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Brief lectures in
Media History
Chapters 1 – 3 / SidebarPrint Media Technology
(4 of 15)
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Technical context of printing ◦Papermaking ◦Typesetting ◦Development of presses
Gutenberg Incunabula Monk Power Life in a print shop
This lecture is about …
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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
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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
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“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
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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
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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
per
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Romans discarded unwieldy scrolls in favor of the “codex,” or arrangement of pages in succession.
Before printing: Linen paper
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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
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Romans discarded unwieldy scrolls in favor of the “codex,” or arrangement of pages in succession.
Before printing: The Roman Codex
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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 )
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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
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Mainz, Germany, 1453 – Johannes Gutenberg (1395 – 1468)
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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
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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.
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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)
Pri
nti
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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
Pri
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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
Pri
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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
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Fourdrinier paper process
First by Henry Fourdrinier, 1803, Frogmore, UK
Paper
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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
Typ
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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
Typ
ese
ttin
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Typ
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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.
Typ
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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
Typ
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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
Typ
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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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What
New
Media
Changes
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What
New
Media
Changes
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What
New
Media
Changes
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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?
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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/