Poe and the Internet, 1845

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In one of his essays¹ Edgar Poe wrote about the power of writing for what he saw as a revolutionary form of information distribution—anastatic printing.  He was wrong about its instant application in releasing the writer from the habits, time, expense and editing of the printing process; he was wrong that it was the greatest achievement since Gutenberg; and he was wrong about most everything else about the (real) process.  He was right though in his vision for the distribution of information.  I’m participating in this vision right now, except there was no way that even the supremely gifted Poe could have envisioned the way in which information was being shared on 20^th November 2009. 

Anastatic printing was a simple way of reproducing handwritten documents for a mass audience.  The problem was though that the process tended to destroy the original.  Highly problematic.  But Poe wasn’t interested in those aspects of the technical problems of the process—it was the possibility of relatively immediate distribution of the written word that had his attention.  He wrote:

“The tendency of all this to cheapen information, to diffuse knowledge and amusement, and to bring before the public the very class of works which are most valuable, but least in circulation on account of unsaleability — is what need scarcely be suggested to any one. But benefits such as these are merely the immediate and most obvious — by no means the most important.”

And so materials saleable and unsalable would have equal access to a reading public, which is an enormous concept, to think that all sorts of information could be made accessible regardless of the tastes of the buying public.  Exceptionally low production costs would also make dissemination feasible for and to a wider range of people—since the cost of production would be lower the cost of the final product could/would be as well, making things within the reach of the working poor (perhaps).  This also means that anastatic printing could also give voice to the working poor as well—a class of writer little know before the time of Dickens. 

Better yet if the manuscript was actually legible.  In Poe’s mind, the importance of legibility and prettiness was of a high order since your manuscript was the final product.  Poe writes:

“This consideration will lead to the cultivation of a neat and distinct style of handwriting — for authors will perceive the immense advantage of giving their own manuscripts directly to the public without the expensive interference of the type-setter, and the often ruinous intervention of the publisher. All that a man of letters need do, will be to pay some attention to legibility of MS., arrange his pages to suit himself, and stereotype them instantaneously, as arranged. He may intersperse them with his own drawings, or with anything to please his own fancy, in the certainty of being fairly brought before his readers, with all the freshness of his original conception about him.”

Again, Poe was wrong about the medium but would be right about the message.  Perhaps his mind was filled then with the very-new telegraph, imagining instantaneous communication over distances and carrying that development sci-fi-forward.  The telegraph (1837-1845) followed by the telephone (1876) and then wireless telegraphy (1898) and television (1905-1927) all would have enormous impact on our description of reality.  But no technological change would encompass Poe’s vision until 1979 (+) with the development of the internet.  Poe’s technology was wrong, but his thought-prognosis was pretty spot-on.

1.  “Anastatic Printing”, in the Broadway Journal, April 12, 1845.