I just watched this amazing new BBC documentary called “The Machine That Made Us”. Host Stephen Fry attempts to reproduce a Gutenberg press. There are no illustrations or plans of Gutenbergs original press, so Mr Fry visits the museums in Strasbourg and Mainz - and even gets to look through one of the original Gutenberg bibles! - to try to piece together what a Gutenberg press might have looked like. Along the way he makes paper, forges type and builds the press with a master woodworker. I wish he also met with a bookbinder, but this is a great documentary.
In the end they successfully print a few pages. I *love* BBC documentaries. They are SOOOO much better than anything you see on American TV. We own a TV, but don’t have cable or satellite, so I probably don’t know what I’m talking about, but whenever we watch BBC TV, we enjoy it. American cable TV, not so much. Junk food for your eyes.
If you’re into books & paper & type - I recommend this documentary. I live in the US so had to download it through a torrent site.
Here’s the official BBC page.
thanks for the tip. sounds great- something worthwhile to watch on the tube.
I majored in printmaking in college and my dad was a printer (pre-kinkos era) so this is right up my alley!
Comment by mollie — October 31, 2008 @ 12:29 pm
Mollie - good luck, let me know if you find a copy too. Jason
Comment by Jason Thompson — October 31, 2008 @ 1:59 pm
Hi Jason,
You can also view the same documentary here
You need veoh player or the web player.
John Ang
Comment by John Ang — November 3, 2008 @ 2:09 am
Strange the link did not appear.
Here it is again:
The Machine That Made Us
Comment by John Ang — November 3, 2008 @ 2:50 am
Thanks John!
Comment by Jason Thompson — November 3, 2008 @ 8:24 am
got it- it was great! thanks.
Comment by mollie — November 20, 2008 @ 5:37 pm
Mollie - how did you get a copy? Just curious. I downloaded an AVI file from a torrent site and watched it on our DVD player at home. The quality was great.
Jason
Comment by Jason Thompson — November 20, 2008 @ 6:52 pm