Hot off the Press

Today we are celebrating a special anniversary: the 25,000th project produced by Distributed Proofreaders has been posted to Project Gutenberg.

The Art and Practice of Silver Printing by Henry Peach Robinson and Captain William de Wiveleslie Abney is a fitting book to celebrate with, silver being generally connected with 25th anniversaries. Printed in 1881, the book gives a fascinating glimpse into early photographic printing techniques.

In our age of ubiquitous digital photography and image manipulation, it is fascinating to look back to the beginnings, when there was a lot of chemistry and craftsmanship involved in making even a single print. The book explains in great detail the whole process of getting from a photographic negative to a finished print, from preparing the chemical solutions involved and the paper, how to deal with different subjects, like portraits and landscapes, to how to mount the finished prints for presentation.

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped to produce this and the 24,999 books that got us to this milestone. All in all, that’s almost six million pages!