUAGES
English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish and Italian
COMPILED AND ARRANGED ON
AN ENGLISH ALPHABETICAL BASE BY
F. J. M. WIJNEKUS
OF THE
FORMER RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR THE GRAPHIC AND ALLIED INDUSTRIES TNO,
AMSTERDAM
FORMER DIRECTOR OF A PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY
AND
E. F. P. H. WIJNEKUS
PRODUCTION MANAGER OF TOTAL DESIGN, AMSTERDAM
WITH A FOREWORD BY
t W. HOPE COLLINS c.b.e.
PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION
OF MASTER PRINTERS
SECOND, REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION
ELSEVIER
AMSTERDAM — LONDON — NEW YORK — TOKYO
ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHERS B.V.
Sara Burgerhartstraat 25
P.O. Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Elsevier's dictionary of the printing and allied
industries in six languages.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Printing-Dictionaries-Polyglot. 2. Book
industries and trade - Dictionaries - Polyglot.
I. Wijnekus, F. J. Μ. II. Wijnekus, E. F. P. H.
Z118.E5 1983 686'.03 83-16586
ISBN: 0-444-42249-8
First edition, October 1967
Second impression, May 1969
Second revised and enlarged edition, October 1983
Second impression, 1993
ISBN: 0-444-42249-8
© 1983 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
the publisher, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Copyright & Permissions Department, P.O. Box 521, 1000
AM Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Special regulations for readers in the U.S.A. - This publication has been registered with the Copyright
Clearance Center Inc. (CCC), Salem, Massachusetts. Information can be obtained from the CCC about con-
ditions under which photocopies of parts of this publication may be made in the U.S.A. All other copyright
questions, including photocopying outside of the U.S.A., should be referred to the publisher, Elsevier Science
Publishers B.V.
No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter
of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instruc-
tions or ideas contained in the material herein.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Printed in The Netherlands
vii
FOREWORD TO THE FIRST EDITION
It gives me great pleasure to write a short foreword to this international dictionary of trade
terms. It has been my experience that even in one's own language there are misunderstandings
because of the difference of expression as well as difference in usage of certain technical terms.
If there can be this misunderstanding within one country, then it is obvious on an international
basis even more misunderstandings are likely to arise, if the exact translation of an expression
or term is not clearly understood.
Looking through this very comprehensive dictionary the first thing which amazed me was
the fantastic number of terms and expressions that we use in the printing and allied industries!
It would take a real expert to know whether the author has left anything out and it seems to
me a wonderfully comprehensive work. The second point I note is the very clear description of
the terms. So far as the English version is concerned, this in itself is an invaluable guide to young
people who have just entered the industry. There should be no possibility now of misunder-
standing if one takes the trouble to check carefully the term or expression that is to be converted
into another language.
I have no doubt this dictionary will be much used by anyone who is dealing with any matter
in the very varied and wide field covered by the printing and allied industries throughout the
world, and I wish the author and the publisher every success.
W. Hope Collins
President of the International Federation of Master Printers
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author likes to express his thanks to all those who have given him advice, assistance and
encouragement in his work. Of these he is particularly indebted to:
American Paper and Pulp Association, New York.
American Photoplatemakers Association, Chicago.
Anpa Research Institute, Easton (Penn.).
Association Frangaise de Colorimetrie, Paris.
Alain Bargilliat, Saint-Mande (Seine).
Georges Baudry, Paris.
British Standards Institution, London.
Champlain Company, Inc., Roseland (N.J.).
Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester (N.Y.).
E. Edelmann, Paris.
Eidgenossische Materialpriifungs- und Versuchsanstalt fur Industrie, Bauwesen und Gewerbe,
St. Gallen.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chicago (111.).
Joh. Enschede en Zonen Grafische Inrichting N.V., Haarlem.
Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, New York.
Her Britannic Majesty's Stationery Office, London EC1P 1BN.
Miss Use Hesse, Hannover.
The Institute of Printing Ltd., London.
International Typographic Composition Association, Washington DC.
Hans Kotte, Alfeld/Leine.
R. Laraignou, Copenhagen.
Ugo Leonardi, Zurich.
Lettergieterij 'Amsterdam' v/h N. Tetterode N.V., Amsterdam.
Miss Diana Liberatori, Rome.
Linotype & Machinery Ltd., London.
Marinoni S. Α., Paris.
Gerard Martin, Paris.
t Ferrand Mees, Amsterdam.
The Monotype Corporation Ltd.
Ernest Muller, Brugg/Ag. (Switzerland).
National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers, Inc., New York.
Nederlands Normalisatie Instituut, The Hague.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris.
G. W. Ovink, Amsterdam.
Research and Engineering Council of the Graphic Arts Industry, Inc., Washington DC.
Royal 'Shell' laboratories, Amsterdam.
Schnellpressenfabrik Koenig & Bauer A.G., Wurzburg.
Seybold Publications, Inc., Media (Penn.).
Howard Smith Paper Mills Ltd., Montreal.
Enrique Tormo Freixes, Barcelona.
χ
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
During the years in which I have worked in the graphic industry and especially in those years
in which Ϊ had to provide the business world with information, I realized how extremely difficult
it was for many of my colleagues to understand, in foreign languages, the literature pertaining
to their trade. The vastly different technical words and expressions resulting from the tremendous
development in the already so complicated printers trade and everything related to it, have come
into the foreground in recent years, forming an unsurmountable barrier. Moreover, during the
past forty years no extensive multilingual dictionary has been published on this subject. Existing
dictionaries are incomplete and out of date. They have never dealt with printing, paper, or ink
technology. Where two meanings exist, the lack of a clear definition sometimes leads to dis-
astrous misunderstandings.
In the course of the years I have recorded alphabetically, for my own information, thousands
of terms and expressions in the modern languages. When this fact became known -1 was called
upon for help on so many occasions - it was suggested that I compile my notes and have them
published.
To aid in the completion of my work, I have been privileged in having recourse to the library
of the Research Institute for the Printing and Allied Industries TNO. This library comprises
most modern literature and prominent trade papers. My book, for which I feel there is a great
need, is supported by all this valuable information. One may wonder at the fact that the book
contains many physico-chemical terms and comments on what many people may consider an
old or nearly outdated procedure. But the present stems from the past and this dictionary con-
tains innumerable entries concerning both the present and the future. While the printer transfers
ink to paper, either in text form or as a picture, the materials he needs are manufactured by
others. It is just these materials which are affected by a number of properties, not immediately
perceptible, but presenting problems at the most inopportune moments. It therefore speaks
for itself that one should be familiar with the methods of producing these materials as well as
their properties and defects. This work is absolutely necessary to eliminate such problems.
In recent years the printing industry has changed considerably. Doubtlessly it will continue
to do so. The publisher and I are fully aware, therefore, that the day will come when this book
will become outdated. In the meantime it will be a valuable aid in the exchange of data and
technical information.
I shall be glad to receive any comments on, or additions to, my work.
Haarlem, (Holland), September 1967 F. J. M. Wijnekus
xi
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
The first edition of this dictionary, published in October 1967, has received a very kind reception,
some have even gone so far as to designate it as the 'Bible' or the ' Widge' of the printing industry.
The available supply being soon exhausted, the book was reprinted at the end of 1968. In that
edition some minor corrections have been made.
I am glad that my son Ernest has joined me in preparing the new edition. He has a broad
experience in printing and publishing. In this revised and enlarged edition some changes have
been made in the text and many new supplementary articles included.
We would like to express our thanks to Mr Georges Baudry, Ingenieur A. et M., of Paris,
Mrs Dr Diana Liberatori of the Ente Nazionale per la Cellulosa e per la Carta, of Rome, who
accepted the responsibility for checking and completing part of the Italian, to Mr Enrique
Tormo Freixes, Conservador del Museo del Libro y Artes Graficas, of Barcelona, who checked
and completed part of the Spanish, and to Mr Gunter Wadewitz, Dr phil, Dr habil, of the In-
stitut fur Graphische Technik, of Leipzig, who checked and completed part of the German.
Reader's suggestions for additions and amendments to the dictionary will be welcomed.
Santpoort F. J. M. Wijnekus
February 1982
Haarlem E. F. P. H. Wijnekus
xii
ABBREVIATIONS
abbrev. abbreviation m masculine
adj. adjective Me Mexico
app. appendix misn. misnomer
approx. approximately η neuter
Ar Argentina NSA Northern South America
arch. archaic obs. obsolete term
Be Belgium Pa Panama
CA Central America Pe Peru
Ch Chile Pi plural
Co Colombia pop. popular
coll. colloquially qv quod vide (which see)
Cu Cuba RP Riodela Plata
depr. deprecated term SA South America
Ec Ecuador si. slang
El Sal El Salvador SSA Southern South America
Es Spain Sw Switzerland
f feminine UK United Kingdom
fam. familiar Ur Uruguay
fl. floruit US United States of America
GB Great Britain V verb
gen. general approximately equal to
Gu Guatemala * see
LA Latin America
Language indications
f French (Frangais)
d German (Deutsch)
η Dutch (Nederlands)
e Spanish (Espanol)
i Italian (Italiano)
xiii
A SHORT HISTORY OF PRINTING
The East. - Printing as western civilization knows it began in the middle of the 15th century in
Mainz, Germany. The Chinese, Japanese and Koreans knew and used printing long before that
time. The earliest extant samples of printing are Buddhist charms produced on the order of the
empress Shotoku before 770 in Japan, supposedly in the quantity of 1,000,000. It is not known
what material was used for the blocks from which these were printed; copper, wood, but also
stone (steatite) are among the materials suggested by various scholars. But the charms them-
selves are well authenticated and can be seen in several American museums and private collec-
tions. The British museum treasures another famous printing relic, known as the Diamond
Sutra roll. This roll was found by Sir Aurel Stein in 1900 in a wall cave at Tunhuang in China
and is the oldest dated book in existence. It is a block-printed roll, 4.87 m long and 30.5 cm wide,
and bears a printing date corresponding to May 16, 868, at its end.
Block printing is the classical form of Chinese printing. In 969, playing cards are first mentioned;
between 971 and 983, the Tripitaka, the Buddhist canon, was printed. This enormous under-
taking required the cutting of 130,000 wooden blocks. During the Sung dynasty (960-1279),
Chinese block printing reached its peak. The great dynastic histories and the Chinese classics
printed in this period have never been surpassed in quality. Less propitious was the application
of block printing to the production of paper money; at about 1100, China experienced its first
great inflation. Printing therewith definitely established itself as a force in religion, philosophy,
history and economics.
Block printing was not the only Chinese contribution to printing. Between 1041 and 1049,
a 'common man' (often erroneously designated a smith), Pi Sheng, made movable types of
earthenware. For printing, he covered an iron plate with a mixture of resin, wax and paper
ashes. On this thermoplastic base, he assembled his crockery type in an iron frame, warmed the
base until the adhesive mixture melted and leveled his types by pressing them in the base. Pi
Sheng's invention was improved by others, but neither his earthen types nor another kind made
from tin and kept in place by stringing on wire, became generally used, possibly because of the
lack of a suitable ink.
Chinese efforts toward typography continued. Wooden type was used about 1300; movable
metal type was first used in Korea in 1241, and a Korean book of 1377 states that it was printed
with movable type. The art of type casting was advanced in Korea with great energy on the
initiative of the crown and in 1403, a governmental type foundry was established. Ten founts of
type were cast in Korea between 1403 and 1516. From Korea type casting spread to China and
Japan. But in spite of all enthusiasm and governmental support, movable type did not dislodge
block printing, which remained the Chinese printing technique par excellence until modern times.
Block printing and movable type. - Why did the Chinese prefer block printing to movable type?
Several reasons are given. One is the Chinese form of writing; our alphabet consists of 26 letters,
the Chinese use thousands of ideograms. Another reason is the Chinese love for calligraphy, the
art of fine writing, which can best be expressed in block printing. Some scholars emphasize the
different function of printing in Chinese civilization. There, printing served to preserve the
classics in the approved and standardized version; western printing was more concerned with
dissemination of knowledge than with its pristine pureness. Finally, it is often stated that the
lack of a suitable ink was the main reason for the failure of movable metal types. But this argument
xiv
is not convincing if one considers that many books were printed in Korea, China and Japan
with movable metal types.
This is not to say that technological reasons should be excluded. On the contrary, block
printing was excellently suited for a handicraft technology. The original writing is done by a
calligrapher on thin, transparent paper. This original is pasted face down to the perfectly planed
surface of a pear or jujube board large enough for two pages. The paper is rubbed off but the
inked image remains on the board and guides the workman in cutting away the non-printing
areas. The finished block is a relief printing plate. Chinese printing ink is made of lamp black
and a water-soluble binder; it has brushing consistency. The worker inks the block with a brush,
lays the paper on the inked surface and takes the impression by brushing gently with a dry brush.
The paper is printed one side only, two pages to the sheet. For binding, it is folded in the centre,
unprinted sides inward, printed sides out and bound along its edges. Chinese books bound in
this manner can easily be mistaken for uncut books. Block printing goes fast; a printer can
produce approximately 2,000 sheets in a full day's work.
If we compare Chinese block printing and western typographic printing, we find that both
are relief printing, but there the similarity ends. Apart from the difference between movable
type and the custom-made block, we notice two other striking differences; the absence of a
printing press in block printing and the fact that the paper cannot be printed on both sides.
Chinese and western printing both produce a printed sheet but they arrive at this result by an
entirely different technique. The west had knowledge of Chinese block prints in the form of
paper money and playing cards. But Thomas Francis Carter to whose studies we owe most of
our first systematical knowledge of Chinese printing, sees no evidence for western knowledge of
Chinese printing techniques and, in particular, not of Chinese movable types before the western
invention of printing. China's main contribution to western printing was the invention of paper;
printing itself developed in the west under fundamentally different conditions and consequently,
along fundamentally different lines.
The invention of printing in the West. - The literature on the invention of printing is enormous.
D. C. McMurtrie's bibliography on the invention, edited in Chicago, 1942, lists more than 3,000
items. The lack of clear and incontrovertible evidence, the high esteem in which this invention
was held by men of learning from the very beginning, and last but not least, nationalism, provin-
cialism and localism resulted in a steady controversy in which the honour of having invented
printing was claimed for many people and many cities. Modern bibliographical research has
eliminated most of these trumped-up claims and resulted in the more or less general acceptance
of Johann Gutenberg (1398-1468) as the inventor of printing. But the fact remains that there
is no direct and authentic report on the invention; bibliographical research has not changed this
situation but devoted itself to the study of detail. The archives and libraries were searched for
documents, books and other early products of the press. The material has been examined, evalu-
ated and correlated with infinite care and ingenuity. The discussion of the origin of printing has
thereby not ceased; it has only become more specialized.
Semantics plays an unfortunate role in this discussion. People, and scholars are people too,
have different things in mind when they speak of the 'invention of printing'. Some see the crux of
the invention in the printed book and point out that the Chinese had printed books when the
west was still in the throes of the dark ages. Others put the emphasis on movable type and insist
that the honour belongs to a Dutch printer whose work is much more primitive than that con-
nected with Gutenberg and therefore assumedly preceded this. Because Laurens Janszoon Coster
XV
of Haarlem, Holland (1405-1484) is the only man whose name can be connected with these
prints, he is considered by some scholars the first inventor of printing.
Theodore Low de Vinne (1828-1914), the great American printer, was the first to redefine
the meaning of the so-called invention of printing. For him, the key of the invention lies neither
in the printed page, nor in movable metal type but in the adjustable type mould. The accent is
on adjustable and not on mould, because only by means of the adjustable type mould did it become
possible to make type with the precision necessary for typography and printing. Those who
share his point of view distinguish emphatically between the adjustable type mould and the
mould used in sand casting. The Korean types were sand-cast, and so were the types used by
Coster. Prof. Gustav Zedler has studied the early Dutch prints down to their very minutiae.
He too concedes that Coster could never have produced the kind of type indispensable for prin-
ting. In the final analysis, Zedler accepts De Vinne's opinion and attributes the invention of the
adjustable type mould and therewith of western printing to Gutenberg.
Once the crucial role of type became recognized, it was studied extensively, so extensively
that it sometimes looks as if type were all that is needed for printing. This is a grave mistake. All
of printing needs four elements without the existence and combination of which printing is
simply impossible. In letterpress, these four elements are: type, press, printing ink and paper.
Type converts the written word into printable form; the press is the machine in which the type
image is transferred to the paper by means of printing ink. Of these four indispensable elements,
Gutenberg found only one ready and available, paper. The other three did not exist and had to
be invented.
Many students are so overawed by the importance of type that they are inclined to belittle
the rest. Zedler, for example, believes that any intelligent craftsman must have been capable of
inventing the press. Our knowledge of Gutenberg's press is indeed non existent, nor do we know
to what extent later presses represent his original design or improvements. But it is known that
some of the work printed in his lifetime and by men who worked with him are marvels of
perfection. It is, in this context, of no consequence that presses for making cheese and wine and
for bookbinding and papermaking were known at the time of Gutenberg. Nor can the invention
of printing ink be reduced to almost nothing by the fact that artists' oil paints were already in
existence. The invention of printing was a technical achievement without precedent. It was
much more than the invention of a single object or a machine; it was the development of a
complete manufacturing process. This development included artistic design (type face and page
layout), engraving (punch cutting), metallurgy (type casting), mechanics (type mould and printing
press), and chemistry (printing ink). Any one of the many inventions made by Gutenberg and
the men who worked with him would fill the development department of a big contemporary
industrial organization with pride.
In the light of our own mass-production society, we can recognize in the invention of printing
the first example of our own manufacturing techniques: standardized mass production by means
of assembling interchangeable parts designed and manufactured for precision fit. Detroit was
anticipated in Mainz about 1450. Gutenberg was certainly the first modern industrial genius.
Early printers. - The timeliness of the invention of printing is evidenced by its rapid diffusion.
From Mainz, it spread not only to other German cities, but also to Italy, Spain, France, Austria
and even Turkey. By the end of the 15th century, printing presses were established in all major
European cities. William Caxton (1422-1491) introduced printing in England in 1476. He was a
business man who had spent most of his adult years abroad, mainly in the Low Countries and