&nb sp;   This week I went to the Crandall Historical Printing Museum, it was a really neat experience. While it is a small museum it provides 4 identical replicas of famous printing presses. First of all and necessary for the full explanation of printing: the museum exhibits an identical and working replica of Gutenberg’s printing press. This is a masterpiece of ingenuity, which still allows nowadays to print pages of the Bible the same way Gutenberg did almost six centuries ago. As everybody knows, printing had a tremendous impact on our civilization and is considered as one of the most decisive breakthroughs in all history. Indeed, the invention of the printing press meant a more easily spread knowledge and a more exact keeping of it, since people did not have to write manuscripts only anymore. It made faster the “publishing” of books and also more accessible to “the mass”. As a consequence people became more knowledgeable and were able to transmit their knowledge more easily leading to new discoveries since more people were able to think about the problems faced by society. The fact that Gutenberg first printed the Bible is not without meaning, it was at this time (and maybe still is) and this part of the world, the most read book as well as the most recognized and important. Having a broader publication of it partly made the reform possible, people were beginning to develop a critical mind and question the former religious authorities and beliefs which were not founded on the sacred text and wanted more equality as well. This led later to the freedom and religion and in a certain way to the emigration of the Puritans and members of other confessions to the America. In addition to this press, the museum also exhibits Benjamin Franklin printing press. I thought interesting that B. Franklin had to publish almanacs at first to survive because he was not very successful. Furthermore the museum displays two important printing presses in the Latter Day Saints church’ history: the working identical replica of the press which printed the first copies of the Book of Mormon and the one used to print the Deseret News at the beginning of the settlement of the pioneers in Utah. An interesting fact about the one used to print the Book of Mormon is the rapidity at which the printer and his assistants were able to print the many copies asked by Joseph Smith (then President of the Church). In fact, one has to remember that the printing process at this time required the careful ordering the molds of every word, line, page ahead of time before being able to print this particular page. In the case of the Book of Mormon the format allowed to print sixteen pages at once, but for the whole book they needed to do that 37 times, each set requiring numerous hours of careful attention. I think this is such a marvelous invention which, even if at the beginning was really demanding, led to a wide spreading of knowledge that defined our society; all this partly thanks to the patience and ingenuity of those first printers.

Tags: Crandall Printing Press Gutenberg Franklin Deseret News Book Of Mormon

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