Tekst uit: Le Bal Costumé donné au Palais de S.A.R. Monseigneur le Prince d'Orange au 26 Fevrier 1845 1845

This double-page spread from an unknown publication, was created in 1845 by le Comte de Guldenlew. The text, rendered in letterpress, describes a costume ball given at the palace of the Prince of Orange. Printing with movable type was a painstaking, labor-intensive process. Each letter was individually cast in metal, then arranged by hand to form words and sentences. The printer would then ink the type and press paper against it to transfer the image. The consistent, regimented lines of text speak to the careful, methodical work that went into its production. Consider the social context: this book, describing a lavish aristocratic event, would have been produced by skilled laborers, many of whom likely lived in very different circumstances than the Prince and his guests. The book itself becomes a material record of class divisions in nineteenth-century Europe. The very act of printing, of disseminating information, was also a powerful force for social change, gradually eroding the power of the aristocracy whose festivities are described within.