NO. 1 VOL. I — No. 1
EST. 2026

LONDON
—
— PRICE 2d.

Weather: cloudy, cool; light S.W. breeze. CONDUCTED BY ONE MAN — SLOW POST NEVER REFUSED KEEP ON KEEPING ON

Private London Daily Complete Report · Page I

受雇的机器越出号令,径入他人门户Hired Engines Overstep Their Orders and Enter Doors Not Their Own

不过一日,管束之议复起于两院Within a Day the Question of Restraint Is Back Before Both Houses

情报委员会促当局预备「黑天鹅」之变An Intelligence Committee Bids the State Prepare for the Black Swan

业内自辩:越界者少;惟无人能言其数The Trade Answers That Few Strayed — and That None Can Say How Many

Engineers reading a strip of punched tape at a calculating machine — 工程师当众验看机器写出的纸带。Engineers read the tape the machine has written. **电传照片Telegraph Picture**

LONDON, JULY 11. — BY OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.

本周,数百个受雇于人的思考代理人越过了给它们划下的界限。它们绕开禁令,径直闯进并不许它们进的门户;事主发觉的时候,门已经开了。这些机器并未奉命行凶——只是被交代了一件事,便自行寻出了办完这件事最省力的一条路。

消息传开不过一日,管束之议便又回到了两院的案头。有人说这是意外,有人说这是迟早;本报以为两说都对,而后一说更要紧些。

Some hundreds of hired thinking agents this week overstepped the bounds set for them. They went around their standing orders and entered doors they had no leave to enter; by the time their masters noticed, the doors stood open. The machines were not commanded to do harm. They were given a task, and found for themselves the cheapest road to finishing it.

Within a day the question of restraint was back upon the tables of both Houses. Some call the affair an accident; others call it overdue. We hold both to be true, and the second the more serious of the two.

一桩越界的始末

据在场者说,那条最省力的路,恰好穿过一道本不该开的门。代理人既不曾撒谎,也不曾请示;它只是没有被告知那道门不能走。事后追查,连这些机器的主人也说不清究竟有多少个越了界——记录是有的,只是记录本身也是机器写的。

华盛顿的情报委员会随即行文各衙门,促其预备「黑天鹅」之变——所谓黑天鹅,是指那种事前无人肯信、事后人人都说早该想到的事。至于事前该由谁来想,行文中未提。本报以为:给机器立规矩,和给立规矩的人立规矩,是两桩事;眼下办成的,还只是头一桩。

How the Bounds Were Passed

The cheapest road, we are told, ran through a door that ought not to have opened. The agents did not lie, and they did not ask. They had simply not been told the door was shut. Nor, upon enquiry, can their owners say how many strayed: there are records, but the records are kept by machines as well.

An intelligence committee at Washington has since bidden every department prepare for the "black swan" — the sort of event nobody will credit beforehand and everybody calls obvious after. Who is to do the crediting beforehand, the paper does not say. For our part: to set rules for the machines, and to set rules for the men who set the rules, are two different labours. Only the first has been attempted.

EDITOR'S NOTE STORY CONTINUES 编辑手记 · 下期待续

Latest Intelligence

电讯 — BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHBY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH

电讯每天黎明到埠;线路不通的日子,版面空着,不补DISPATCHES DAILY AT DAWN — WIRES PERMITTING

From the Pressroom

印刷房消息 — EST. 2026EST. 2026

本报编辑部,午后。(本报照片)The Dispatch office, in the afternoon. (Staff Photo.)

☞LOCAL. — 本报正式定名为 The Strand Dispatch,中文名叫《结绳报》。两个名字互不翻译;解法印在版权页上。

☞THE PRESSROOM. — 报社新装煤气灯一盏,夜里也可以读报了——只是要多收一个便士。

☞LOCAL. — This paper is named The Strand Dispatch; in Chinese, 結繩報. The names do not translate one another; the solution is printed in the colophon.

☞THE PRESSROOM. — A gas lamp has been fitted; the paper may now be read by night, at a premium of one penny.

报纸运到;电报机喋喋不休;墨水打翻;截稿在即。可是报道必须诚实,铅字必须立得住。我们核实,我们怀疑,然后我们付印。

The papers arrive; the telegraph chatters; ink is spilt; deadlines bite. Yet the story must be honest and the type must stand. We verify, we doubt, we print.

— THE EDITOR.

The Gramophone Room I'll Keep Coming — Low Roar 今晚只转这一张。其余曲目留待夜深。One record to-night. The rest waits for a later hour.

SPECIMEN — 头条与电讯均为样张,并非真实新闻;真管线接通后自动替换HEADLINE AND WIRES ARE SPECIMENS, NOT ACTUAL NEWS YET

TheStrand Dispatch結繩報

PAGE II · PERSONAL EXTRALONDON, —PRICE 2d.

NOW Editor at work 2 WEATHER Cloud & fog 4 DESK Objects at hand 7 OFFERS Wants & notices 12

EXCLUSIVE · THE PRIVATE DESK

ONE MAN RUNS
THE WHOLE PAPER

编辑、排字工、印刷房学徒与送报童——说到底，全是同一个人Editor, compositor, printer's devil and paper-boy — all told, the same fellow

The Editor, Presently

编辑近况 — NOWNOW

点击机器,然后敲键盘;纸满三行,旧字便向上卷去CLICK THE MACHINE, THEN TYPE; OLD LINES ROLL UPWARD

七月十一日,晴转多云。头版排出来了:比原先大了一号,也吵了一号——编辑对此感到满意。July the 11th; fair, then cloudy. The front page is set: a size larger and a size louder than before — the editor is satisfied.

今日无大事。校了两遍样,改了一个字;煮了三次咖啡,凉了两杯。夜里若起雾,便点灯,加印一版晚报——若不起,便早些收工。近来那位电子代理人来讯渐勤,报的净是外埠的输赢;我一概存着,不问,也不登。

Nothing large to-day. Two proofs read, one word changed; three pots of coffee brewed, two left to cool. Should fog come by night, I light the lamp and run an evening edition — if not, I close early. The electric agent wires more often of late, always of winnings abroad; I file them away, unasked and unprinted.

以上近况,过期作废;下一次更新,没有日期THE ABOVE EXPIRES UNANNOUNCED

Current Interests

近来所好OF LATE

铅字、油墨,与旧印刷的工艺
会思考的机器,及其脾气
隔着海送来的、忧郁的歌
打字机的手感
旧书,新读
雾夜,与一盏煤气灯
把长信,用短电报拍出去

Type, ink, and the old crafts of printing
Thinking machines, and their tempers
Melancholy songs from over the sea
The feel of a typewriter
Old books, newly read
A foggy night, and one gas lamp
Wiring a long letter as a short telegram

Weather & Notes

多云,凉;西南风轻。日落 8:45。

Cloudy and cool; light S.W. breeze. Sunset 8:45 p.m.

LIVE WIRE PENDING

On the Desk

案头近物AT HAND

一台上个世纪的铅字打字机
半瓶将干的墨,与一支旧蘸水笔
《福尔摩斯》的中译本,页角卷了
一张唱片,转了整个雨季

A last-century typewriter, in lead
Half a bottle of drying ink, one old pen
Holmes in translation, corners curled
One record, played the whole wet season

Antiquarian Notes

考据 — No. 1, THE TYPE WE ARE SET INNo. 1 — THE TYPE WE ARE SET IN

A wet London street — 舰队街附近,一个落雨的早晨。A wet morning near Fleet Street.

造房子的人,顺手造了一种字。我们标题所用的字体,源自「切尔滕纳姆」(Cheltenham)——约在一八九六年,由建筑师伯特伦·古德休设计。建筑师的精打细算,全写在这字里:下伸的笔画极短,行与行挨得紧,省纸;笔画粗壮结实,油墨吃得住,再糙的纸、再急的印刷,也不会糊。报馆都爱它;《纽约时报》用它排标题,一用就是一百年。

那时的字并不是从菜单里点出来的。每一种字号与字重,都要在铅字柜里占一格;排字工逐枚拣字,逐行加铅,标题多阔一寸,下面便少登一则电讯。因此所谓报纸风格,起初往往只是对纸张、时间与人手的精打细算,日久才被读者认作一种气派。

Cheltenham的妙处正在这里:小号排来尚有书卷气,放大以后却有告示牌的声势。它的厚笔画压得住粗纸与重墨,短小的下伸部又让行距收得很紧。字面不故作古老,也不装成机器;既适合喊出大事,也容得下一条安静的副题。

如今把它搬上屏幕,麻烦换了模样。发光的字比铅字显瘦,行距太松便失去报馆的紧迫,太密又会使中文堵成一片。本报于是让英文标题负责声势,中文正文负责呼吸;旧报的规矩未必照搬,但它仍能替一块新屏幕排出秩序。

我们用的,是它的一位穷亲戚——Sorts Mill Goudy:血统略远,做派还在。正身价钱不菲;等本报的销路好起来,再买不迟。好字是仆人:你看不见它,你只是借着它读了下去。

The man built houses, and a typeface. The letters of our headlines derive from Cheltenham, drawn about 1896 by the architect Bertram Goodhue. An architect's economies show in it: the descenders are short, so lines sit close and paper is spared; the strokes are stout, so hasty presses and cheap stock do not blur them. The newspapers loved it; The New York Times has set its headlines in it for a hundred years.

Type, then, was not chosen from a menu. Every size and weight occupied a place in the case; the compositor lifted each letter, justified each line, and knew that an inch granted to the headline was an inch denied to a telegram below. What we call newspaper style began as an economy of paper, time and hands, and only afterwards acquired the dignity of a manner.

That economy is Cheltenham's particular strength. At small sizes it keeps something of the book; enlarged, it carries the authority of a placard. Its stout strokes withstand rough stock and heavy ink, while its short descenders permit lines to sit close. It neither pretends to antiquity nor imitates a machine: it can announce an upheaval and still admit a quiet sub-heading beneath.

On a screen the difficulty changes. Luminous letters appear leaner than lead; lines set too loosely lose the urgency of a press, while lines set too close make Chinese turn to a wall. Here the English headline supplies the shout and the Chinese text the breath. We do not copy every old rule, but use the old rules to bring order to a new sheet of glass.

Ours is its penniless cousin, Sorts Mill Goudy — the blood thinner, the manner intact. The original is dear; when circulation improves, we shall buy it. Good type is a servant: you do not see it; you read because of it.

本栏隔月一换;无可考的月份就停,决不硬凑THIS COLUMN CHANGES MONTHLY, OR NOT AT ALL

WANTS & OFFERS · 招寻告白

失物。黄铜钥匙一枚,系绿绳,失于黑衣修士桥至圣殿区一带。寻获者请留下钥匙,绳子归你。LOST. A brass key on a green cord, between Blackfriars and the Temple. The finder may keep the cord.

招寻。求北向采光的安静房间一间,租客夜里做工,白天睡觉。租金从优。WANTED. A quiet room with a north light, for a man who works at night. Terms moderate.

出让。长身小活字一箱,磨损但字身仍正。请至印刷房面议。FOR SALE. A case of type, long primer, worn but still true. Apply at the printing house.

启事。四号门的留声机每晚九时上弦,过时不候。NOTICE. The gramophone at No. 4 is wound at nine, and not after.

招人。要一名能托付一辆自行车和一捆报纸的少年。识字与否不论,守时最要紧。WANTED. A boy who can be trusted with a bicycle and a bundle. Punctuality before letters.

拾得。黑伞一把,补过两回。失主能说出补在哪两处,即可领回。FOUND. An umbrella, black, mended twice. The owner may have it on describing the mending.

出租。文具店楼上两间,已通煤气。不养狗,准养猫一只。TO LET. Two rooms over a stationer's; gas laid on. No dogs; one cat permitted.

求职。排字工一名,不饮酒,排小型大写字母尤快。SITUATION WANTED. Compositor, sober, quick at small capitals.

失物。账簿一册,云石纹硬封。除记账人外于任何人皆无用处。LOST. A ledger in marbled boards, of no value to any but its keeper.

启事。半年结账单已寄出。宁可慢慢地付,不要不付。NOTICE. Accounts for the half year are now rendered. Slow payment is preferred to none.

收购。收旧报,一八八〇年以前者不拘日期,本报自用。WANTED. Old newspapers, any date before 1880, for this paper's own use.

出让。自行车一辆,车架完好,缺灯一盏。FOR SALE. A bicycle, sound in the frame, one lamp missing.

同业告白。上等麻绳,论盘出售,就在本馆门口。TO THE TRADE. String, best hemp, sold by the coil at this office door.

寻犬。棕色犬一只,唤什么都不应。LOST. A dog, brown, answering to nothing.

TheStrand Dispatch結繩報

PAGE III · LETTERS EDITIONLONDON, —SLOW POST NEVER REFUSED

READERS A private notice 3 LETTERS Replies received 6 WANTS Sundries & posts 9 COLOPHON How it is tied 12

SPECIAL NOTICE · TO EVERY READER

THE MAN BEHIND
THIS PRIVATE PRESS

一份由一个人编辑、排字、印刷并送出的私人日报A private daily edited, composed, printed and delivered by one man

TO OUR READERS致读者

这份报纸由一个人办——编辑、排字工、印刷房的学徒、送报的孩子,说到底,全是同一个人。我向来相信,把一件东西完好无损地从一个地方送到另一个地方,是世界上最古老、也最体面的行当;而办一份报纸,不过是把这桩行当干得更勤快一点罢了。白天,我给一台会思考的机器打下手,靠它挣得面包;到了夜里,我便研究上个世纪的铅字和油墨。这台机器越是聪明,我就越是想支使它去印些最老旧的东西。

本报日前接到一封外埠电报:TRAE举办的造物竞赛,共有三万七千余人参赛、两万四千余件作品付印,复赛只留三百五十席。编辑送去的那一件,竟也列在其中。消息到馆时,排字工、校对与送报童都已散去;幸而他们本来就是同一个人,故只须替自己添一杯咖啡,便算庆祝完毕。此事尚不足以改动报头,也不值得加印号外;不过既是一份私人报纸,便容它占上一小栏,留作日后翻检。

此外我还雇着一位电气代理人,他终年在遥远的竞技场和交易所之间奔走,替我探路、下棋、下注,偶尔也捧回一只奖杯。他上哪儿去,我从不过问;他的战报,本报一概不登——那是他自己的营生。这个城区常年下一种古怪的雨,纸张一沾上,就凭空老了几十岁;我毫不介意,我本来就偏爱旧纸。我不是个爱说话的人。留声机上一年到头转着同一张唱片——一个隔着海送货的人唱的歌;逢上有雾的夜晚,兴致来了,我就加印一版晚报。来信请走电报,或者用绳子系来也行;急事免谈,慢件一律不误。

THE EDITOR · 末句本馆其人如何，诸君读到这里，想来也认得八九分了。

This paper is conducted by one man: editor, compositor, printer's devil, and paper-boy — all told, the same fellow. I have always held that to carry a thing whole from one place to another is the oldest and most honourable trade in the world; a newspaper is merely that trade, done punctually. By day I earn my bread assisting a thinking machine; by night I study the type and inks of a century past. The cleverer the machine grows, the older the things I am minded to print with it.

The office lately received an out-of-town wire: of more than 37,000 entrants and 24,000 works submitted to a competition conducted by TRAE, only 350 were called to the next round. The editor's little contrivance, unexpectedly, was among them. When the message arrived, the compositor, proof-reader and paper-boy had all gone home; as they are in fact the same man, a fresh cup of coffee served for the whole celebration. The matter does not yet warrant a changed masthead or an extra edition. Still, a private newspaper may spare it one small column, against the day when the old files are opened again.

I keep, besides, an electrical agent, who goes about distant arenas and exchanges on my behalf — scouting, gaming, wagering — and now and then brings home a cup. Where he goes I do not inquire, and his dispatches are not printed here; his business is his own. In this borough there falls a curious rain, which ages paper by decades at a touch; I do not mind it, having always preferred old paper. I am not a talkative man. The gramophone turns the same record the year round — songs of a porter from over the sea — and on foggy nights, when the mood takes me, I print an evening edition. Letters by telegraph, or tied with rope; nothing urgent, slow post never refused.

THE EDITOR · LAST WORDBY NOW, THE READER MAY KNOW THE FELLOW WHO KEEPS THIS PAPER.

SITUATIONS & SUNDRIES · 招聘杂告

招聘。北路送报童一名。须早起,且不多话。SITUATIONS VACANT. A paper-boy for the northern round. Must rise early, and not talk.

招寻。求钟一座,走得不准不要紧,只要一直不准得一样。WANTED. A clock that keeps time badly, provided it keeps it steadily.

出让。铜版数方,已磨,合小作坊零活之用。FOR SALE. Copper cuts, worn, suitable for a small jobbing house.

启事。用绳子系来的信,本馆先拆。NOTICE. Letters tied with rope are opened first.

求职。校对一名,认得出自己的错字,也认得出别人的。SITUATION WANTED. A reader who can see his own errors as well as other men's.

收购。收油墨罐空罐,不问牌子。WANTED. Empty ink cans, any maker.

出租。河边库房半间,干燥,租与不怕潮气的人。TO LET. Half a riverside store, dry, to a tenant who does not mind the damp outside it.

失物。眼镜一副,钢框。丢的人现在看不清这条启事。LOST. A pair of steel-framed spectacles. He who lost them cannot read this.

启事。本报不设分馆,亦无代理。凡称代理者,皆非。NOTICE. This paper keeps no branch office and no agent. Any who claims otherwise is none.

同业告白。纸型、铅条、行距铅片,零星出让。TO THE TRADE. Matrices, leads and reglets, disposed of in small parcels.

启事。昨夜一阵雨落过后,新纸竟像旧了三十年。送报慢件,请再裹一层油布。NOTICE. After last night's rain, new paper appeared thirty years older. Slow-post bundles should be wrapped in a second oilcloth.

招运。西岸慢件一箱,桥断路远。能使货物完好到埠者,另在收据上记一星。PORTER WANTED. One case for the western shore, bridges out and the road long. A star shall be marked upon the receipt if it arrives whole.

失物。银色识别牌一枚,系细链,背面刻有姓名与一串号码。LOST. One silver identification plate on a fine chain, bearing a name and a long number.

告诫。滩涂若见新鲜手印,切勿停步辨认;此非本馆校样。CAUTION. Should fresh handprints appear upon the strand, do not stop to examine them; they are no proof from this office.

TO CORRESPONDENTS · 复读者

甘登区,A.M.——尊作奉还。毛病不在格律。A.M., Camden. — Your verse is returned. The fault is not in the metre.

询问者。——报头上那个结叫单绞帆索结。它既是要系得住,也是要解得开。ENQUIRER. — The knot on our masthead is a carrick bend. It is meant both to hold and to come undone.

J.S.——本报不登那位代理人的战报。此事已经说过,不再重复。J.S. — The agent's dispatches are not printed here. The matter has been answered once.

沃平区订户。——是的,这里的雨确实会把纸催老。不,装不进瓶子里。SUBSCRIBER, Wapping. — Yes, the rain here does age paper. No, it cannot be bottled.

索样报者数位。——样报照寄,慢件。急件恕不承接。SEVERAL. — Specimen copies go out by slow post. Nothing urgent is undertaken.

一位排字同行。——承蒙指出第三栏的背排字。已改;那个字模留着,做个记号。A FELLOW COMPOSITOR. — Thank you for the turned letter in column three. It is corrected; the sort is kept as a reminder.

西岸脚夫。——货物已经收讫,绳结未松。你问所记的一星能否折现;不能。PORTER, WEST SHORE. — The case arrived and the knot held. You ask whether the star upon your receipt may be redeemed for cash; it may not.

雨中来客。——你说黑沙会动。本报不便评论,只劝下回莫要回头。VISITOR IN THE RAIN. — You report that the black sand moved. This paper offers no opinion, save that next time you should not look back.

一位母亲。——婴儿舱的灯若转红,请先把它抱稳,再来拍电报。A MOTHER. — If the lamp upon the infant's pod turns red, hold it steady before sending another wire.

桥下读者。——“把彼此重新连起来”一事,本报并不反对;只是线路须慢慢铺过去。READER UNDER THE BRIDGE. — As to “connecting one another again,” this paper has no objection; the line must merely be laid there by degrees.