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[page 229, column 2, continued:]
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ANASTATIC PRINTING.
It is admitted by every one that of
late there has
been a rather singular invention, called Anastatic Printing, and that
this
invention may possibly lead, in the course of time, to some rather
remarkable
results — among which the one chiefly insisted upon, is the abolition
of the ordinary stereotyping process: — but this seems to be the
amount,
in America at least, of distinct understanding on this subject. [page
230:]
"There is no exquisite beauty," says
Bacon, "without
some strangeness in the proportions." The philosopher had reference,
here,
to beauty in its common acceptation; but the remark is equally
applicable
to all the forms of beauty — that is to say, to everything which
arouses
profound interest in the heart or intellect of man. In every such
thing,
strangeness — in other words novelty — will be found a principal
element;
and so universal is this law that it has no exception even in the case
of this principal element itself. Nothing, unless it be novel — not
even novelty itself — will be the source of very intense
excitement
among men. Thus the ennyue who travels in the hope of dissipating his ennui
by
the perpetual succession of novelties, will invariably be disappointed
in the end. He receives the impression of novelty so continuously that
it is at length no novelty to receive it. And the man, in general, of
the
nineteenth century — more especially of our own particular epoch of it
— is very much in the predicament of the traveller in question. We are
so habituated to new inventions, that we no longer get from newness the
vivid interest which should appertain to the new — and no example
could
be adduced more distinctly showing that the mere importance of a
novelty
will not suffice to gain for it universal attention, than we find in
the
invention of Anastatic Printing. It excites not one fiftieth
part
of the comment which was excited by the comparatively frivolous
invention
of Sennefelder; — but he lived in the good old days when a novelty was
novel. Nevertheless, while Lithography opened the way for a very
agreeable
pastime, it is the province of Anastatic Printing to revolutionize the
world.
By means of this discovery anything
written, drawn,
or printed, can be made to stereotype itself, with absolute accuracy,
in
five minutes.
Let us take, for example, a page of
this Journal;
supposing only one side of the leaf to have printing on it. We dampen
the
leaf with a certain acid diluted, and then place it between two leaves
of blotting-paper to absorb superfluous moisture. We then place the
printed
side in contact with a zinc plate that lies on the table. The acid in
the
interspaces between the letters, immediately corrodes the zinc, but the
acid on the letters themselves, has no such effect, having been
neutralized
by the ink. Removing the leaf at the end of five minutes, we find a
reversed
copy, in slight relief, of the printing on the page; — in other words,
we have a stereotype-plate, from which we can print a vast number of
absolute
facsimiles of the original printed page — which latter has not been at
all injured in the process — that is to say, we can still produce from
it (or from any impression of the stereotype plate) new stereotype
plates ad
libitum. Any engraving, or any pen-and-ink drawing, or any MS. can
be stereotyped in precisely the same manner.
The facts of the invention
are established.
The process is in successful operation both in London and Paris. We
have
seen several specimens of printing done from the plates described, and
have now lying before us a leaf (from the London Art-Union) covered
with
drawing, MS., letter-press, and impressions from wood-cuts, -the whole
printed from the Anastatic stereotypes, and warranted by the Art-Union
to be absolute fac-similes of the originals.
The process can scarcely be regarded
as a new invention, — and appears to be rather the modification and
successful application
of two or three previously ascertained principles -those of etching,
electrography,
lithography, etc. It follows from this that there will be much
difficulty
in establishing or maintaining a right of patent, and the probability
is
that the benefits of the process will soon be thrown open to the world.
As to the secret — it can only be a secret in name. [column
2:]
That the discovery (if we may so call
it) has been
made can excite no surprise in any thinking person — the only matter
for
surprise is, that it has not been made many years ago. The obviousness
of the process, however, in no degree lessens its importance. Indeed
its
inevitable results enkindle the imagination, and embarrass the
understanding.
Every one will perceive, at once,
that the ordinary
process of stereotyping will be abolished. Through this ordinary
process,
a publisher, to be sure, is enabled to keep on hand the means of
producing
edition after edition of any work the certainty of whose sale will
justify
the cost of stereotyping — which is trifling in comparison with
that of re-setting the matter. But still, positively, this cost
(of stereotyping) is great. Moreover, there cannot always be certainty
about sales. Publishers frequently are forced to reset works which they
have neglected to stereotype, thinking them unworthy the expense ; and
many excellent works are not published at all, because small editions
do
not pay, and the anticipated sales will not warrant the cost of
stereotype.
Some of these difficulties will be at once remedied by the Anastatic
Printing,
and all will be remedied in a brief time. A publisher has only to print
as many copies as are immediately demanded. He need print no more than
a dozen, indeed, unless he feels perfectly confident of success.
Preserving
one copy, he can from this, at no other cost than that of the zinc,
produce
with any desirable rapidity, as many impressions as he may think
proper.
Some idea of the advantages thus accruing may be gleaned from the fact
that in several of the London publishing warehouses there is deposited
in stereotype plates alone, property to the amount of a million
sterling.
The next view of the case, in point
of obviousness,
is, that, if necessary, a hundred thousand impressions per hour, or
even
infinitely more, can be taken of any newspaper, or similar publication.
As many presses can be put in operation as the occasion may require : —
indeed there can be no limit to the number of copies producible,
provided
we have no limit to the number of presses.
The tendency of all this to cheapen
information,
to diffuse knowledge and amusement, and to bring before the public the
very class of works which are most valuable, but least in circulation
on
account of unsaleability — is what need scarcely be suggested to any
one.
But benefits such as these are merely the immediate and most obvious —
by no means the most important.
For some years, perhaps, the strong
spirit of conventionality — of conservatism — will induce authors in
general to have recourse,
as usual, to the setting of type. A printed book, now, is more sightly,
and more legible, than any MS. and for some years the idea will not be
overthrown that this state of things is one of necessity. But by
degrees
it will be remembered that, while MS. was a necessity, men
wrote
after such fashion that no books printed in modern times have surpassed
their MSS. either in accuracy or in beauty. This consideration will
lead
to the cultivation of a neat and distinct style of handwriting — for
authors
will perceive the immense advantage of giving their own manuscripts
directly
to the public without the expensive interference of the type-setter,
and
the often ruinous intervention of the publisher. All that a man of
letters
need do, will be to pay some attention to legibility of MS., arrange
his
pages to suit himself, and stereotype them instantaneously, as
arranged.
He may intersperse them with his own drawings, or with anything to
please
his own fancy, in the certainty of being fairly brought before his
readers,
with all the freshness of his original conception about him.
And at this point we are arrested by
a consideration
of infinite moment, although of a seemingly shadowy character.
[page
231:] The cultivation of accuracy in MS., thus enforced,
will
tend with an inevitable impetus to every species of improvement in style
— more especially in the points of concision and distinctness- and
this
again, in a degree even more noticeable, to precision of thought, and
luminous
arrangement of matter. There is a very peculiar and easily intelligible
reciprocal influence between the thing written and the manner of
writing — but the latter has the predominant influence of the two. The
more
remote
effect on philosophy at large, which will inevitably result from
improvement
of style and thought in the points of concision, distinctness, and
accuracy,
need only be suggested to be conceived.
As a consequence of attention being
directed to neatness
and beauty of MS., the antique profession of the scribe will be
revived,
affording abundant employment to women — their delicacy of
organization
fitting them peculiarly for such tasks. The female amanuensis, indeed,
will occupy very nearly the position of the present male type-setter,
whose
industry will be diverted perforce into other channels.
These considerations are of vital
importance — but
there is yet one beyond them all. The value of every book is a compound
of its literary value and its physical or mechanical value as the
product
of physical labor applied to the physical material. But at present the
latter value immensely predominates, even in the works of the most
esteemed
authors. It will be seen, however, that the new condition of things
will
at once give the ascendency to the literary value, and thus by their
literary
values will books come to be estimated among men. The wealthy gentleman
of elegant leisure will lose the vantage-ground now afforded him, and
will
be forced to tilt on terms of equality with the poor devil author. At
present
the literary world is a species of anomalous Congress, in which the
majority
of the members are constrained to listen in silence while all the
eloquence
proceeds from a privileged few. In the new regime, the humblest will
speak
as often and as freely as the most exalted, and will be sure of
receiving
just that amount of attention which the intrinsic merit of their
speeches
may deserve.
From what we have said it will be
evident that the
discovery of Anastatic Printing will not only not obviate the necessity
of copy-right laws, and of international law in especial, but will
render
this necessity more imperative and more apparent. It has been shown
that
in depressing the value of the physique of a, book, the invention will
proportionately elevate the value of its morale, and since it is the
latter
value alone which the copy-right laws are needed to protect, the
necessity
of the protection will be only the more urgent and more obvious than
ever. |
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