Page 59 - Virtual Research Lab flip book

each gathering. The order of these abbreviations could be compiled into a collation that would be printed with the colophon of each copy, so that the binder would be sure that he had both all the necessary printed signatures, and that they were assembled in the correct order.
As distinct from manuscript copying, printing required a different eco- nomic model, in which the capital costs and concomitant risks were shifted to the printer. There were several barriers to entering the printing business:
First, an individual who desired to enter into the printing business had to learn the technical aspects of the trades, and probably also had to hire work- ers with the skill and experience of operating a press, cutting punches, cast- ing type, cutting woodcuts or engraving copperplates, and perhaps binding books. For the first two centuries of printing its skills remained trade secrets learned only through apprenticeship. The first detailed printer’s manual, Moxon’s Mechanick Exercises on the Whole Art of Printing, did not appear until 1683-84, and as detailed as it was, even this would have been insuffi- cient for a printer to do professional work without considerable experience. Still, Moxon’s manual provided invaluable technical information and illus- trations, and since the fundamentals of printing did not change rapidly, Moxon’s presentation was adapted and translated in other printer’s manuals for the next two hundred years. Regarding printing as it first evolved in Germany during the 1450s through 1470s, we lack technical documentation, and even though we understand the economics of early printing operations in general terms, most of our information about the earliest printing and typesetting processes has been inferred from study of surviving examples of early printing, from the few surviving archival records, and from our more detailed understanding of later printing technology.
Secondly, a printer had to raise the money to buy the very expensive press and equipment. Thirdly, in order to print a book, a printer had to buy the costly paper or vellum needed for the project before printing. Beyond these direct costs, unless he was a scholar himself, and perhaps even if he was, a printer who intended to produce a reliable edition of an existing work need- ed to locate an appropriate manuscript or manuscripts on which to base
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