Introduction
Scholary discussions of rising Victorian literacy rates focus on the educational policies of Church and State. But the problem wasn’t a lack of schools, teachers or investment. The problem was that print technology was stuck in the Tudor age.
AT the close of the 18th century, printing remained a laborious, inky and unreliable affair. The first major advance on the fifteenth-century Gutenberg press came from Charles, Earl Stanhope, who in 1798 devised a much more robust iron press, which he generously donated to the nation. Some 480 single-sided sheets could now be run off every hour, but it was still too slow to unleash mass literacy.
That changed when on 29th November 1814, the Times dashed off 1,100 impressions per hour with its brand new steam-powered iron press, developed by German engineer Friedrich Koenig and London publisher Thomas Bensley.* With improvements by the firm of Applegarth and Cowper, that figure soon rose higher.
Publishers could now print cheap and plentiful copies of newspapers, novels, encyclopaedias and magazines, and the country discovered a greedy appetite for them — delivered in hours by rail. Literacy rates began to rise steadily from the 1830s, thanks to Earl Stanhope and the inventors, publishers, and railway engineers who brought printing into the age of mass production.
It was not done without controversy, owing to the unfounded fear that automation would cost jobs. See Changing Times.
Précis
Prior to Earl Stanhope’s iron press in 1798, and Friedrich Koenig’s steam-driven press trialled by the Times in 1814, print technology simply could not supply enough reading matter to satisfy demand. However, once publishers could distribute large volumes of cheap books and magazines by rail in the early Victorian era, national literacy improved steadily. (54 / 60 words)
Prior to Earl Stanhope’s iron press in 1798, and Friedrich Koenig’s steam-driven press trialled by the Times in 1814, print technology simply could not supply enough reading matter to satisfy demand. However, once publishers could distribute large volumes of cheap books and magazines by rail in the early Victorian era, national literacy improved steadily.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, if, just, must, ought, unless, until, who.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Iron. Plenty. Press.
2 But. Side. Which.
3 Cheap. Inventor. Power.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
swps (5)
swaps. sweeps. swipes. swoops. swops.
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