Page 9 - Virtual Research Lab flip book

Both before and after the invention of printing in Europe in about 1450 we may think in terms of books written by individuals, or libraries formed by individuals, or institutions directed by individuals or small teams.3 Print- ing, of course, significantly increased both the quantity of information pro- duction, and the speed and scope of its distribution. These incremental increases, dramatic when compared to medieval manuscript copying, are difficult to relate to the instantaneous or nearly instantaneous speed of elec- tronic distribution over the Internet. The most significant change was that fifteenth-century printed editions resulted in multiple copies—usually hun- dreds of copies versus one or a handful at a time produced by manuscript copying. By 1480, twenty-five years after the introduction of printing by movable type, the typical print run of a book is estimated to have been be- tween one hundred and three hundred copies. By 1500 printing presses had been established in 282 cities in Europe. It has been estimated that at least 35,000 different editions were printed during the fifteenth century, of which approximately 28,000 survive in one copy or more. How these numbers might have correlated to the production of manuscripts is far more difficult to quantify, but we can review the estimated time involved in preparing a hypothetical or specific manuscript versus the time involved in producing a hypothetical or specific book. To do so means analysis of numerous produc- tion stages, some of which I will review later.
Regarding the speed of early printed book production, one way we can follow advances is to consider the speed of the printing component, which took place after hand typesetting and make-ready, the process of preparing the forme and the cylinder or platen packing to achieve the correct impres- sion all over the forme. With respect to these time-consuming processes I have not seen any attempts at calculation of the time that might have been involved. Speed of typesetting and make-ready would have depended upon the efficiency of individual workers, and would also have varied from
3 Though paper and printing originated in China, and the process spread westward over many centuries, the earliest printing was stamped into soft clay in Mesopotamia circa 2250 BCE, long before the developments in China.
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