In those days much of our work was done by going to a typesetter who still used "linotype" or the method using hot lead to set the copy.
Offset printing was still relatively new. Set the copy, take a photograph, use the negative, burn the image with a bright carbon-arc lamp onto an aluminum plate, put the plate on the press, use an oil-based ink and water solutions to transfer ink to the plate, and from the plate to the paper.
Cut and snip, anything we could photograph, we could print. Justified copy with Freiden Justo-writers, larger type with our Headliner, hot wax to adhere the images, "developing" the plates with developer. Looking back, it was revolutionary and now, primitive.
The first I heard of 3D printing, I thought it was just a joke, someone was "putting us on." But, no. I have absolutely NO idea how it is accomplished, but items can appear out of thin air.
Now they are talking about creating human organs using stem cells. I always was in awe of seeing a blank sheet of paper go through the press, and come out the other side with printing on it.
I remember one famous author told how when he was small, he had a newspaper route, and he always made sure of giving great service to one wealthy customer in anticipation of a nice gift at Christmas. The day came, he received a gift, hurried home, opened the package, and it was a box of carbon paper. He was bewildered. But then, he took two pieces of paper with a sheet of carbon paper in between. He wrote on the top sheet, and there, magically on the second sheet, a copy of what he had written. This simple gesture stimulated him to see more of his work, copied, and he became a writer, a world famous author. I understand how that could happen, I had a similar attraction to seeing words reproduced.
But, 3D, that process goes way beyond my comprehension, creating something from nothing ........
