
How Books were made in 1947 [video] - mmcconnell1618
http://youtu.be/hBztGX-2i1M
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fourspace
That awesome typesetting machine is called a Linotype, and they're slowly
disappearing. There's a cool Kickstarter project to film a documentary about
them.

[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/206589381/linotype-
the-f...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/206589381/linotype-the-film)

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beej71
I've seen two in real life--one in a museum in Palo Alto, and another in a
museum in Philomath, Oregon. Haven't ever seen one operate, though.

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wazoox
I've seen an actual Linotype still in use in Saint Léonard de Noblat. It's in
a printing shop in activity since the late 15th century. They're also making
their own paper, and still use a movable type printing press. A very
interesting place to visit.

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rokhayakebe
60 years from now "How software programs were written by Humans in 2011...Each
line of code was written by a programmer who sat at his desk for hours
sometimes".

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raphar
"The typical OSs for the time were so flawed that most of the bugs had to be
discovered by the end users"

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korussian
A single human programmer could understand and hold in his mind an entire non-
trivial program.

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duck
Very interesting to watch. I live in an older town in Maine and I think about
half the books in the library are from the early 1900's. There is something
really cool about reading them knowing somebody letter by letter had to
typeset it.

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mmcconnell1618
Each letter is created from molten metal on the typesetting machine as the
type setter presses keys. That's not something you see every day!

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StavrosK
What happens if he makes a mistake, though? He can't really see what letter he
pressed, can he?

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jwcacces
He can pop that line out and replace it

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StavrosK
Yes, but how does he know? Surely he must see the result before it goes off to
the next stage, but in the video it looks like he has no feedback of what he
typed.

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burgerbrain
I often catch myself making typos while not able to see what I'm typing
(really _really_ laggy ssh sessions). If it's this guy's job to sit there and
type all day, I imagine he'd get pretty good at doing that.

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StavrosK
Sure, but that's far from the 99.9% accuracy of books, so it doesn't explain
it. He must have some sort of feedback mechanism not shown there, and it looks
like it's all analog...

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dotp
Most print shops had proof presses and proofreaders on staff back then.

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StavrosK
Ah, that makes sense, thanks.

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Nat0
I have some friends that started a letterpress printing business and they have
been able to pick up vintage machinery like this for pennies on the dollar. It
is quite amazing seeing it in action.

~~~
jaysonelliot
What city are they in? I'd love to visit, or even volunteer to work on the
line for a while. I started in print just as the DTP revolution was
eliminating some of the old ways, I'd love to learn.

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spacecadet
This is also where the layout term, leading comes from. They would use lead
shavings in-between letters and words to space them out for readability.

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StavrosK
Is it pronounced "led-ing", then?

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pelle
yes

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StavrosK
Ah, you learn something new every day. Thanks.

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korussian
Great video! I wonder what percentage of monthly household income an average
book cost then as opposed to now.

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mmcconnell1618
US Census estimated 1947 median income at $3,000 (in 1947 dollars)
<http://www2.census.gov/prod2/popscan/p60-005.pdf>

Cost of books in 1947? $0.25 to $2.50
[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AmericasBestComics220...](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AmericasBestComics2202.jpg)

$1.50 / $3,000 = 0.05% of income in 1947 $7.99 / $49,777 (2009) = 0.016% of
income in 2009

Some other costs in 1947: Average Cost of new house $6,600.00 Average wages
per year $2,850.00 Cost of a gallon of Gas 15 cents Average Cost of a new car
$1,300.00 Loaf of Bread 13 cents United States Postage Stamp 3 cents Men's
Sweater $8.50 Bulova Men's Watch $52.50 from
<http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1947.html>

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raphar
It's interesting to see how the whole process changed with the emergence of
computers:

The typesetting part, that is knowledge based, was completly transformed by
computers. And all those machines for the task disapeared.

And in the printing part, that is a physical process, you still have similar
machines. Although there were optimized and modernized.

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dasht
A noteworthy detail of the narration is that it tells a clear story about what
can be achieved by hard working "men" and "girls".

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burgerbrain
I wouldn't read too much into it. I can't count the number of propaganda films
I've seen that called soldiers "boys".

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dasht
I don't have to read anything into it, I was raised in part by people who
spoke that dialect. I can speak it. I can creep out people my age by using
that dialect in its (creepy) nuances. I've got the grey hair to prove it and
everything.

As it is used in that film, straight up, I assure you, it reflects sexism. And
"boys" referring to soldiers isn't symmetric. How can I convey it... hmm...

"Men" as used here are tough, full adults. "This man does ..." means we're
talking about someone plausibly a head of household. He's an individual. He's
a complete adult.

"Girl" as used here means we are talking about females who aren't quite kids
but neither are full adults. By default a "girl" is young and unmarried and in
some ways fragile. She _might_ be older and married but its a little sad she's
still working then and, anyway, at most she's a mother hen to the girls who
are younger and more typical of the group.

A fully (recognized as) adult woman in the workplace might be a "lady" or a
"woman" depending on role and context. She could be "fine woman" and you
oughta settle down and show some respect if you want to get anywhere in this
organization. If youre gonna act like that why don't ya just head downstairs
to the chat up the girls in the secretarial pool. Learn your place.

The jocular "the boys in this unit take a smoke break while the tanks get
cleaned and readied for the next advance..." is a sign of camaraderie. It
doesn't (like "girls") signal that they are juvenile, per se, it signals that
they're an anti-hierarchical tough team. "girls" back then could be stretched
to that same connotation but usually wasn't, especially in a non-wartime
workplace.

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chrisjsmith
That is absolutely wonderful. I still think we should be producing books like
that. There is NOTHING which replicates the feel of a book made using a
linotype.

I think recently, since anyone can publish stuff any old junk cheaply on that
scale, that the quality of books has declined.

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bioh42_2
I don't think humans should be doing the text entry, too much room for human
error.

But of computers enter the text and then the printing is still done by cast
metal, you could have an interesting business.

I am sure that will be more expensive, but will people be willing to pay a
premium?

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chrisjsmith
Humans did fine with tippex and typewriters years ago. The delete key is a
modern luxury. People were much better at typing accurately back then.

