Before there were keyboards...

Books were a really big deal once.

I mean, they're still a big deal to some people (like K, who has a minor heart attack every time I defile a book with a highlighter or post-it note) - but books were once pieces of art not just because of the writing within them, but because of the painstaking craftsmanship it took to make them.

Cottrell Flatbed Cylinder Press, 1871

Today, K and I went on an excursion to the Shelburne Museum, and what did we happen across but a beautiful collection of old printing presses?

Letters and words

Many of them were still operational, so we got to see a couple of them in action...

...and take home a lovely bookmark. It's incredible to think of how much work once went into printing books - and not that long ago, either (the Cottrell press was used to print a local newspaper until 1971!)

Linotype Machine from 1914

It makes me wonder if there will ever be a day when e-readers and computers have taken over completely and we'll fill museums with printed books and pens. From what I've seen in the world of pen blogs, I don't think that's likely - analog tools have a devoted following that looks like it will keep them alive well into the future.

Challenge Proof Press, 1930

 I'm wondering why that is, though. Is it a collective nostalgia on the part of pen users? Does the tactile nature of writing with a good pen lend something to the intellectual process that a keyboard lacks? 

It just occurred to me that I have no idea what today's printing presses look like.

Just some food for thought :]