"On Printing Processes"
September 30 2022
The online database Nickels and Dimes is a spectacular place to peruse old dime novels in great condition, but I was really impressed by all the information they have on other aspects of the dime novel too. Things like authorship, reviews, and the topic of this post - the printing process, an article by Sara Prescott.
This may not be the most interesting topic to many, but to me it’s really important! I want to make sure my story is as authentic as it can possibly be, and I realise that I have no clue how dime novels were even produced. Reading through the Nickels and Dimes page, I got some really helpful information that I’d like to store here in a more concise form for my own usage. If you are interested in more detail, including the larger history of book printing, please visit their webpage, it’s fantastic!
It seems the main method of printing dime novels was known as stereotyping . Kind of ironic, considering how stereotypical Westerns can be (har har). Funnily enough, the site itself acknowledges this as well as explaining that the word ‘cliché’ “was originally an onomatopoeia for the sound of stereotype plates clacking in the press” (Prescott) ... neat fun fact.
Here, though, the term ‘stereotype’ refers to flat or curved printing plates that are made by a reverse imprint from a paper matrix. They basically worked as plates that could be reused again and again, without damaging the original. The plates could also be sold, melted down and recreated, or sent to other publishing houses. These plates would be put into rotary printing cylinder machines. Stereotyping allowed for cheap and fast reprinting, and the brilliance of the rotary printing machine allowed for more creativity, like colour, to be included. It’s difficult for me to explain in my own words, but I’d recommend watching a video on rotary printing to better wrap your head around how it works.
So, I learned something new today! I find it so funny that the dime novel industry was quite literally founded on the use of the stereotype. Brilliantly ironic.