Howard describes a day in the life of a printer in the mid 1600s in Chapter 4, describing how early the print master wakes up in order to prepare the shop for the coming day, and how late the print master stays after the workers leave in order to tidy up the shop at night. In the book, she also describes a print-layer’s strike, where they refused to come to work because of lower wages. The print master is forced to use new hires to lay the print. When I first read this, I didn’t think it was a big deal because the laying of the print seemed to be a fun, easy job. However, after our visit to the EPI yesterday, I realized just how difficult it must have been for the print master to teach the new hires how to lay the print, and how much less efficient their inexperienced hands must have been in comparison to the veteran print-layers who were on strike. It is remarkable to think that things to which we pay no attention to today – the layout and format of our books, for example – were the esteemed work of meticulous hands. The visit to the EPI really opened my eyes into how difficult it must be to truly run a successful publication company.

The difference between a copy of an item and the item itself is huge. For example, I have a copy of the Constitution that supposedly was printed on the same press that the Constitution was printed on. However, my copy of the Constitution clearly has no more significance to the public than my copies of the textbooks I own. It is the original that has staying power, and it is the original that makes people want copies of it. The same goes for books; the original book is much, much more intriguing than the less-than-perfect copies. With old manuscripts, the original is still even more valuable, but the copies are extremely valuable as well. In seeing hand-done work, you are able to tell so much about the author or penman, and how each individual book has its own flavor to it. Even though we looked at the Nuremberg Chronicle last week, I couldn’t help but think that to see that book in person, and see all of the woodcut pictures and maps, was truly amazing. No current-day printed copy could have captured the magnificence of that book.

http://www.beloit.edu/nuremberg/inside/about/editions.htm

The trip to the EPI was a great learning experience for me; I had seen very old printing presses before in Philadelphia, while we were looking at what the Declaration of Independence was printed on, but I have never seen a rolling press, and certainly didn’t realize the amount of work that went into assembling a single paragraph, let alone page. The fact that the arranging of a simple paragraph took hours to complete is mind-boggling – how could people have printed entire newspapers daily? The labor going into such a task must have been extensive. It is also easy to understand why many newspapers folded after about a year – if a company didn’t have the capital to invest in many printing machines and workers, it would be difficult to keep up with public demand at a reasonable price.

Recently I came across this quote in my economic textbook that really made me appreciate how far the world has come in regards to the sharing of information.

“Suppose you want to find the numbers for inflation in Germany over the past five years. Fifty years ago, the answer would be to learn German, find a library with German publications, find the page where inflation numbers were given, write them down, and plot them by hand on a clean sheet of paper.”

The internet has truly spoiled us with the ease at which information can be shared. Of course, the internet would mean nothing if it were not for the concept of freedom of information, arguing that people should be allowed to freely explore and learn information over the internet. There is much debate currently going on as to whether or not this freedom violates copyright laws. I am hoping to adequately cover this issue in my first essay.

What struck me most about today’s trip to the printing center was the amount of effort involved in the printing process itself. The inking of the machine seemed to be very tedious, as much time had to be spent reapplying the ink to the machine to ensure that the prints remained crisp. Then, it took additional time to set the paper and actually set the mechanism in motion to print a single sheet. Based on this, it is easy to see how printing an entire book took a great deal of time and effort. What’s more, the machine we were viewing had the added benefit of an electronic inking process. It must have been severely annoying to keep earlier models of these machines well-inked. Today’s class gave me a true appreciation of how far the printing process has come along. Granted, there are some complaints that the shift to mass production has resulted in a decrease in overall book quality. However, witnessing how long it took to print a single page using earlier printing methods has shown that the decrease in book durability with modern printing is well worth it when considering how much time is saved in the whole printing process.

I have been catching up on the show the Office lately and there are many references to how it is a “failing paper company”.  I thought this related to our class because we have been discussing the digitalizing of books.  With books going digital this will decrease the use of paper and hurt some economies such as paper companies (Dunder Mifflin).

The hit that businesses are taking because of the decrease in use of paper is not usually looked at but is something that is worth our attention.  It’s not just paper companies like Dunder Mifflin but bookstores, newspaper and other types of companies that rely on paper products.  Bookstores have been on the decline because of electronic versions of books that are purchased through devices like the Kindle.  I know from personal experience there have been bookstores closing around the area I live and it is getting harder and harder to find bookstores.  Although the connection is not always made, the similarities between media and real life need to be seen and built upon.