In the hand-press era, what did the term 'distribution' refer to within the print shop workflow?
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Correct answer: Breaking apart a printed forme and returning each type piece to its case slot
Distribution was the necessary step where composition type was taken down after printing was finished. A compositor would clean the type pages, unlock the chase, and carefully put each individual character, punctuation mark, and space back into its designated compartment in the typecase. Errors during distribution led to 'foul case' anomalies, causing typos in subsequent projects when the wrong letters were pulled.
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