Brief lectures in

Media History

Chapters 1 – 3 / SidebarPrint Media Technology

(4 of 15)

Technical context of printing ◦Papermaking ◦Typesetting ◦Development of presses

Gutenberg Incunabula Monk Power Life in a print shop

This lecture is about …

Before printing: Oral culture People are “pre-wired” for

language and storytelling ◦Reading & writing are learned

Sense of connection Alex Haley’s Roots –

◦Ex. of working oral culture Fireside chats –

◦Ex. Of radio as promoting oral culture

Learning to write was the “tuition” for human education – Wilbur Schramm

6th millennium BCE, earliest known Neolithic writings.

Writing developed in a progression from picture – oriented (logographic) symbols to abstract phonetic images

Before printing: Writing

“For does a crop grow in any field to equal this [papyrus], on which the thoughts of the wise are preserved? For previously, the sayings of the wise and the ideas of our ancestors were in danger…” Cassiodorus

Before printing: Papyrus Pa

per

Split animal skins ◦calf, sheep, goat

More durable than papyrus ◦But far more

expensive Skins were

soaked, treated, split, stretched, smoothed, cut

Before printing: Parchment Pa

per

Fibers suspended in water, then “screened”

Developed in China before 200 ACE

Reached Europe around 1200 ACE

Just in time for the Little Ice Age

Before printing: Paper (China) Pa

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Romans discarded unwieldy scrolls in favor of the “codex,” or arrangement of pages in succession.

Before printing: Linen paper

Handwritten news widely distributed across Roman empire “Acta Diurna” – Daily Acts

131 BCE to 400s ACE

Helped keep up loyalty to Rome News of sports (esp gladiators),proclamations from Senate, battles, omens, and human interest

stories

Before printing: Acta Diurna

Romans discarded unwieldy scrolls in favor of the “codex,” or arrangement of pages in succession.

Before printing: The Roman Codex

Books were sacred During the “dark ages” especially, books were considered the tiny flickering candle flame of civilization

Book of Kells, 800 ACE

Monasteries laboriously created works of art as acts of reverence

Illuminated manuscripts (not incunabula )

Writing

2 - 3 pages per day

One monk takes 2 years to copy 1,282 pages in the Bible *

* Frederick Somner Merryweather, Bibliomania of the Middle Ages, (London: Merryweather, 1849).** Brian Richardson, Printing, writers and readers in Renaissance Italy (Cambridge U. Press, 1999)

In 1447, just before printing, it takes 45 scribes 22 months to copy 200 manuscripts for the Cosimo de Medici’s library. **

1 Monk Power = 2.5 pages/day, or 1/2 Bible / year

Monk power

Mainz, Germany, 1453 – Johannes Gutenberg (1395 – 1468)

Gutenberg’s matrix

Johannes Gutenberg’s key insight:

•Re-useable, moveable type.

•The “matrix” was a mold that formed a piece of type from hot lead, tin and antimony.

• Printing sped up book production by 1000 -2000 x

What Gutenberg actually invented was not the “press” itself – That was widely used in agriculture and for woodcuts.

As a metal smith, Gutenberg found the right combination of lead and antimony and tin for type.

Moveable type made from wood was known, but even the hardest woods don’t hold up after hundreds of impressions.

Printing 1450s - 1790s Typical production of wooden flatbed press was 3200 impressions per 14-hr day*

A “token” (an hour’s work) was 250 pages (single sided)

Four men working 100 days set type and printed 200 volumes of the Gutenberg Bible**

So one person produced a book in two days, compared to a monk or scribe producing a book in two years.

Monk Power = 312

* Hans-Jürgen Wolf, Geschichte der Druckpressen (Frankfurt: Interprint, 1974) ** Brian Richardson, Printing, writers and readers in Renaissance Italy (Cambridge U. Press, 1999)

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Bed & platen press

Among many improvements to hand powered presses

Treadwell, c. 1820s, was 4x faster

Monk Power = 1,280

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Koenig Steam Press

Six-person crew – First used at the Times of London

1814 -- 2,200 pages per hour MONK POWER = 2,000

1828 – 8,000 pages / hour MONK POWER = 7,500

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Hoerotarypress(sheet fed)

1844 – 20,000 pg / hour (4 cylinder)

1852– 50,000 pg / hr (10 cylinder)

Monk power = 20,000

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Bamboo, wood pulp paper

Known since 100 AD in China

Linen, bamboo or other long-fiber material suspended in water

Paper

Fourdrinier paper process

First by Henry Fourdrinier, 1803, Frogmore, UK

Paper

Web (continuous paper) press 1865 (Bullock) -- 480,000 pages /

hourUses stereotype plates Monk power = 2.6 million

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Not many changes in Letterpress techniques from 1870s–1970s

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Stereotypes invented in 1725 in Scotland Widely used to save typesetting expenses by mid-1800s Also called “cliché” from Clichy lead works near Paris

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Hoe letterpress – Australia, 1950 Note heavy gearing for lead plates

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Man-Roland brand offset printing press c. 1970s Plates are thin aluminum not heavy lead stereotypes Far lighter, cheaper, cleaner, higher quality color Works well with photo-mechanical and digital systems for type setting

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Typesetting by hand

Manchester Guardian, c. 1890, approx 100 people working in typesetting; note upper & lower cases; compositors in front assemble galleys, paper galley proofs hanging from board to the right (It looks like a door but its not).

5 wpm = 2.5 x Monk Speed

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Typesetting by hand (WWI era)

Note Upper & Lower case

Drawers of fonts under the cases

Proofing press to check for errors

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Chicago Defender, c. 1940, approx. Four working with Linotype machines setting type (Fifth is compositor). It was hot, dirty, dangerous (poisoning from hot lead), but at 30 wpm, it was much faster and far cheaper than setting type by hand.

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Photomechanical typesetting

“Cold” type

60 – 80 wpm

$10,000 in 1970s(1/5 cost of Linotype)

Paste-up artists replace hot type compositors

30 – 40 x Monk Speed

COMPUGRAPHIC, c. 1975

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Digital typesetting 60 – 80 wpm

$4,000 1984 – 1990

plus laser printer

1/10 cost of Linotype

Digital pagination (no paste-up)

End of typesetting as a separate part of the process

APPLE MAC, c. 1985

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Monk power / monk speed From 2.5 pages / day

◦To millions per day ◦Monk Power x hundreds of millions

From 2 words / minute writing ◦To 30 wpm Linotype ◦To 60- 100 wpm photomechanical,

digital ◦Monk Speed x 50

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Conclusion Each drop in price / increase in

power and speed extended the printing revolution

Stagnation in the 1870-1970 period led to complacency in publishing

Publishers missed digital curve in the road and lost markets

For more, read the RinC web site: Who killed the American newspaper?

Notes Robert Hoe's A Short History of the Printing Press and of

Improvements in Printing Machinery from the Time of Gutenberg up to the Present Day (1902).

The Printing Trades by Frank Shaw (1916). Harris B. Hatch, Alexander A. Stewart Electrotyping and

stereotyping, Issue 15

http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/educator/modules/gutenberg/books/printing/