The first composing sticks were unadjustable and made of wood; by the mid seventeenth century, however, there were adjustable metal sticks, about eight inches long; the right end was fixed, but the left end could slide and could then be fixed in position. The slide had first to be set to the “measure” (the width of the column), either by inserting pieces of type (ems or “quads”) or a gauge of wood or metal of the desired length, and screwing the slide tightly. The compositor held the stick in his left hand and placed a setting rule (usually a strip of brass) against the back (which was nearest to him), and began setting at the left end, with the face of the type “upside-down” from his viewpoint. When he reached the right end, he would almost certainly have to adjust the spaces between the words to get the line to fit closely at both ends. Taking out the setting rule and re-inserting it against the line of type, he set the second line, and so on until the stick was full (three to six lines, depending on the type-size).

Laying the stick down on the lower case, and placing a “galley” (a wooden tray with low sides), on the upper case, the compositor squeezed the contents of the stick between the setting rule and a reglet (a strip of wood), using all his fingers, and lifted the lines of type into the galley (the upper case was tilted towards the compositor, so the type’s own weight kept it in position). A quarto page of pica held about forty lines, so it took about seven sticks’ worth to make a page. [DWC]