than the printed page, and about 3-16ths of an inch thick, are packed securely in boxes holding from forty-eight to ninetysix plates each, and these boxes are usually stored in fireproof vaults.

Printing-Presses.-The limits of this little manual will not admit of a detailed description of the various presses now in use in book-printing.

We show herewith an old engraving of a sixteenthcentury press, and another of Franklin's press. From these

A SIXTEENTH-CENTURY PRESS (FROM AN OLD CUT).

to the present newspaper machines, turning out from a roll of paper nearly four miles long 20,000 copies per hour of a newspaper printed and folded, is a long step, and the comparison will convey some idea of the vast amount of study which has been given by inventors in their attempts to perfect the modern press.

For ordinary book work in this country, the press

generally in use among printers is the Adams. In this press (see cut), the bed upon which the form of type or plates is placed has no horizontal motion in printing, the impression being taken upon the entire sheet at one upward movement of the bed and form. This press does not print with any great rapidity, and its great advantage lies in the ease with which forms can be "shifted" for ordinary book work.

The Cylinder Press. When large editions are required, or the book contains wood-cuts, it is usual to employ a cylinder press (see cut), of which there are now in use a great variety.

In these presses, unlike the Adams, the "form" moves horizontally, while the sheet to be printed revolves on the cylinder under which the form of type or plates passes. This cylinder, of course, touches but a small section of the form at once, and by proper " making ready," the highest results in printing can be attained upon these presses, while the rate of speed, for book work, is double or triple that of the Adams press.

If it is desirable to still further increase the speed, this is

Old presses in the Musée Plantin-Moretus, Antwerp. The business of this printing-office was carried on without interruption from 1579 to 1800, first by Plantin, and afterward by the family of his son-in-law Moretus. It is now owned by the corporation of Antwerp, and it presents a unique picture of a printing-office of the sixteenth century, every thing connected with the operations of printing being left in a state of readiness, as if work were to be resumed the next day.