Hey there,
I'm not 100% sure how to phrase this question clearly, but hopefully the gist of it comes through.
I was just thinking about the usage of substantive footnotes in fiction (ala Pratchett) and realised that their adoption depended on the ability to clearly print rather wee letters consistently and clearly.
I imagine the same applies to things like concise indexing in Encyclopedias, or cheap and cheerful availability of woodcuts for early illustrated pamphlets.
How enthusiastically were these new technologies adapted by publishers and by the broader public?
Was there generally a maturation stage where techniques became economically feasible and then spread out into professional circles?
When techniques gained traction, were there fads for 'types' of works? Say, cheaper manufacturing paper and bindings for penny dreadfuls?
I realise it's a very broad question, but I don't have any background in publishing or manufacturing in general, so I'm unsure what to narrow in on!
Cheers :)
In very general terms, the technology of printing did not experience any significant technological advances from the first development of movable type printing in the mid 15th century to the early 19th century, where industrialisation drastically changed the business by introducing mechanical presses and industrially produced wood pulp paper.
If you entered a printing firm in the late 15th century and one in the the late 18th century, you would find basically the same technology being used. So any fads in printing in that time period would not originate from technological advances, but solely from changes in taste by the authors and readers.
It is true that technological experiments were performed in that time period, for example with stereotyping (the casting of entire typeset forms) from the early 1700s or cast iron printing presses instead of wooden ones from the second half of the 18th century, but these were exceptions and they never really managed to gain enough popular traction to create fads.
One has to remember that books did not originate with printing, and most of the things that we associate with printed books originated much earlier than the printing press. The index, notes and woodcuts are all something that existed prior to the printing press, so all of them were things that were readily incoorporated in the new technology when it was required by the work in question.