Hi, everybody. David Dilling from
Markzware. On this day, Thanksgiving, 2016, I
found very appropriate to bring up the
Pilgrim press, the Pilgrim printing press.
I'm very thankful that I work in
graphic arts and in the printing industry.
I never knew this. I’m sure people like
Frank Romano, out there, and other
printing experts know this.
Historians know this.
The Pilgrims were pushed out of England
and came to The Netherlands, right near
here, where they lived for 11 years.
It was hard. It was tough to learn the
language. I know all about that. And this, from
wikipedia, they got by. It was Brewster
who was teaching English at the University
at the time, in Leiden, and was getting
involved in debates between the Calvinism
and the Arminianism. I’m not even sure what
that is. And Brewster acquired
typesetting equipment, so he could lay out a
graphic design layout, in 1616, in these
debates, and took it down to the local press,
which, you know, being at Markzware, brings a new meaning to
preflight and packaging, back
in those days. But I’m sure there was a
form of all this, because he would
typeset it and bring it down to the local press. Very interesting.
So, Brewster was a printer. The Pilgrims’
printing got them in trouble with
the authorities. And, as you can read here, the illegal
printing press, operated by William Brewster – a forerunner in the
separatists’ cause – was the source of many of
the Pilgrims’ troubles. So, the freedom of press
was not like it is today. Or has
nothing actually, really changed?
That’s another debate, right?
As a result of these publications, Brewster was hunted
by the English ambassador to Holland (So, he was
printing it in Holland and getting it back to England.)
and the Secretary of State in London. Brewster
managed to hide for over a year, but his
silent partner, Thomas Brewer, was not so unlucky.
He was jailed. Brewster escaped, his house was searched and his
printing types confiscated.
Now, we can read here, which then goes on that,
eventually, they… And if you go back, here, to part 3,
they talk about how they left Netherlands, the Pilgrims,
back to England, to gather up everybody
and head, with two ships, the Speedwell and the
Mayflower, over to the new world. The
Speedwell didn't make it, turned back and
everyone crammed onto the Mayflower, at least
as many as possible, a
hundred and two people, altogether. And, then,
this is what we read further and where the
printing press has another leading role in the
Pilgrims. Not only did it help them spread their
message on the positive side, get in
trouble on the negative side with the
authorities,
it also, and we’ll read, The Crossing. They took
eight months to get across, now,
remember. So, the crossing was as bad as had been
feared. Many storms shook the ship.
Back in Holland, William Brewster (an elder of the
church and Bradford’s mentor) had been hunted
down by English authorities for printing books
critical of the Church of England and
King James. The authorities did not find
Brewster, who was in hiding, but smashed the
fonts of his printing press,
so he could not do any more printing. Now, as the
Mayflower was tossed in the ocean,
her main beam began to crack. And just to
give you an idea, here, what we're talking about.
This would be like the main beam and
this is similar to what the Mayflower would have looked like.
I mean, you know, they are
crammed in there. Look at that. Her main beam
began to crack. The giant screw from
Brewster’s press was fit into position
under the beam and bolstered it, keeping
the ship from cracking apart. Amazing! So, a
printing press saved the Mayflower.
They were four months into the journey, then.
Turning back, you know,
would have delayed. Who knows
what would have happened? But the
printing press then saved the Mayflower
from, you know, maybe even sinking, and they
could continue off to the New World. And I'll
give a link to, which gets into many more
details about the Pilgrim press and some,
likely, facts about the
printing operation and that error and that part of
history. Here’s one of the printed pieces of
Brewster's propaganda, and it leads me to
this quote from Gutenberg, and I have to
stress that it’s not really sure if this quote
is accurate, but, basically, it’s derived from this
book, The Justification of
Johann Gutenberg, which, as a
printing person, it’s a great
book. It's fiction, but it's like a
fiction that's based on facts, the known facts of
Gutenberg's life. It’s like a
biography on Gutenberg. But it's a great book and it’s based,
like I said, based on facts about
Gutenberg and fills in the gaps with, you know,
fiction, what they think was likely.
And this is the quote. Religious truth is
captive in a small number of little
manuscripts which guard the common
treasures, instead of expanding them.
Let us break the seal which binds these
holy things;
let us give wings to truth that it may fly with the
Word, no longer prepared at
vast expense, but multitudes everlastingly by a
machine which never wearies to every
soul which enters life. Johannes Gutenberg.
And what's maybe even more amazing
is that, in this day and age, the printing press,
the trials and errors that the
Pilgrims went through, that Gutenberg went through,
that we still have these same sort of
problems. Look at Julian Assange, the
wikileaks project, the WikiLeaks was shut down,
during this last election. Extremely
interesting, whether you’re for or against or
whatever you think, the end result was
WikiLeaks was, you know, the internet connection was
cut off there, at the
Embassy in London and from Ecuador, and they
couldn't communicate. Their fonts were confiscated.
However you want to look at it, it’s a very, you know,
interesting correlation, in my mind.
So, pretty amazing and I'm just really so
thankful to be in this
industry, to have been in this industry and to work for
Markzware and to work with many
of you. I love history, and this sort of
ties together history with
print, with graphic design, with
publishing, with some of the
current events. You know, I mean
it's all about information and
freedom of information, what one sees
freedom and another sees as a threat.
It’s extremely interesting. And with that, I end with a
quote, a Bible quote.
In good times and bad, and it's about working together,
so, for those who are non-believers,
we can all work together.
That's the point. In Romans 8:28 is
where it comes and it says, “And we know
that all things work together for good
to those who love God, to those who are
called according to His purpose.”
So, that's the Thanksgiving roundup of the
Pilgrims and printing and a
little bit more.
Thank you. David Dilling for Markzware,
wishing you a fantastic day!