18th Century Printing
You'll visit the Philadelphia print shop of Benjamin Franklin, where he and his partners were active in printing from 1728 to 1766. This English Common Press is an exact replica of his actual press now preserved in the Smithsonian Institution. This press represents one of the three presses and over 7 tons of Caslon type. There are still in existence 545 pieces of job printing and 856 book, periodical, newspaper, and almanac titles. When Franklin started his diplomatic career there were 60 paper manufacturers in Pennsylvania and he had started 18 of them. In a 15-year period he collected 120,000 pounds of rags to make paper. He was a major supplier of lampblack and other inkmaking supplies throughout the colonies.
In the Benjamin Franklin Printing House Room, copies of Poor Richard's Almanac are printed on a replica of Benjamin Franklin's original English Common Press.
Visitors hear the story of Thomas Paine and the printing of his broadsides and pamphlets that contributed mightily to the founding of America.
Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706. He loved to read. His father first tried to apprentice him to a soap-boiler and candle maker. Since Ben's brother James was already a printer, their father got the inspired notion to apprentice Ben to his brother. By the time Ben was 17, his brother James had landed in jail for libel. Young Benjamin published his brother's newspaper for a while with his name on the masthead. Jail had not improved James so Benjamin left his employment.
In New York, William Bradford Sr. directed Benjamin to his printer-son in Philadelphia who directed Benjamin to Samuel Keimer's print shop. Bradford and Keimer were both second rate printers. The Lieutenant Governor, Sir William Keith, encouraged Benjamin to set up his own print shop - and told him to draw up an inventory of what he would need. When Benjamin gave him the inventory, Keith suggested perhaps Benjamin might go to London and pick out exactly what he needed. Supposedly, Sir William was sending letters of credit.
When Benjamin arrived in London the day before Christmas, there were no letters, and he discovered that Sir William had no credit. To buy the items to set up a print shop, would, in present money, cost about $20,000 - about the same as an automobile today. But how many eighteen-year-olds do you know who can lay down cash for a new car? So, Ben got a job. He was in London for nearly 18 months. He worked as a pressman and as a type setter for two of the best printers in England.
When Benjamin came back to Philadelphia and after many tight squeezes he and Hugh Meredith opened their own printing house in the spring of 1728. They squeaked by for a couple of years until his partner Hugh turned to alcohol and Ben turned to paying off their debts. After that Benjamin Franklin was in the printing business by himself.
Little changed in how presses worked from Gutenberg's time to Benjamin Franklin's printing operation in 1728. Fifty years prior to 1728 an English author and mechanical expert by the name of Joseph Moxon suggested a number of improvements to the printing press. Few of his suggestions were taken and with little improvement the English Common Press that made Benjamin Frankin famous continued throughout the world as the best printing press of the day.
When David Hall and Ben ended their partnership in 1766, the printing-house was valued at about $50,000. This included three common presses and 4,000 lbs. of type - almost all the type was a design called Caslon. Their newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette, provided about half of their profits from advertising and subscriptions. Over Ben's career as a printer, he spent an average of $80,000 a year on paper - over a million dollars total. Before 1735, most of his paper came from Europe. Since paper was made from used rags Benjamin Franklin entered the rag collection business. Between 1735 and 1741 - a six-year period - he gathered over 70,000 lbs. of rags which he sold to the paper mills. In the next six years he collected another 50,000 lbs. He was a major paper wholesaler in the colonies. By the end of his diplomatic career there were 60 paper mills in Pennsylvania. He helped establish 18 of those - nearly a third of the total. He was also a major supplier of varnish (boiled down linseed oil) and lampblack used to make ink.
There were about 125 printing houses in the colonies before the Revolutionary War. In addition to his own print shop, he was a silent partner in printing houses in Charleston, South Carolina; New York City; Antigua; Newport and Rhode Island.
In Ben's printing career he and his partners printed about 850 books and pamphlets - all of which are stored on microfiche in many libraries across the nation.
There's a story that illustrates the great worth of literacy that the greatest invention in the world -Printing- made possible. "Once upon a time there were two areas of the world, subcontinental in size: USA and India. Both were controlled by the British. British merchants insisted that these colonies export raw materials and buy finished goods. Our Revolutionary War was fought, in part, in opposition to this policy. We gained our independence before the century ended. In 1805 the first education report of the then-new USA stated that, 'scarcely more than one person in a thousand cannot read fluently...' In the USA it has always been perceived that the way to get ahead was to be able to read well. India did not gain independence until mid-twentieth century.
Today, the per capita Gross National Product of the United States is 60 times that of India. What made the difference? Literacy!
Benjamin Franklin met Thomas Paine, who was a writer in London. Franklin advised him to seek his fortune in the American Colonies and gave him letters of introduction. He landed in Philadelphia on the 30th of November, 1774, and began to help Benjamin edit the Pennsylvania Magazine. After the 'shot that was heard around the world' in 1775, this man, Thomas Paine, wrote Common Sense, a pamphlet of 50 pages that was published in January of 1776. Within three months half a million copies had been sold. In a country of fewer than two million people this meant that most adults had access to a copy. In it Paine argued that the time for tax reform was past; now, the only possible course of action was for the colonies to seek complete independence.
In the war that followed, Paine wrote sixteen 'Crisis Papers.' The first of these were published on December 19, 1776. This began with the now famous words, 'These are the times that try men's souls.' The American Colonies were in the thick battle for independence and General George Washington's army was disintegrating. General Washington ordered the Crisis Papers read to the entire army. In elegant and understandable language Paine told the soldiers why they must win the war and the liberty the colonies would have if they did. It was the turning point for the Continental Army, and the British were defeated."
After the war was over and our statesmen began to hammer out what kind of country we were going to become, the printing press continued to play a major role in the life of the nation. For instance, Hamilton's Federalist Papers, so critical in the formation of the United States, were published as newspaper broadsheets and read by everyone.
In his lectures, Mr. Crandall tells his visitors that, "the War of Independence in 1776 was won by lead type and literacy rather than lead bullets. I suspect that if your world is going to be spared it will require truthful printers and men and women who read well and think logically."