PagePlane.com

March 12, 2010

Print Design

Witness to the history of graphic design, typography, printing—and everything else

The first issue of Popular Science magazine appeared just seven years after the close of the Civil War. This month it began offering (in partnership with Google) its entire 137-year archive for free browsing. Each issue appears just as it did at its original time of publication, complete with period advertisements. Amazing.

How the new Popular Science is printed, for example, is detailed in the October 1938 issue. It explains, "At the huge Dayton, Ohio, plant where POPULAR SCIENCE is printed, a workman, the other day, pressed an electric button and this record-breaking machine whirled into action." Then it goes on to show and tell one of its signature stories—filled with informative photographs and illustrations.

Thanks to Jim Green for passing this on—great find.