Data + Design Project

eBooks are Easier: Bookmaking in 1947

Wednesday 03.16.2011 , Posted by

This vintage footage shows the process of printing a book the old fashioned way, with lots and lots of labor. The number of steps to create a book in 1947 is jaw dropping. Typesetting, copper plate making, printing, cutting, sewing, gluing and more were all part of the process, providing jobs for a large staff of skilled workers… and some that clearly want to cut their fingers off (see the guy using the table saw at 4:20). The sheer about of labor involved in this past era makes us question what caries more importance: jobs or the convenience of the modern eBook?

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