A typographic worker who picks individual cast metal letters from a typecase and assembles them into lines on a composing stick. This role was the backbone of traditional letterpress printing before the invention of mechanized linecasting machines. The work requires immense speed, accuracy, and the ability to read text upside down and backwards.
Heard on the job
We need an experienced handman to set the display type for the broadside.
Insider tip
Handmen were often paid by the piece, meaning their income depended entirely on their physical rhythm and lack of errors.
Also heard as
- compositor