The history of print from 1700 to 1799
This page documents the evolution of printing and publishing during the eighteenth century.
1709
The Statute of Anne is the first modern copyright law. It originates in the United Kingdom.
1710
The German painter and engraver Jakob Christof Le Blon produces the first engraving in several colors. He uses the mezzotint method to engrave three metal plates. Each plate is inked with a different color, using red, yellow and blue. Later on he adds a fourth plate, bearing black lines. This technique helped form the foundation for modern color printing. Le Bon’s work is based on Newston’s theory, published in 1702, which states that all colors in the spectrum are composed of the three primary colors blue, yellow and red.
1716
William Caslon is an English typographer whose foundry operates in London for over 200 years. His Caslon Roman Old Face is cut between 1716 and 1728. The letters are modelled on Dutch types but they are more delicate and not as monotonous. Caslon’s typefaces remain popular, digital versions are still available today.
1721
The New England Courant is the first newspaper in colonial America. It is published by James Franklin, the older brother of Benjamin Franklin. The market for such newspapers is still very limited with press runs (the total number printed) of 300 or less.
1725
The Scottish goldsmith William Ged invents stereotyping. In this process a mixture of plaster is poured on a tray of completed type to make a mould from it. Hot metal is poured into this mould and allowed to set. The resulting stereotype or cliché is a printing plate that is an exact copy of the original. From 1848 onwards moulds are created from papier-mâché instead of plaster. The stereotyping process makes larger press runs as well as reprints much cheaper. It is used extensively for printing books and newspapers until the late 1800s when it is gradually getting replaced by electrotyping which delivers sharper copies in which finer detail can be preserved.
1731
The Gentleman’s Magazine, considered to be the first general interest magazine, is published for the first time. The publications runs uninterrupted until 1922.
1732
Benjamin Franklin, who had learned printing from his brother, establishes his own printing office and becomes the publisher of the Pennsylvania Gazette. Among his publications Poor Richard’s Almanac becomes the most famous. He sells the business again in 1748 to devote his time to his literary, journalistic and civic activities. He does keep promoting the print industry in the colonies.
1765
The average press run of American newspapers has risen to between 600 and 800. The aggregate circulation of all newspapers in America is estimated to be 14000 on a weekly basis.
1796
Alois Senefelder invents lithography and uses it as a low-cost method for printing theatrical works. Lithography is a printing technique in which an image is drawn on a stone (a lithographic limestone) using a coating of wax or another greasy substance. This makes those areas hydrophobic (water repellent but ink accepting) while the slightly roughened remaining parts are hydrophilic (water accepting). The stone is then moistened with water which the hydrophilic parts suck up. Next an oil-based ink is rolled onto the stone. Only the greasy parts pick up the ink. Finally a piece of paper is pressed onto the stone and the ink transfers from the stone to the paper.
Lithography is still the dominant printing technique today. Meanwhile the stone has been replaced by an aluminium or plastic plate and the image to be printed is created digitally, not by hand.
1798
Giambattista Bodoni creates a series of typefaces that carry his name and that are still frequently used today. They are characterized by the sharp contrast between the thick vertical stems and thin horizontal hairlines.
Initially Bodoni ran a state-owned printing house in Parma, Italy but his success enabled him to start his own company, Officina Bodoni. During his life time Bodoni designed and engraved 298 typefaces. A facsimile of Il Manuale tipografico (The Manual of Typography), which shows many of his designs, is still available today.
1799
The Frenchman Louis-Nicolas Robert invents a continuous paper making machine, based on a specially woven bronze mesh conveyor belt called ‘the wire’. An improved version is developed by the English brothers Sealy and Henry Fourdrinier whose Fourdrinier Machines become operational from 1803 onwards. Modern papermaking machines are still based on this concept.