typesetting

It took how long to print?

3381049682_11dde155e2 I recently read a book titled The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime by Miles Harvey. Maps were actually ripped from library books for a profit. Working in the print world, the one part that really stuck in my mind was how long it actually took to print an atlas in 1663, at a qty. of 300.

Lets see… 1,000 working days for typesetting, 330 working days for letterpress printing, 900 working days for the copperplate printing and 300 working days for binding. Can you believe it?

I wonder how long it would take us today.

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Monday, August 10th, 2009 Creative No Comments