At a time when we are all bustling about getting ready to head to Chicago and the “ooh shiny,” “what’s new,” and “leaner, meaner, and greener” of Graph Expo, I’d like to call your attention to a series of short videos I shot that began appearing today on the WhatTheyThink home page. I hope they will connect you to the “Fourth R” of green printing – our roots. These videos feature Paul Quyle, a living treasure, who besides blacksmithing, throwing pots, and various and sundry other pursuits, maintains and operates a hand press that dates to 1825 – the second oldest press of its kind in North America. Invented by George Clymer, an American mechanic, the Columbian Printing Press is an iron, lever operated, more efficient replacement for the wooden Gutenberg Press. In its day, it represented real progress, much as all the bells and whistles goodies we will see in Chicago represent today’s real progress. The Columbian hand press also represented the failure of a manufacturer to be relevant to the market (a trait that also persists today). Clymer’s press is a beast of a machine that was, despite its technological advantages, ill-suited to the itinerant nature of American printers in the early 1800s. Clymer didn’t sell a one here in the States, and moved his operation to London where he sold into a marketplace that wasn’t going anywhere, at least geographically. What’s green about the Columbian press (besides the fact that it is still in use and wasn’t junked when technology evolved) is that it helps us remember how far we have come and how far we still have to go. (Re-thinking is a green thing!) While the Columbian can utilize wooden type, it also accepts hand-cast lead type and linotype –  I think we all can be thankful that printing plant is no longer dependent on molten lead. The Columbian was inked – and cleaned – by hand, putting the operator into very close contact with some very nasty chemicals. We can, literally, breath a sigh of relief as we celebrate the next generation of low-VOC inks and solvents. (That said, manufacturers of inking rollers could have made a great “all natural” claim. The rollers were made of calf-hide glue and molasses, making them functional for the printer and very tasty for the mice living in print shops of old.) So enjoy the videos. Look forward to the future. But let’s never forget the roots of printing. And let’s never, ever, stop becoming greener.