AA
Author's amendment see Author's.
AC
Author's correction see Author's.
A series
International standard paper sizes. A0 is the base size, with an area of 1 sq m. Smaller sizes are derived by folding the sheet in half along its longest edge.
Absorbency
The degree to which paper takes up moisture.
Accents
Marks added to letters in some language to indicate the phonetic stress.
Accordion fold
Where a sheet is folded in a series of parallel folds, each in the opposite direction to its neighbours, as in an accordion bellows.
Accordion insert
An insert in a periodical folded with an accordion fold.
Acid free
A paper that does not contain any acid producing components. The presence of acids tend to reduce the lifespan of a paper and can cause problems in production.
Ad
Advertisement.
ADAR
Air dried all rag paper.
Additive primaries
Red, green and blue are the physical primary colours which when added together produce white. This is the basis of the RGB colour space. RGB images have to be converted into the subtractive primary (CMYK) colour space before they can be printed.
Adhesive binding
Binding for books or magazines which relies on the application of hot-melt adheshive to hold the publication and its cover together. Also known as cutback binding, perfect binding or thermoplastic binding.
Against the grain
Cutting or folding paper at right angles to its natural grain.
Agate
Obsolete term for 5.5 point type, particularly used in classified advertising columns. 14 agate lines equalled 1 column inch. Also known as ruby.
Air dried paper
Paper which is dried by passing the web through warm air. Air dried paper is used in high quality publications.
Air knife coater
A machine which spreads an even coating over a web of paper using a jet of compressed air.
Airmail
Light weight paper. Usually less than 40 gsm and usually light blue in colour.
All rag paper
High quality paper made exclusively from rags.
Alphabet
The letters, numbers and symbols used to represent a language.
Alphabet length
The length of a set of lowercase characters of a font.
Ampersand
&, the symbol used as a shorthand for the word and. Ampersands in some fonts are much more attractive than in other similar fonts. It is worth checking the ampersands before deciding on a font.
Aniline ink
A volatile, nitrobenzine based, quick drying ink used in flexography.
Anodized plate
A specially hardened offset printing plate.
Antiquarian
The largest size of hand made papers.
Antique
A printing paper, used in book production, which has a rough finish but good printing surface. There are two types of antique paper: antique laid, which has visible mould marks and antique wove which does not.
Appearing size
The actual size of type. Type size is usually measured in points, but different faces of the same point size may be of very different sizes on the page.
Apron
An extra wide area allowed at the margin for foldout illustrations.
Aquatint
An intaglio printing process. Good for reproducing even or gradient tones.
Arabic numerals
Numbers derived from arabic, i.e. 1,2,3 etc.
Art-lined envelope
Envelope with a decorative fine paper lining.
Art paper
Paper with a smooth china clay coating on one or both sides.
Artwork
Original copy and illustration. These days usually produced on computer and delivered to the printer in electronic form.
Ascender
The part of a lower case letter that extends above the x-height.
ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange. The basic standard for representing a character set on a computer.
ASPIC
Authors Symbolic Pre-press Interface Code. A page description system and a real conversation stopper.
ATS
Animal Tub Size. A paper that has been sized using gelatine.
Author's
Or author's amendments. Changes to copy made by the author after proofs have been produced. Printers may decide to charge for making these chages, but will not charge for literals. Author's amendments cost time as well as money so should be avoided if at all possible.
Author's proof
Corrected proof sent to the author.
Auto-lithography
Drawing of original artwork directly onto a lithographic printing plate. Not common.
A/W
see artwork.
Azerty
An alternative to the standard qwerty keyboard layout. Very exotic.


B

B series
International standard paper sizes designed for large items such as posters. These fall between the sizes of the A series.
Back
The binding edge of a book or magazine.
Back jacket flap
The part of a book jacket folded inside the back cover.
Back lining
A strip of paper or fabric glued to the spine of a book, for reinforcement, before casing-in.
Back margin
The margin nearest the spine.
Back step collation
The process of assembling a book by referring to marks printed on the back fold of each section.
Back up
Printing on both sides of a sheet. Also known as perfecting.
Backbone
American for spine.
Bank paper
Lightweight paper used for correspondence, under 60gsm.
Banker envelope
Envelope with a top flap along the longest side of the rectangle.
Banner
The main headline of an article or advertisement.
Bar code
A pattern of vertical lines encoding information about a product. Bar codes conform to the Universal Product Code (UPC), but there are a variety of formats. With a little imagination they can be converted into, or become part of, illustrations.
Baryta
Heavy grade of paper that derives its name from its coating.
Base alignment
The process of setting type on a common base line.
Base line
Imaginary horizontal line on which capital letters appear to stand.
Basic size
The standard size for a particular grade of paper. This is used in the calculation of basis weight in the USA.
Basil
Grade of leather used in the binding of account books.
Basis weight
The weight of paper defined in gsm. In the USA basis weight is the weight in pounds of a ream of paper cut to basic size.
Bastard
A substandard or abnormal element.
Bastard title
see half title.
Beard
Distance between the bottom of the x-height and the bottom of the body of a piece of type.
Begin even
Instruction to set the first line of copy full out.
bf
Bold face.
Bible paper
Thin paper that is both tough and opaque. Used mainly for Bibles and prayer books.
Bibliography
A list of books and other publications relevant to the subject of work. Usually found at the end of books and articles.
Bi-metal plate
An expensive but very durable lithographic printing plate used for long runs. The image area is copper and non-image area is steel or aluminium.
Binders board
Heavy board used in book binding.
Black letter
Type based on 15th century handwriting. Also known as Old English or Gothic.
Blad
A booklet produced for promotional purposes from sample pages of a book.
Blanket
A sheet of rubber (or rexine) clamped around a cylinder which is used, in offset lithography, to transfer an image from the printing plate to the paper.
Blanket cylinder
The cylinder around which the blanket is secured in an offset press.
Blanket to blanket press
A press where the paper is fed between two image bearing blankets to print both sides at once.
Bleed
Printed matter running off the edge of the page. Any image to be printed at the edge of a page should be bled off beyond the trim marks to ensure that no white paper shows.
Blind emboss
A raised or lowered indentation made without foil or ink.
Blind folio
A blank page which is counted for page numbering.
Blind P
The paragraph mark character.
Blinding
Poor surface condition of a printing plate that causes a substandard image.
Blister pack
A display pack where the product is enclosed in a plastic bubble backed by card.
Block
A surface for producing an illustration in letterpress printing.
Block
A metal tool used to stamp an impression.
Blottings
Highly absorbent papers.
Blurb
A description of a book usually found on its jacket.
Board
Term used to describe paper of a grammage above 225gsm.
Body
The piece of metal supporting a piece of letterpress type.
Body
The main part of a publication.
Bold, bold face
Heavier version of a typeface, derived from the medium weight type of the same font.
Bolts
Folded edges of a section which are to be trimmed off.
Bond paper
Normal printing and writing paper of more than 60gsm.
Book block
A book that has been folded and gathered, but not yet put into ts case.
Book jacket
A protective paper wrapper around a (usually hard back) book.
Book paper
General term for papers suitable for book printing.
Book proof
Proofs put together in book form.
Booklet
A publication larger than a pamphlet but less than 24 pages.
Borders
Decoration or around the edge of a page or area of type.
Bottom out
To ensure that there are no unsuitable text breaks at the base of a page.
Bourgeois
Obsolete term for 9 point type.
Bowl
The curved part of a letter that encloses the counter.
Boxhead ruling
Space at head of a ruled column where headings are to be inserted.
BPIF
British Printing Industries Federation.
Brace
{ } A symbol mainly used in tables, to link lines together.
Brackets
[ ] Pair of marks used to group pieces of text. see also parentheses.
BRAD
British Rate and Data. A directory listing the advertising specifications of all UK publications.
Brevier
An obsolete type size, roughly 8 point.
Brightness
Measure of a paper's reflectance under standardised lighting conditions.
Brilliant
Obsolete term for 4pt type.
Bristol board
Good quality paperboard with smooth finish, used for printing and drawing.
Broadsheet
Newspaper size.
Brochure
Promotional booklet, unbound with stiched pages.
Broke
Defective paper which is re-pulped in the mill.
Broken ream
Part of a ream of paper left after use.
Bromide
Photographic light-sensitive paper, also a proof produced on bromide paper.
Bronzing
Application of a metallic or bronze powder to drying ink to produce a metallic lustre.
Bubble card
see blister pack.
Buckle folding
Folding sheets of paper using a metal plate. Alternative folding method is knife folding.
Buckram
A cloth made from woven textile stiffened with size which is used in bookbinding.
 
Bulk
The degree of thickness of a paper in relation to its weight.
 
Bulking dummy
A blank version of a publication produced to show the proposed paper and the size that it would produce.
Bulldog
First edition of a daily newspaper.
Bullet
A large dot used for emphasis.
Bundling
Process of tying together signatures in bookbinding.
By-line
Author's name on an article or newspaper story.


C

 
C series
International standard sizes for envelopes, designed to fit stationery in the A series.
c&sc
Capitals and small capitals, i.e. words which begin with capitals and have the other characters in small caps the height of the lower case body size.
Cameo
Typefaces where the characters are reversed to show white on a dark background.
Camera ready
Type-matter or type and line artwork pasted up into position ready for photographing.
Cameron belt press
A web book press which, linked to a binding line, can print, gather and bind a substantial book in one pass. Used primarily for paperbacks.
Cancel
1. To remove a leaf in a book and replace it with another. 2. Reprinted sheets for replacing cancelled leaves.
Canon
Obsolete term for 48 point type.
Cap height
The height of the capital letters of a font.
Caps
Capitals. Upper case letters, e.g. A, B, C, etc. See also lower case.
Caption
Text accompanying and describing an illustration.
Carbon paper
Lightweight paper coated on one side with transferable colouring agent for producing copies by impression on to an underlying sheet. One-time carbon is used when disposable carbon sheets are convenient.
Card
see board.
Cardboard
Any stiff sheet of card, usually comprising several layers of paper pasted together.
Caret
Proof reader's mark used to indicate an insertion(^).
Carton
Cardboard box for packing, designed to be stored flat when not in use.
Cartridge paper
Printing or drawing paper with good dimensional stability, high opacity and good bulk. Often used in bookwork.
Case
1. Stiff cover of a book often covered with cloth, paper or leather which is attached to the book-block hence case-bound. 2. Partitioned tray containing type for hand composition.
Case-bound
A book with a hard case. see also limp bound.
Casing-in
The process of inserting the body of a hard back book in its case.
Cast coated
Paper given a high gloss by the application of pressure from a polished, heated cylinder.
Catalogue
Book or booklet which presents details of goods or services.
Catch line
A temporary heading on a manuscript or proof for identification.
Centre notes
Notes placed between columns of a page.
Centre spread
The two facing pages at the centre of a signature (q.v.).
Chad
The waste punched out of paper tape or cards.
Chain lines
The watermark lines which run at right angles to laid lines on laid papers.
Character
Letter, figure or symbol of type.
Character count
Total number of characters in a piece of copy.
Chemical pulp
Pulp obtained from wood or other plant sources by chemical removal of impurities.
Cheque paper
Special paper used for cheques and having a surface which betrays attempts at alteration.
Chroma
The purity or intensity of colour.
Chromo
Printing paper which is heavily coated on one side.
Cicero
Unit of type measurement used in Europe. One cicero = 12 didot points or 4.511mm.
CIELab
Scale of colour measurement produced by the International Commission on Illumination.
Circulation
Total number of copies of a publication distributed.
Clasp envelope
Envelope with a metal clasp closure.
Classified ad
Newspaper or magazine advertisements set in columns and sorted by classification.
Clean proof
A proof in which there are no errors.
Close up
An instruction to reduce the spacing between characters of type or other elements on a proof.
Closed h
An itallic letter h in whch the shorter stroke curves inward, almost touching the taller stroke and closing the counter.
Cloth centred paper
Paper with a linen centre, often used for maps when much re-folding is anticipated.
Club line
Short line ending a paragraph.
CMYK
Abbreviation for the four process colours. see Subtractive primaries.
Coarse screen
Half-tone screen up to 85 lines per inch used for printing on newsprint.
Coated paper
Paper coated with china clay or a similar mineralto give a smooth surface suitable for half-tone reproduction.
Coating
1. Light sensitive surface applied to litho plate. 2. China clay or other mineral mixture used on paper.
Cockle
Puckered finish to a sheet of paper.
Cockling
Wavy edges on paper caused by atmospheric conditions.
 
Codet
see Colour bar.
Collate
To gather sections of a printed work in the correct sequence for binding.
 
Collotype
A short-run, screenless printing process using gelatin coated glass plates to produce a continuous tone.
Colophon
A publisher's identifying symbol, printed on spines and title pages.
Colour bar
Coloured strips on four-colour process proofs showing ink densities, registration and other printing characteristics.
Colour correction
Changing colour values in a set of separations by dot-etching, masking or retouching.
HERE Colour separation
Separating full colour into the four process colours eventually resulting in four films used to make printing plates.
colour separation negative
A negative of one of a set of separated process colours.
colour swatch
A sample of a specified colour.
colour transparency
A full colour photographic positive on film.
coloured edges
Dyed edges on a book block.
coloured tops
Dyed tops on a book block.
colour-matching system
Method of colour specification by matching samples available in sets, e.g. the Pantone matching system.
column
1. Vertical area of print comprising lines of the same measure. 2. Regular newspaper article.
column balancing
In desktop publishing, the automatic adjustment of columns to create a visual evenness.
column centimetre
See column inch.
column inch
A newspaper measure of text space: one column wide and one inch deep.
combination folder
A machine combining a knife and buckle folder.
combination line and tone
A single print or piece of film combining half-tone and line work.
comic strip
Cartoon drawings in sequence, appearing regularly in a periodical.
coming and going
An imposition in which two copies of a book result from one set of plates.
commercial register
Colour printing to a register tolerance of plus or minus one row of dots.
Cover
The outer part of a publication into which the body is attached.
Copy
Any material for publication, but especially manuscript to be typeset.
Counter
The white space within a letter, such as the enclosed part of an "o" or the space between the vertical elements of an "m".
Cutback binding
see adhesive binding


 


D

Didot point
Unit of type measurement used in Europe. At 0.376mm the didot point is slightly larger than the standard Anglo-American point.


E

F

Font
A complete set of characters in a single typeface and size.
Flexography
A method of relief printing that relies on the use of flexible polymer or rubber plates. Commonly used in the printing of packaging, some newspapers are also produced by this method.
Full out
Type set to the full measure, without any indents.


G

Grain
The direction in which fibres are aligned in a sheet of paper.
gsm
Grammes per square metre. Paper basis weights are expressed in gsm.


H

Half title
Title of a book, sometimes shortend, printed on the recto preceeding the title page.


I

Intaglio
Any printing process in which the image is below the level of the surface of the printing plate. Gravure is the best known example.



J

K

Knife folding
Folding sheets of paper using a knife between rollers. Alternative folding method is buckle folding.


L

Letterpress
A relief printing process in which ink is applied to raised letters and images which are then applied to the paper.
Laid paper
Paper with parallel watermark lines, produced by the wires of the mould or dandy roll.
Limp bound
A book with a flexible cover of paper, cloth or leather.
Literals
Mistakes introduced by the typesetter during keyboarding.
Lithography
Planographic printing process in which imaging areas are treated to accept a greasy ink and non-image areas to accept water. The mutual repulsion of oil and water makes it all work. The process was originally developed using a fine limestone as the imaging surface. see also offset lithography.
Long grain
Paper in which fibres are aligned parallel to its longest edge.
Lower case
Small letters as distinct from capitals. When letterpress was being hand set the small letters were stored in a seperate case below that used for capitals. Abbreviated as lc in proofreading.


M

Margin
Blank area of a page surrounding any text or illustrations.
Mechanical pulp
Pulp produced by grinding rather than by the use of chemicals.


N

Newsprint
Paper made from mechanical pulp for the printing of newspapers.


O

Offset lithography
The most common form of commercial printing. The image on the printing plate is reproduced indirectly by first "offsetting" it onto a rubber covered cylinder which then transfers the image to the paper.


P

Pamphlet
Short publication of only a few pages.
Parentheses
( ) Pair of marks used group pieces of text. see also brackets.
Perfect binding
see adhesive binding.
Planographic
Any printing process in which the image producing surface is flat, such as lithography.
Point
The standard unit for measuring type. Today this refers to the standard Postscript point which is 1/72 of an inch. The traditional point was slightly larger.



Q

Qwerty
The standard keyboard layout, from the first 6 letter keys. The layout is a hangover from the days of mechanical typewriters. It was designed to be awkward in order to slow down those typists who went so fast that their keys became tangled. Although there have been several attempts at improvement, we are are still lumbered with this redundant layout to this day.


R

Ream
500 sheets of paper. Sometimes a few more to allow for wastage.
Recto
The right hand page of a book.
Ruby
see agate.


S

Seal
A coating applied to paper to seal the surface and make it less porous.
Scumming
Build up of ink on the non-image area of a printing plate.
Signature
The number or mark on a section of a book used to as a guide during binding. Also a numbered section prior to binding.
Short grain
Paper in which fibres are aligned parallel to its shortest edge.
Sort
A single character of type.
Spine
The back edge of a book.
Subtractive primaries
Cyan, Magenta, Yellow combine to make black. In printing, the black produced by this method is usually not dense enough so an extra black ink is added to reinforce the shadow areas of the image. The black component is designated as K to avoid any confusion between black and blue. These four colours make up the CMYK colour space which is used in all printing. Subtractive primaries are the opposite of the additive primaries.


T

Thermoplastic binding
see adhesive binding.


U

Universal Product Code
An agreed standard for encoding information about an item such as country of origin, manufacturer and type of product.


V

W

Web
A continuous length of paper on a roll or reel, i.e. not cut into sheets.
Woodfree
Paper or board that does not contain any mechanical pulp.



X

X-height
The height of the main body of lower case letters in a typeface, i.e. the height of the letter x. X-heights vary between typefaces of the same point size.




Y

Z