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London printing is an invaluable part of human life today. From people’s offices to their homes, humans have come to rely greatly on this technology. Even before the advent of civilization, it has always been man’s desire to store information and spread it to other societies. People even wanted information for future reference. Whether it was a simple poem about a disgruntled lover, a story of a past raid, or the beauty of their culture; all was preserved in one form or the other. Parchments were used by the Mesopotamians. Drawings in caves can be seen in many societies, and stone tablets are even cited in the Old Testament. It was quickly discovered that putting things in written form is the best way to preserve information. Instead of just writing on a piece of paper or parchment, man soon discovered that script and even images could be printed on to an object. And so began the evolution of London printing. Indeed it has come a long way. The oldest printed book, the Diamond Sutra, can be traced back to the Han Dynasty in China. And now we can boast of 3D printing. Europe quickly hastened the pace of lithographic technology for the world with most inventions in the printing industry taking place here. Friedrich Koenig and Thomas Bensley are remembered for their invention of the first non-manpowered press machine. Then William Caxton came into the scene. He went to visit Cologne where he was met with the rising German printing industry. Caxton set up a printing press in Bruges which printed the first book in English in 1473. In his native land, he began a press at Westminster contributing a lot to London printing history. The Victorian period was an important epoch in lithography. Steam presses developed in this era that enabled faster printing of large numbers of pages. Advancements in lithographic printing also took place during this time when metal began replacing the original limestone slabs. Earlier on, the press was controlled by the state and specifically the Arch bishop of Canterbury and Stationer’s company. This introduced limitations in the type of documents that were printed. It also slowed the needed growth in numbers of press companies. Technologies like laser and inkjet printers have also made significant strides. Take inkjets for instance. When first introduced in the eighties, these machines were notorious for sloppy and splotchy work. Now they give crisp, clear images. Laser printers have been improved to take up less space and time. You also get higher quality at lower prices from this kind of printers. Prices have more than halved over the past few decades. Laser printers used to be considered the cutting edge of London printing. Now almost everyone has one. All-in-one printers have also taken the scene by storm. Capable of handling a range of tasks from printing, scanning to faxing; almost every office has one. Today printing has come a long way. Recently London was the proud host of a 3D printing show that was held at London Science Museum. This clearly shows there is an incredible future ahead of London printing.
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