Editing Movable type (section)

== Typesetting ==
{{Main|Typesetting|Type case}}

Modern, factory-produced movable type was available in the late 19th century. It was held in the printing shop in a ''job case'', a drawer about 2&nbsp;inches high, a yard wide, and about two feet deep, with many small compartments for the various letters and ligatures. The most popular and accepted of the job case designs in America was the [[California Job Case]], which took its name from the Pacific coast location of the foundries that made the case popular.<ref>[http://www.amateurpress.org/bundle/camp194.htm National Amateur Press Association] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102103314/http://www.amateurpress.org/bundle/camp194.htm |date=2007-11-02 }}, Monthly Bundle Sample, Campane 194, ''The California Typecase'' by Lewis A. Pryor (Edited)</ref>

Traditionally, the capital letters were stored in a separate drawer or case that was located above the case that held the other letters; this is why capital letters are called "upper case" characters while the non-capitals are "lower case".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ewSglB2f7qYC&dq=capital+uppercase+typesetting+term&pg=PA18 Glossary of Typesetting Terms], by Richard Eckersley, Charles Ellerston, Richard Hendel, Page 18</ref>

Compartments also held spacers, which are blocks of blank type used to separate words and fill out a line of type, such as ''em'' and ''en'' quads (''quadrats'', or spaces. A ''quadrat'' is a block of type whose face is lower than the printing letters so that it does not itself print.). An em space was the width of a capital letter "M"—as wide as it was high—while an en space referred to a space half the width of its height (usually the dimensions for a capital "N").

Individual letters are assembled into words and lines of text with the aid of a [[composing stick]], and the whole assembly is tightly bound together to make up a page image called a ''forme'', where all letter faces are exactly the same height to form a flat surface of type. The forme is mounted on a [[printing press]], a thin coating of viscous ink is applied, and impressions are made on paper under great pressure in the press. "Sorts" is the term given to special characters not freely available in the typical type case, such as the "@" mark.