Jeffing
Throwing with quads. The plan adopted is to take nine em quads—Long Primer being mostly chosen; these are laid on the imposing surface for the inspection of the whole of the party interested in the matter at issue. One of them takes up the quads, shakes them between his two closed hands, and throws them on to the imposing surface, after the manner of dice, when the number of quads with the nicks appearing uppermost are counted, each person having three throws (raffle-fashion), the highest thrower being the winner, or taking his choice of any “fat.” This performance is not so much in vogue now as it was years ago, before the “clicking” system came up; then it used to be of daily occurrence in the composing-room, when the title, index, blanks, tables, &c., of a work were given in hand, for the compositors to throw who should have the best choice of “fat.”
The title-sheet was divided into lots, say: 1, title and blank; 2, preface; 3, dedication and blank; and so on, according to the prefatory matter introduced into the work. Words of Greek, for which one shilling per sheet is charged, were also “thrown for;” but the clicking system does away with all that, by throwing it into the general bill; so that each of the companionship comes in for a proportionate share of “fat” as well as “lean.”
There are some technicalities connected with “throwing,” vis.:—if when the quads alight on the “stone,” one should ride on the other, it is called a “cock,” and the thrower has to pitch them up again; if no nicks turn up, it is called a “miss,”— and by some loving swains, a “Mary” or a “Susan,”—and counts for nothing. The average winning throw is seven, and is nick-named “the witch.” Nine is considered an excellent throw, and is very seldom exceeded. On very rare occasions, however, three blanks have been thrown, or three nines have made their appearance consecutively by the same thrower; but this is very exceptional. The same custom also exists amongst the type-founders, who, as well as the printers, throw to see who shall pay for the whole or the greater part of any refreshment they may be going to have; but they have a different name for it to the printers, calling it “Bogleing;” and when two is thrown, they call that a “duck,” from the shape of the figure 2 having some resemblance to a duck’s neck.
Jeffing
Throwing with quads. The plan adopted is to take nine em quads—Long Primer being mostly chosen; these are laid on the imposing surface for the inspection of the whole of the party interested in the matter at issue. One of them takes up the quads, shakes them up between his two closed hands, and throws them on the imposing surface, after the manner of throwing dice, when the number of quads with the nicks appearing uppermost are counted, each person having three throws (raffle-fashion), the highest thrower being the winner, or taking his choice of any “fat.” This performance is not so much in vogue now as it was shears ago, before the “clicking” system came up; then it used to be of daily occurrence in the composing-room, when the title, index, blanks, tables, &c., of a work were given in hand, for the compositors to throw who should have the best choice of the “fat.”
The title-sheet was divided into lots, say: 1, title and blank; 2, preface; 3, dedication and blank; and so on, according to the prefatory matter introduced into the work. Words of Greek, for which one shilling per sheet is charged, were also “thrown for;” but the clicking system does away with all that, by making a general bill; so that each of the companionship comes in for a proportionate share of “fat” as well as “lean.”
There are some technicalities connected with “throwing,” viz.:—if when the quads alight on the “stone,” one should ride on the other, it is called a “cock,” and the thrower has to pitch them up again; if no nicks turn up it is called a “miss,”—and by some loving swains it is called a “Mary” or a “Susan,”—and counts for nothing. The average winning throw is seven, and is termed “the witch.” Nine is considered an excellent throw, and is very rarely exceeded. On very rare occasions, however, three blanks have been thrown, or three nines have made their appearance consecutively by the same thrower; but this is very exceptional. The same custom also exists amongst the type-founders, who, as well as the printers, throw to see who shall pay for the whole or the greater part of any refreshment they may be going to have; but they have a different name for it, calling it “Bogleing;” and when two is thrown, they call that a “duck,” from the shape of the figure 2 having some resemblance to a duck’s neck.