Tekstblad over de Welsprekendheid 1693

This printed page, "Tekstblad over de Welsprekendheid," was created by Charles Perrault in the late 17th century. The text is made of lines of tiny type impressed onto paper, a relatively recent technology at the time. Consider the immense labor involved in the creation of this page. Each letter was individually cast in metal, assembled into words and sentences, and then used to transfer ink onto the page. The uniformity of the type speaks to the mechanization of labor, yet its very existence celebrates the art of eloquence. It makes you consider the relationship between the mechanical process of printing and the intellectual pursuit of rhetoric. Note that the industrial process of the printing press democratized knowledge, making texts more accessible to a wider audience. This page embodies the tensions between craft, industry, and the circulation of ideas in the age of enlightenment. It prompts us to reflect on the labor involved in the production of knowledge.