The_Black_Knight
09-05-2006, 10:30 PM
Let's go back to the days before computers and laser printers, and digital printing.
In fact, let's go back to before film, press type, rubylith, and stat cameras.
Heck, let's even go back before the big Linotype-Hell compositors.
I present to you the state of the art in graphic design equipment for the 17th and 18th centuries:
http://studentpages.scad.edu/%7Ecweath20/mystic_press/press_1.jpg
This is a hand-operated press in the historic print shop at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut, which I visited this weekend.
It was common for there to be print shops in seaports. These shops would print up contracts between shipping companies, employment contracts, classified ads, shipping manifests, and various other materials used in the shipping industry.
To create your printed piece, you started with a line compositor, which was just a piece of metal that you held in your hand. With your other hand, you would grab letters from a case that contained the font you happened to be working with at the time. Capital letters were in the top case, and the smaller letters were in the bottom case. This is where we get the terms upper case and lower case.
http://studentpages.scad.edu/%7Ecweath20/mystic_press/upper_lower.jpg
You would create a few lines of type (moving from right to left, so that you weren't spelling "backwards"), then place them in the layout, and repeat the procedure until you were done. All of your centering had to be done using pieces of metal, and each letter had to be individually placed, the result of which you can see below.
http://studentpages.scad.edu/%7Ecweath20/mystic_press/type_1.jpg
Line spacing was controlled using thin pieces of metal, which is of course where we get the term leading.
Once your layout was finished, you placed the slabs of wood (called furniture) around it, and tightened up the contents with a key in the holes you see above so that it all stayed together. Then you would ink the plate up, put it in the press with some paper, and pull the big lever.
It was slow, but at least it was true WYSIWYG, and there was very little down time for technical troubleshooting.
Later, some of the bigger print shops moved on to steam presses, but the lever-operated presses were common in offices and small print shops for centuries.
http://studentpages.scad.edu/%7Ecweath20/mystic_press/press_2.jpg
I just thought y'all would find this peek into the history of our industry interesting. I felt it was one of the hightlights of my trip to Mystic Seaport. I think I could see myself doing the job with this equipment and enjoying it at least as much as I do with computers. There's a great immediate gratification and hands-one quality to the work that I think would make it enjoyable for me.
In fact, let's go back to before film, press type, rubylith, and stat cameras.
Heck, let's even go back before the big Linotype-Hell compositors.
I present to you the state of the art in graphic design equipment for the 17th and 18th centuries:
http://studentpages.scad.edu/%7Ecweath20/mystic_press/press_1.jpg
This is a hand-operated press in the historic print shop at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut, which I visited this weekend.
It was common for there to be print shops in seaports. These shops would print up contracts between shipping companies, employment contracts, classified ads, shipping manifests, and various other materials used in the shipping industry.
To create your printed piece, you started with a line compositor, which was just a piece of metal that you held in your hand. With your other hand, you would grab letters from a case that contained the font you happened to be working with at the time. Capital letters were in the top case, and the smaller letters were in the bottom case. This is where we get the terms upper case and lower case.
http://studentpages.scad.edu/%7Ecweath20/mystic_press/upper_lower.jpg
You would create a few lines of type (moving from right to left, so that you weren't spelling "backwards"), then place them in the layout, and repeat the procedure until you were done. All of your centering had to be done using pieces of metal, and each letter had to be individually placed, the result of which you can see below.
http://studentpages.scad.edu/%7Ecweath20/mystic_press/type_1.jpg
Line spacing was controlled using thin pieces of metal, which is of course where we get the term leading.
Once your layout was finished, you placed the slabs of wood (called furniture) around it, and tightened up the contents with a key in the holes you see above so that it all stayed together. Then you would ink the plate up, put it in the press with some paper, and pull the big lever.
It was slow, but at least it was true WYSIWYG, and there was very little down time for technical troubleshooting.
Later, some of the bigger print shops moved on to steam presses, but the lever-operated presses were common in offices and small print shops for centuries.
http://studentpages.scad.edu/%7Ecweath20/mystic_press/press_2.jpg
I just thought y'all would find this peek into the history of our industry interesting. I felt it was one of the hightlights of my trip to Mystic Seaport. I think I could see myself doing the job with this equipment and enjoying it at least as much as I do with computers. There's a great immediate gratification and hands-one quality to the work that I think would make it enjoyable for me.