Chapter 71 - 72
The embrace lasted for ten or so seconds, at which point the two returned to their seats and Alistar seized the opportunity to ask about the drawings on Caedmon’s desks.
"They caught your eye, did they?" He reached over and grabbed one of the sheets of parchment from the closest tabletop, turning it over to show Alistar what it depicted. "This is a drawing of different parts for a special device that I’m hoping to assemble in the coming years."
"What does it do?" As far as Alistar was concerned, the diagram on the parchment was just a meaningless sprawl of lines drawn with charcoal. "Is it supposed to look like a table?" More accurately, it looked as if a table and a dresser had been worked into a single structure.
"It is, actually. There’s a lot to it, but suffice it to say that this device will make it much easier to recreate already existing books. Normally one would have to hire a scribe to write out another copy of an existing work, a process that takes quite a lot of effort. With this device, the same task will take a fraction of the time."
Alistar immediately recognized the idea’s value, solely from the fact that books were very expensive. Outside of the church, the collegia and the noble classes, hardly anybody had books in their homes, which was just as well since in most cases only members of the clergy or those of noble birth could read them.
"Do you plan on selling books?"
"Yes, but not at first." Suddenly excited, Caedmon’s tone was full of passion. "There are two that I plan on printing—the device works by imprinting words on blank sheets of parchment with indented slates of metal—and one of them is the Holy Testament of Lucian. I plan to freely distribute it to the townsfolk, along with a workbook that contains simple lessons on learning one’s letters."
"Will this device really be able to make that many books?"
"It should be possible. If it all works out the way that I want it to, then this device will prove to be a great benefit to people all throughout the kingdom and it will also be quite useful for the church. The more versed one is with the faith’s written works, the better they can walk the path that Lucian has picked for them."