In the footsteps of the masters

When press operator Matt Eels pushes the blue button on the control panel of the huge KBA machine to start printing Review magazine, he has at his fingertips a massively sophisticated piece of high tech equipment. Soon the press is turning out almost 10,000 sheets an hour and by the end of the day the completed sections are beginning to stack up ready for binding, trimming and distribution.

All the "photo mechanicals" for each issue are contained on a couple of CDs. These days most of the images are digital from the moment the photographer fires the shutter but if any transparencies or prints have to be incorporated they are swiftly transferred into the digital system via high speed scanners.

It's in stunning contrast to the days, only a few years back, when the copper or zinc "blocks" required to print the magazine (four for each image) would have taken anything up to a fortnight to prepare, weighing in at a total of around 200kg. Woe betide the editor or art director who wanted to adjust the size of a picture at the last minute, or alter a single word that had been "deep etched" onto one of the blocks.

Although these blocks were made using photo mechanical processes, the chemistry of making them goes back hundreds of years. Of course, the total amount of copper and zinc used worldwide even at the height of letterpress printing was scarcely significant on an industrial scale, but its use opened up new horizons, giving people the opportunity to share mass produced visual images alongside the printed word.