THE PRINTING PRESS
"Blessings be on the head of Cadmus, the Phoenicians, or whoever
it is, that first invented books."
_Thomas Carlyle._
"Except a living man," says Charles Kingsley, "there is nothing more
wonderful than a book--a message to us from the dead--from human souls
whom we never saw, who lived perhaps thousands of miles away; and yet
these, on those little sheets of paper, speak to us, amuse us, vivify
us, teach us, comfort us, open their hearts to us as brothers. We ought
to reverence books, to look at them as useful and mighty things."
Milton calls a good book "the precious life blood of a master spirit,
embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life." Cicero
likens a room without books to a body without a soul. Ruskin says,
"Bread of flour is good; but there is bread, sweet as honey, if we
would eat it, in a good book." And Thomas Carlyle exclaims: "Wondrous,
indeed, is the virtue of a true book! O thou who art able to write a
book, which once in two centuries or oftener there is a man gifted to
do, envy not him whom they name city-builder, and inexpressibly pity
him whom they name conqueror or city-burner!"
Is it not wonderful that a record of all the world has thought and said
and felt and done can be deposited in a corner of my room, and that
there I may sit and commune with the master spirits of all the
centuries? Socrates, Plato, Homer, Cicero, Virgil, Horace, Paul, David,
Moses, Buddha, Confucius, Goethe, Dante, Shakespeare, Hugo, Wordsworth,
Tennyson, Carlyle, and Emerson, all in one room at the same time!
Great as books are, however, the world has not long had them. For many
generations after man's advent, he had no language. He communicated
with his fellows by means of gestures or gave vent to his feelings in
rude grunts or cries, much as the lower animals do now. But God gave to
man something He did not bestow upon the other animals--the power of
articulate speech. Certain sounds came to represent certain ideas and a
kind of oral language grew up. This became more and more highly
developed as time went by. For centuries the traditions, stories, and
songs of men were handed down orally from father to son and were
preserved only in the memory. The poems of Homer, the great Greek bard,
were recited by readers to large audiences, some of them numbering
probably twenty thousand.
By and by men felt the need of preserving their thoughts in some more
permanent way than by memory, and there grew up a rude system of
writing. At first pictures or rude imitations of objects were used; a
circle or a disc might represent the sun, and a crescent the moon. The
idea of a tree was denoted by the picture of a tree. The early Indians
of North America were among the peoples who used a system of picture
writing. In process of time, as men grew in knowledge and culture,
certain fixed signs began to denote certain sounds, and a phonetic
system of writing was developed.
For the first phonetic alphabet it is generally supposed that we are
indebted to the Phoenicians, an active, commercial people, who lived
along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. They were a maritime
nation and scattered their alphabet wherever they sailed, so that some
kind of phonetic alphabet finally existed throughout the civilized
world.
Books among the ancients were very different from the books of the
present. Paper has not been known long, nor, indeed, has the art of
printing. When man began to preserve his thoughts and deeds in more
permanent form than in the memory, various substances were used to
write upon. Josephus, an historian of the Jews, mentions two columns,
one of stone and the other of brick, upon which the children of Seth
wrote accounts of their inventions and astronomical discoveries.
Tablets of lead containing the works of Hesiod, a Greek writer, were
deposited in the temple of the Muses in Boeotia. According to the
Bible, the ten commandments which the Lord gave to Moses on Mount Sinai
for the children of Israel were engraved on two tablets of stone; and
the laws of Solon, the great Grecian law-giver, were carved on planks
of wood.
Sixty centuries ago on the banks of the Nile in northern Africa
flourished the civilization of the Egyptians. There grew abundantly in
Egypt a marsh reed called the papyrus. From the name of this plant is
derived our word _paper_. The Egyptians made their books from the
papyrus plant. With a sharp instrument they cut lengthwise strips
through the stalk, put these strips together edge to edge, and on them
at right angles, placed another layer of shorter strips. The two layers
were then moistened with Nile water, pressed together, and left to dry.
A leaf of writing material was thus produced. Any roughness on the
surface of the sheet was polished away with some smooth instrument. A
number of leaves were then glued together so as to form a long piece of
the material. The Egyptians took reeds, dipped them in gum water
colored with charcoal or with a kind of resinous soot, and wrote on the
long papyrus strip. Sometimes ink was made of the cuttle fish or from
lees of wine. After the papyrus had been written upon, it was rolled up
and became an Egyptian book. Papyrus was used for writing material not
only by the Egyptians but by the Greeks and the Romans also, and for a
long time it was the chief substance used for writing throughout the
civilized world. It continued in use to a greater or less extent till
about the seventh century after Christ.
On the plains of Asia lived the Chaldeans, whose civilization was
about as old as that of the Egyptians. But their books were very
different. Men use for their purposes the things that are close at
hand. In Egypt the papyrus plant was utilized for making books. In
Chaldea, instead of this marsh reed, there were great stores of clay
and of this material the ancient Chaldeans, and the Babylonians and
the Assyrians who followed them, made their books. The Chaldeans took
bricks or masses of smooth clay and, while they were yet soft, made
impressions on them with a metal stiletto shaped at the end like the
side of a wedge. In Latin the word for _wedge_ is _cuneus_. Hence
this old writing of the Chaldeans is called cuneiform or wedge-shaped.
Some of these wedge-shaped impressions stood for whole words, others
for syllables. After the clay tablets had been written upon, they were
burned or dried hard in the sun. A Chaldean book was thus made very
durable and lasted for ages. During recent years many of them have
been dug up in ancient Babylonia and deciphered. They consist of
grammars, dictionaries, religious books and hymns, laws, public
documents, and records of private business transactions.
The early Greeks and Romans used for their books tablets of ivory or
metal or, more commonly, tablets of wood taken from the beech or fir
tree. The inner sides of these tablets were coated with wax. On this
wax coating the letters were traced with a pointed metallic pen or
stiletto called the stylus. Our English word _style_, as used in
rhetoric, comes from the name of this instrument. The other end of the
stylus was used for erasing. Two of these waxed tablets, joined at the
edges by wire hinges, were the earliest specimens of bookbinding. Wax
tablets of this kind continued in partial use in Europe through the
Middle Ages. Later the leaves of the palm tree were used; then the
inner bark of the lime, ash, maple, or elm.
The next material that came into general use for writing purposes was
parchment. This was made from the skins of animals, particularly sheep
or lambs. Next came vellum, the prepared skin of the calf. Parchment
and vellum were written upon with a metallic pen. As these substances
were very costly, sometimes one book was written over another on the
same piece of parchment or vellum. Of course this made the reading of
the manuscript very difficult.
About the end of the ninth century or the beginning of the tenth, after
Christ, parchment and vellum as material for books gave way to paper.
At first paper was made of cotton, but during the twelfth century it
was produced from linen. It is not known who invented linen paper, but
its introduction gave the first great impulse to book making.
In the early Greek books the lines ran in opposite directions
alternately. That is, there would be a line from left to right across
the page, and then the next lower line would begin at the right and run
towards the left. Among some of the Orientals the lines ran from right
to left. In the old Chinese books the lines were vertical down the
page, as they are still. Among Western and Northern peoples the lines
ran from left to right as in our modern books.
The old civilizations of Egypt and Babylonia, in which the art of
book-making originated, sprang up, flourished, and decayed, burying
from the sight of men precious secrets in the arts and sciences. The
beautiful flower of Greek culture budded, bloomed, and withered.
Passing on from east to west, civilization knocked at the door of Rome
and awakened there such military and legal genius as the world had not
yet seen. Then a horde of wild barbarians poured over the mountains of
northern Italy and overthrew the mighty city on the Tiber. The sun of
civilization was setting, at least for a time. Night was coming on, the
night of the Dark Ages, a night without a star of human thought or
achievement, a night full of the noxious vapors of ignorance and
superstition.
About the beginning of the fifteenth century after Christ there came
over the world a great intellectual awakening. The human intellect
began to awake, to stretch itself, to go forth and conquer. One of the
first signs and causes of this intellectual awakening was an event that
happened at Mainz in Germany or at Haarlem in Holland, or possibly in
both places at the same time. Of all the events that have made for
civilization and have influenced the progress of the human race, this
event at Haarlem or Mainz is the most important. It is the invention of
printing. Before this time, ever since man began to record his
thoughts, whether on plank, stone, or papyrus, on bark of tree, skin of
animal, or tablet of wax or paper, every letter was made by hand. The
process was necessarily slow, books were rare and costly, and only the
few could have them. But with the advent of a process that would
multiply books and make them cheap, learning was made accessible to the
multitude. The clang of the first printing press was the death knell of
ignorance and tyranny.
[Illustration: AN ADVERTISEMENT OF CAXTON, THE FIRST PRINTER IN
ENGLAND]
Before the invention of printing with movable, metal types, a kind of
block printing was used. The words or letters were carved on a block of
wood; the block was applied to paper, silk, cloth, or vellum, and thus
impressions were made.
It has always been a matter of dispute as to who invented printing. It
is fairly clear that printing, both with blocks and with movable types,
was practised in China and Japan long before it was in Europe. There is
a tradition that as far back as 175 A.D. Chinese classics were cut upon
tablets of stone, that these tablets were placed outside the
university, and that impressions were made from them. However, we are
not indebted to China or Japan for the art of printing. The real
invention of printing, so far as the civilized world is concerned,
occurred in Europe in the latter part of the fifteenth century. The
inventor is often said to be Johann Gutenberg, of Mainz, Germany.
Another strong claimant for this honor is Lourens Janszoon Coster, who
lived at Haarlem, in Holland.
Concerning the lives of Coster and Gutenberg little is known. Coster
was born at Haarlem, Holland, about 1370 A.D. He was a member of the
Haarlem Council, assessor and treasurer. He probably perished in the
plague that visited Haarlem in 1439-40. Gutenberg was born of noble
parents at Mainz, Germany, in 1410. He had an active mind and gave
attention to the manufacture of money, the polishing of stones, and the
making of looking-glasses, besides his efforts in printing. He died in
February, 1468, poor, childless, and almost friendless.
The first printed book, so far as can be determined, was made at Mainz,
Germany, and bears the date of 1454 A.D. From certain legal records it
is supposed that Gutenberg was the maker of this book and the inventor
of printing. On the other hand, there is a story that Coster, while
walking in the woods one autumn afternoon, chanced to make for his
little grandchild some letters from the bark of a tree; that these
letters suggested to him the idea of metallic types; and that he, and
not Gutenberg, was the inventor of printing. As the story goes, a slave
stole Coster's types and ran away with them from Haarlem to Mainz; and
the books which, it is supposed, were made at the latter place came
really from Coster's types, not Gutenberg's. The fact cannot be known.
It has hopelessly gone with the years.
This first book, which was printed in two different editions, consisted
of certain letters written by Pope Nicholas V in behalf of the kingdom
of Cyprus. By about 1477 A.D. printing had extended from Mainz to all
the chief towns of Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France, the
Netherlands, Spain, and England. By the beginning of the sixteenth
century it had spread to all the principal places of Europe.
In the type of the early books the various letter forms were not fixed
as they are in modern books, but the type for each book was made as
much as possible like the writing of the original manuscript. As
printers moved from place to place introducing their art, it seems that
not one carried away the types of his master but each made his own
anew. Type was originally made and set up by hand, piece by piece, so
that even the production of printed books was very slow. Various
mechanical devices have been invented from time to time, quickening and
cheapening the making of books and other printed matter, so that to-day
printers turn out books and papers in large quantities in an amazingly
short time.
[Illustration: THE PRINTING PRESS IN BOSTON AT WHICH FRANKLIN
WORKED]
The first newspaper in the world is believed to have been the _Frankfurter
Journal_, published about 1615 A.D. at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in
Germany. But of this there is no certainty. Newspapers, however, had
their beginnings in Germany and Italy some time in the latter part of
the sixteenth or the first part of the seventeenth century. It is
believed that the _Weekly News_, started in London in 1622, was the
first newspaper published in England. In the United States there
was a printing press attached to Harvard College, at Cambridge,
Massachusetts, as early as 1638, two years after the college was
founded, and only six years after the settlement of Boston. With this
one exception, for a long time there were no printing presses in the
colonies. A newspaper called _Publick Occurrences_ was started in
Boston in 1690, but it was soon afterward suppressed by the British
government. The first permanent newspaper in America was the _Boston
News Letter_, established at Boston in 1704.
One of the greatest wonders and triumphs of civilization is the great
modern daily newspaper. It occupies a giant "sky-scraper" as its home,
employs a small army of workmen, spends vast sums of money in obtaining
and printing the news, and is sold for a cent per copy. The head of a
newspaper staff is the editor-in-chief. He is in a general way
responsible to the publishers for the paper. Next in command is the
managing editor who has charge of the actual work of publication.
Subordinate to the managing editor are other editors who have control
over various departments of the paper. The telegraph editor looks after
news sent by telegraph; the city editor has charge of happenings in the
city of publication; the exchange editor clips items from other papers;
the religious editor attends to affairs of religion; the sporting
editor collects and arranges news of sports and games; the commercial
editor works with the markets and matters of commerce and business; the
society editor gives attention to social functions; and the dramatic
editor takes note of the theaters. The city editor commands a company
of perhaps half a hundred reporters, who are sent scurrying daily
throughout the city to bring in the news from its various sources. One
goes to the ball game, another to a funeral, another to the courts,
another to a hotel to interview some prominent person, and still
another goes to a political convention. There are also photographers,
illustrators, and editorial writers.
At the close of the day, special correspondents and representatives of
press associations in every nook and corner of the earth send the
world's news for the day by telegraph and ocean cable direct into the
newspaper office. A king has died; a battle has been fought; storm,
earthquake, or fire has destroyed a city; or there has been some
achievement in science or art. The local reporters have brought in the
news of the city. After all has been quickly written, examined, and
edited, the reports are sent to the composing room to be put into type.
The foreman of the composing room distributes the manuscript, called
copy, among skilled operators, who by means of type-setting machines
put it into type. Impressions are then made from this type on strips of
paper. These impressions are called proofs. Proof readers compare these
proofs with the original copy for the purpose of correcting errors.
After the correction of errors the columns of type, called galleys, are
locked up in a form which is the size of a page. The form is next sent
to the stereotyping room, where an exact reproduction is made in metal.
The metal plates are put in place on the presses. The machinery is
started. Tons of white paper are fed into the presses at one end. Out
at another in an instant comes the finished newspaper, printed, cut,
and folded. These papers are counted and delivered automatically to the
mailing room, at the rate of about 100,000 copies in an hour, for the
improved, modern press. After their arrival at the mailing room, papers
that are for out-of-town subscribers are wrapped in packages,
addressed, and carried in express wagons to fast mail trains, which
carry this record of what man did the previous day to readers hundreds
of miles away.
This afternoon at five o'clock a prominent man dies suddenly in San
Francisco. To-night at midnight the newspapers of St. Louis, Chicago,
and New York will come from the press with his picture and a long
sketch of his life. How is this possible in so short a time? The papers
have on file, arranged in alphabetical order, photographs of prominent
persons and places and biographical sketches of great men, kept up to
date. Whenever any noted person, place, or thing is made conspicuous by
any event, the picture and sketch are taken from the files and used.
It is the electric telegraph that makes possible the modern daily
newspaper. Before its invention, papers resorted to various devices for
transmitting news. For some years messengers riding ponies brought news
from Washington to the New York papers. These papers also utilized
small, swift-sailing vessels to meet incoming ships bearing news from
foreign countries.
A recent bulletin on printing and publishing issued by the Census
Bureau of the United States government showed that there were in the
United States 21,394 newspapers and periodicals, printed in
twenty-seven different languages. Of these, 2,452 were daily; 15,046
weekly; 2,500 monthly; 353 quarterly; 58 tri-weekly; 645 semi-weekly;
and 340 of all other kinds. 20,184 of these papers were English; 619
German; 158 Scandinavian; 58 Italian; 41 French; 44 Bohemian; 31
Spanish; 18 Hebrew; 21 Dutch; 7 Chinese; 9 Japanese; 5 Greek; 46
Polish; 5 Hungarian; 3 Arabic; and two each in the Welsh, Syrian and
Gaelic languages. The capital invested in printing and publishing in
the United States was a little more than $385,000,000. It would take
one person twelve hours a day every day for six thousand years, or from
the beginnings of Egyptian and Babylonian civilization to the dawn of
the twentieth century, to read at an average rate all the papers
published in the United States during a single year.