Note 2 — Chapter V

We may here observe, that bibliographers often misuse the word “justification” when referring to the practice of placing all the space at the end of lines. The printer’s term “justification” does not necessarily refer to the spacing out of the words in a line. Every line in a page must be “justified” or made of the normal length, and the last line in a paragraph, containing perhaps no more than one word, must be justified equally with the full-length line. Short lines are justified with quadrats, or pieces of metal, which fill up the line, but, being lower than the type, do not print. What is called “short,” or “bad,” or “imperfect justification,” is sure to reveal itself, to the dismay of the compositor, by allowing the faulty line to drop out when the “forme,” or mass of type, is lifted. The probable reason why Colard Mansion and Caxton did not space their lines to an even length is, that at that time they had not begun to use the setting-rule. This useful little slip of metal enables each letter as it is picked up by the compositor to be passed along on an even surface to its destination, instead of catching in every unevenness or burr of the previous line. Its absence would entail many obstructions to the spacing-out of lines, and render the plan of leaving all the spare space at the end, which was actually adopted by Caxton, at once more easy, expeditious, and free from accident.