In one of his essays1 Edgar Poe wrote about the power of
writing for what he saw as a revolutionary form of information distribution—anastatic
printing. He was wrong about its instant
application in releasing the writer from the habits, time, expense and editing
of the printing process; he was wrong that it was the greatest achievement
since Gutenberg; and he was wrong about most everything else about the (real)
process. He was right though in his vision
for the distribution of information. I’m
participating in this vision right now, except there was no way that even the
supremely gifted Poe could have envisioned the way in which information was
being shared on 20th November 2009.
handwritten documents for a mass audience.
The problem was though that the process tended to destroy the
original. Highly problematic. But Poe wasn’t interested in those aspects of
the technical problems of the process—it was the possibility of relatively
immediate distribution of the written word that had his attention. He wrote:
diffuse knowledge and amusement, and to bring before the public the very class
of works which are most valuable, but least in circulation on account of
unsaleability — is what need scarcely be suggested to any one. But benefits
such as these are merely the immediate and most obvious — by no means the most
important.”
access to a reading public, which is an enormous concept, to think that all
sorts of information could be made accessible regardless of the tastes of the
buying public. Exceptionally low
production costs would also make dissemination feasible for and to a wider
range of people—since the cost of production would be lower the cost of the final
product could/would be as well, making things within the reach of the working
poor (perhaps). This also means that
anastatic printing could also give voice to the working poor as well—a class of
writer little know before the time of Dickens.
and prettiness was of a high order since your manuscript was the final product.
Poe writes:
“This consideration will lead to the cultivation of a neat
and distinct style of handwriting — for authors will perceive the immense
advantage of giving their own manuscripts directly to the public without the
expensive interference of the type-setter, and the often ruinous intervention
of the publisher. All that a man of letters need do, will be to pay some
attention to legibility of MS., arrange his pages to suit himself, and
stereotype them instantaneously, as arranged. He may intersperse them with his
own drawings, or with anything to please his own fancy, in the certainty of
being fairly brought before his readers, with all the freshness of his original
conception about him.”
about the message. Perhaps his mind was
filled then with the very-new telegraph, imagining instantaneous communication
over distances and carrying that development sci-fi-forward. The telegraph (1837-1845) followed by the
telephone (1876) and then wireless telegraphy (1898) and television (1905-1927)
all would have enormous impact on our description of reality. But no technological change would encompass
Poe’s vision until 1979 (+) with the development of the internet. Poe’s technology was wrong, but his thought-prognosis
was pretty spot-on.
