Earlier books that we have seen, such as hand-pressed books, might have ended up being far different than they are should modern technology have existed during their creation. For example, were later technology to be available during the hand-pressed book era, it is likely that the costs of producing these books would be much less, and that the price of the books themselves would therefore also be much less. In addition, I know that we learned during one class that there are some books that used to be produced using acid that literally eat themselves away over the years. If more technology was present at the time of the creation of these books, then I’m sure that these sort of “self-eating” books would not exist and that texts of this sort would be much more durable to time. Technology today is undoubtedly very helpful in making books better able to be preserved. The e-book is a very good example of this. However, after doing a bit of research on the e-book in order to get a better understanding of it I came across an article discussing the fact that it costs more to buy a book on an e-book than it does to buy an actual paperback copy of the same book. This seems a bit strange to me, as it should cost much less to produce an e-book then it should to produce an actual paperback book.

Here is the article: post.aspx?post=7fb568d9-f4a6-408b-9da2-4176dfa3f36c

A lot of posts have been regarding how as technology advances, many things become phased out, like books for e-books and paper for digital images. Even animation is now computer based. However, one thing I know about creating anime, while the process is done on the computer, handmade sketches are still used for reference. An artist sketches out a scene on paper which goes to the animator to use to create and animate the scene. It’s things like this which remind me that some old technologies die harder than others.

On a side note, production sketches can be bought for fairly cheap (considering what they are), which I learned from my collector friend. For those that are curious, this is my friend’s site where he shows off his collection along side screenshots of the scenes the sketches come from.

While browsing through the internet, I came across an old newspaper article from 1995 that talks about “the demise of typewriters”. The article makes a very good point about one reason why typewriters are better than computers. It basically states that during the time period when typewriters were prominent, libraries had exhibits of authors’ original texts that people could look at in order to see the way that each author’s story was developed and to essentially grasp the author’s thought process while he or she wrote. However, the use of computers does not allow for this to happen. Libraries no longer possess exhibits of rough drafts showing the progress of an author’s work because the “save” button on a computer allows people to edit their rough drafts and then save the newly edited one, erasing all existence of the original work.

Here is the article: me-23726_1_olivettis-typewriters-shuster

The easiest way the hand press could of been different if it had modern technology is if it was electronically powered like the machine linked below.  There was no electricity and therefore it was impossible to have machines do work on their own without man power.  This would have allowed for more books to be produced in a shorter amount of time and therefore more decemination of books at the pinnacle of their popularity.

Another way it would be different is the ads like the ones we saw on Tuesday in the books.  They would be more like modern ads in magazines.  The main difference is modern ads have color and they didn’t use to be able to do that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25gmfWAKMYM

If any printing technology from later periods of time were to exist when earlier printing began, it would be clear that printing and reproducing books would be significantly easier, even cheaper. In the case of lithography, type would not need to be set to print a new page. A new sheet of text needed to be made only once and could be reused for the amount of times needed. If the page ever needed to be printed again, the sheet would just need to be set again, without excess effort. This, however, would cut down on jobs. Vast amounts of time would not be used and an employee would not need to set up text every time a page needed to be printed. Overall, less employees would be needed, which would cut on costs, and less effort would be necessary, further cutting costs.

In the end, the process of making books would become more profitable for publishers, and with copyright, for the authors as well.

When we went to the EPI the lady demonstrating for us kept talking about the science of printing.  I kind of understood but the pictures from One search that I linked below made me understand more.  The ink and ink colors alone have so much science involved.  Just to find the right combination that is just the right consistency and will be permanent.  Also the reaction the paper is vital and needs to be accounted for, if it isn’t then there is a possibility the ink can ruin the paper.  This goes along with the right combination has to be found to not run through the paper onto other pages.  All in all, the science to printing is vital.

http://0-ehis.ebscohost.com.libcat.lafayette.edu/eds/detail?vid=4&sid=a32cca9c-b1fb-4230-8312-9e6f22bcbbc1%40sessionmgr114&hid=109&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=aph&AN=35077822

As I was trying to answer the blog prompt I went on youtube to refresh my memory on the different types of printing we learned about.  Upon searching “hand press printing” I discovered this video of the oldest hand press.  To me it was curious how different it looked from the one we saw at the printing station.  It is much simpler but I am sure was much less efficient and accurate.  It also appears much heavier and I can only imagine the strength it took to work one of these.  This printing press most definitely took both longer to use and wasn’t as accurate.  The heaviness and function that is like a huge stamp simply didn’t allow for precision.  Because it took longer to use it would be impossible to create a lot of copies which would hinder the spread of publishings and would not allow for many books to be sold.

Now there are electronic presses that allow for many books to be printed per hour.  The precision of lettering has also increased thanks to new technology.  It is interesting to see where printing came from and how far it has come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74zwKLYAm9I