Standing Typesets

After the invention of the printing press with movable type, it was customary to set individual printed pages in lead type, print them and then dismantle the typeset again in order to use the type for printing other pages. This method was costly because many typesetters were needed. In addition, further editions of the book had to be re-set, often introducing new errors into the typesetting.

The innovation of standing typesetting was that the finished printing blocks of the pages were not dismantled after printing, but ‘left standing’. They were fixed to cardboard and tied with a so-called column string so that they could be stored in the print shop and reused for further editions of the respective book. Although this required more lead type, it simplified and accelerated the printing of future editions. This meant that the printing costs could be reduced despite the production of a letter set for the entire book and the book could be offered more cheaply.