ThenewWalterPressdoesnotintheleastresembleanyexistingprintingmachine，unlessitbethecalenderingmachinewhichfurnisheditstype。Attheprintingenditlookslikeacollectionofsmallcylindersorrollers。Thefirstthingtobeobservedisthecontinuousrollofpaperfourmileslong，tightlymountedonareel，which，whenthemachineisgoing，fliesroundwithimmenserapidity。Thewebofpapertakenupbythefirstrollerisledintoaseriesofsmallhollowcylindersfilledwithwaterandsteam，perforatedwiththousandsofminuteholes。Bythismeansthepaperisproperlydampedbeforetheprocessofprintingisbegun。Therollofpaper，drawnbynippingrollers，nextfliesthroughtothecylinderonwhichthestereotypeplatesarefixed，soastoformthefourpagesoftheordinarysheetofTheTimes；thereitislightlypressedagainstthetypeandprinted；thenitpassesdownwardsroundanothercylindercoveredwithcloth，andreversed；nexttothesecondtype-coveredroller，whereittakestheimpressionexactlyontheothersideoftheremainingfourpages。Itnextreachesoneofthemostingeniouscontrivancesoftheinvention——thecuttingmachinery，bymeansofwhichthepaperisdividedbyaquickknifeintothe5500sheetsofwhichtheentirewebconsists。Thetapeshurrythenowcompletelyprintednewspaperupaninclinedplane，fromwhichthedividedsheetsareshowereddowninacontinuousstreambyanoscillatingframe，wheretheyaremetbytwoboys，whoadjustthesheetsastheyfall。Thereeloffourmileslongisprintedanddividedintonewspaperscompleteinabouttwenty-fiveminutes。
　　Themachineisalmostentirelyself-acting，fromthepumping-upoftheinkintotheink-boxoutofthecisternbelowstairs，totheregisteringofthenumbersastheyareprintedinthemanager’sroomabove。Itisalwaysdifficulttodescribeamachineinwords。Nothingbutaseriesofsectionsanddiagramscouldgivethereaderanideaoftheconstructionofthisunrivalledinstrument。Thetimetoseeitandwonderatitiswhenthepressisinfullwork。Andeventhenyoucanseebutlittleofitsconstruction，forthecylindersarewheelingroundwithimmensevelocity。Therapiditywithwhichthemachineworksmaybeinferredfromthefactthattheprintingcylindersroundwhichthestereotypedplatesarefixed，whilemakingtheirimpressionsonthepaper，travelatthesurprisingspeedof200
　　revolutionsaminute，orattherateofaboutninemilesanhour！
　　Contrastthisspeedwiththeformerslowness。Gobacktothebeginningofthecentury。Beforetheyear1814theturn-outofnewspaperswasonlyabout300singleimpressionsinanhour——thatis，impressionsprintedononlyonesideofthepaper。Koenigbyhisinventionincreasedtheissueto1100impressions。ApplegathandCowperbytheirfour-cylindermachineincreasedtheissueto4000，andbytheeight-cylindermachineto10，000anhour。Butthesewereonlyimpressionsprintedononesideofthepaper。
　　Thefirstperfectingpress——thatis，printingsimultaneouslythepaperonbothsides——wastheWalter，thespeedofwhichhasbeenraisedto12，000，though，ifnecessary，itcanproduceexcellentworkattherateof17，000completecopiesofaneight-pagepaperperhour。Then，withthenewmethodofstereotyping——bymeansofwhichtheplatescanbeinfinitelymultipliedandbytheaidofadditionalmachines，thesupplyofadditionalimpressionsisabsolutelyunlimited。
　　TheWalterPressisnotamonopoly。ItismanufacturedatTheTimesoffice，andissuppliedtoallcomers。AmongtheotherdailypapersprintedbyitsmeansinthiscountryaretheDailyNews，theScotsmam，andtheBirminghamDailyPost。ThefirstWalterPresswassenttoAmericain1872，whereitwasemployedtoprinttheMissouriRepublicanatSt。Louis，theleadingnewspaperoftheMississippiValley。AnengineerandaskilledworkmanfromTheTimesofficeaccompaniedthemachinery。OnarrivingatSt。Louis——thematerialswereunpacked，loweredintothemachine-room，wheretheywereerectedandreadyforworkintheshortspaceoffivedays。
　　TheWalterPresswasanobjectofgreatinterestattheCentennialExhibitionheldatPhiladelphiain1876，whereitwasshownprintingtheNewForkTimesoneofthemostinfluentialjournalsinAmerica。Thepresswassurroundedwithcrowdsofvisitorsintentlywatchingitsperfectandregularaction，“likeathingoflife。“TheNewYorkTimessaidofit:“TheWalterPressisthemostperfectprintingpressyetknowntoman；
　　inventedbythemostpowerfuljournaloftheOldWorld，andadoptedastheverybestpresstobehadforitspurposesbythemostinfluentialjournaloftheNewWorld……ItisanhonourtoGreatBritaintohavesuchanexhibitinherdisplay，andalastingbenefittotheprintingbusiness，especiallytonewspapers……Thefirstprintingpressrunbysteamwaserectedintheyear1814intheofficeofTheTimesbythefatherofhimwhoisthepresentproprietorofthatworld-famousjournal。Themachineof1814wasdescribedinTheTimesofthe29thNovemberinthatyear，andtheaccountgivenofitclosedinthesewords:
　　’Thewholeofthesecomplicatedactsisperformedwithsuchavelocityandsimultaneonsnessofmovementthatnolessthan1100
　　sheetsareimpressedinonehour。’Mirabiledictu！AndtheWalterPressofto-daycanrunoff17，000copiesanhourprintedonbothsides。Thisisnotbadworkforoneman’slifetime。“
　　Itisunnecessarytosaymoreaboutthismarvellousmachine。Itscompletionformsthecrownoftheindustrywhichitrepresents，andoftheenterpriseofthejournalwhichitprints。
　　FootnotesforChapterVII。
　　[1]Diary，Reminiscences，andCorrespondenceofHenryCrabbRobinson，Barrister-at-Law，F。S。A。，i。231。
　　AftertheappearanceofmyarticleontheKoenigandWalterPressesinMacmillan’sMagazineforDecember，1869，IreceivedthefollowingletterfromSirRowlandHill:-
　　“Hampstead“January5th，1870。
　　“Mydearsir，“InyourveryinterestingarticleinMacmillan’sMagazineonthesubjectoftheprintingmachine，youhaveunconsciouslydonemesomeinjustice。Toconvinceyourselfofthis，youhaveonlytoreadtheenclosedpaper。Thecase，however，willbestrengthenedwhenItellyouthatasfarbackastheyear1856，thatis，sevenyearsaftertheexpiryofmypatent，IpointedouttoMr。MowbrayMorris，themanagerofTheTimes，thefitnessofmymachinefortheprintingofthatjournal，andthefactthatseriousdifficultiestoitsadoptionhadbeenremoved。Ialso，athisrequest，furnishedhimwithacopyofthedocumentwithwhichI
　　nowtroubleyou。Feelingsurethatyouwouldliketoknowthetruthonanysubjectofwhichyoumaytreat，Ishouldbegladtoexplainthemattermorefully，andforthispurposewill，withyourpermission，calluponyouatanytimeyoumaydomethefavourtoappoint。
　　“Faithfullyyours，“RowlandHill。“
　　OnfurtherenquiryIobtainedthePatentNo。6762；butfoundthatnothingpracticalhadevercomeofit。ThepamphletenclosedbySirRowlandHillintheaboveletterisentitled’TheRotaryPrintingMachine。’Itisverycleverandingenious，likeeverythinghedid。Butitwasstillleftforsomeoneelsetoworkouttheinventionintoapracticalworkingprinting-press。
　　Thesubjectisfullyreferredtointhe’LifeofSirRowlandHill’i。224，525。Inhisfinalwordonthesubject，SirRowland“gladlyadmitstheenormousdifficultyofbringingacomplexmachineintopracticaluse，“adifficulty，hesays，which“hasbeenmostsuccessfullyovercomebythepatenteesoftheWalterPress。“
　　“TheImagesofmen’switsandknowledgesremaininBooks，exemptedfromthewrongoftime，andcapableofperpetualrenovation。NeitheraretheyfitlytobecalledImages，becausetheygeneratestill，andcasttheirseedsinthemindsofothers，provokingandcausinginfiniteactionsandopinionsinsucceedingages；sothat，iftheinventionoftheShipwasthoughtsonoble，whichcarriethrichesandcommoditiesfromplacetoplace，andconsociateththemostremoteRegionsinparticipationoftheirFruits，howmuchmoreareletterstobemagnified，which，asShips，passthroughthevastSeasoftime，andmakeagessodistanttoparticipateofthewisdom，illuminations，andinventions，theoneoftheother？“——Bacon，OntheProficienceandAdvancementofLearning。
　　Steamhasprovedasusefulandpotentintheprintingofbooksasintheprintingofnewspapers。Downtotheendoflastcentury，“thedivineart，“asprintingwascalled，hadmadecomparativelylittleprogress。Thatistosay，althoughbookscouldbebeautifullyprintedbyhandlabour，theycouldnotbeturnedoutinanylargenumbers。
　　Theearlyprintingpresswasrude。Itconsistedofatable，alongwhichtheformeoftype，furnishedwithatympanandfrisket，waspushedbyhand。Theplatenworkedverticallybetweenstandards，andwasbroughtdownfortheimpression，andraisedafterit，byacommonscrew，workedbyabarhandle。Theinkingwasperformedbyballscoveredwithskinpelts；theywereblackedwithink，andbeatendownonthetypebythepressman。
　　Theinkingwasconsequentlyirregular。
　　In1798，EarlStanhopeperfectedthepressthatbearshisname。
　　Hedidnotpatentit，butmadehisinventionovertothepublic。
　　In1818，Mr。CowpergreatlyimprovedtheinkingofformesusedintheStanhopeandotherpresses，bytheuseofahandrollercoveredwithacompositionofglueandtreacle，incombinationwithadistributingtable。Theinkwasthusappliedinamoreevenmanner，andwithaconsiderabledecreaseoflabour。WiththeStanhopePress，printingwasasfaradvancedasitcouldpossiblybebymeansofhandlabour。About250impressionscouldbetakenoff，ononeside，inanhour。
　　Butthis，afterall，wasaverysmallresult。Whenbookscouldbeproducedsoslowly，therecouldbenopopularliterature。
　　Bookswerestillarticlesforthefew，insteadofforthemany。
　　Steampower，however，completelyalteredthestateofaffairs。
　　WhenKoeniginventedhissteampress，heshowedbytheprintingofClarkson’s’LifeofPenn’——thefirstsheetseverprintedwithacylindricalpress——thatbooksmightbeprintedneatly，aswellascheaply，bythenewmachine。Mr。Bensleycontinuedtheprocess，afterKoenigleftEngland；andin1824，accordingtoJohnsoninhis’Typographia，’hissonwas“drivinganextensivebusiness。“
　　Inthefollowingyear，1825，ArchibaldConstable，ofEdinburgh，propoundedhisplanforrevolutionisingtheartofbookselling。
　　Insteadofbooksbeingarticlesofluxury，heproposedtobringthemintogeneralconsumption。Hewouldsellthem，notbythousands，butbyhundredsofthousands，“ay，bymillions；“andhewouldaccomplishthisbythenewmethodsofmultiplication——bymachineprintingandbysteampower。Mr。Constableaccordinglyissuedalibraryofexcellentbooks；and，althoughhewasruined——notbythisenterprise，buttheotherspeculationsintowhichheentered——hesettheexamplewhichotherenterprisingmindswerereadytofollow。AmongstthesewasCharlesKnight，whosetthesteampressesofWilliamClowestowork，forthepurposesoftheSocietyfortheDiffusionofUsefulKnowledge。