Evening star., 1936-03-01
Use of Film in Book
Reproduction
By Frederic ]. Haskin,

Before the invention of the printing
press, what We now know as books were
IN the form of scrolls written on papyrus
or parchment by hand. The ancient
libraries such as the Alexandrine, the
Syracuse, the Irish library at Kells, and
even the Sorbonne held, for q long time,
only scrolls, because books in printed
and bound form were unknown. Later
the monastery illuminators did bind their
handwritten sheets into books, even be-
fore the invention of printing.
There is strong likelihood that there
will be libraries Of the future which once
more will have a preponderance Of
scrolls. Indeed, there are few now,
but the scrolls are not of the ancient
type and the uninitiated would not rec
ognize them as having anything to do
with books. These scrolls are tiny rolls
of photograph film, looking not unlike a
rolled-up tape Of motion picture film.
They actually are photographs.
In brief, these scrolls are photographs
of the pages Of books condensed to one
eighth or even to one-sixteenth the size
OF the usual book page. The photo
graphs are taken page by page and de-
veloped on tapes of film. These then
can be enlarged to whatever size is de-
sired, but also can be read with the aid
of special magnifying apparatus.
There are many advantages in the
plan. 1t was first devised by scientific
researchers as means for conveniently
obtaining likenesses of extremely rare
books or documents. For example, one
of the most interesting books in the
EngAsh-speaking world is "Domesday
Book" the record of the distribution of
land holdings at the time of the Norman
conquest of England. In no circum-
stances could this book be permitted
to be taken from its lodging place, under
glass, in the public record Office in Lon
don. But it is not out of the question
that permission could be obtained to
photograph it by this process.
The same advantage applies to other
rarities such as the Book Of Kells,"
many ancient religious manuscripts, and
also to other things than books. Maps
and pictures could be reproduced in this
manner.
An advantage seen by libraries and
archivists is the small compass these
film scrolls require. The Library of
Congress now has more than 1000 900
books, and it has become necessary to
build an annex to the original structure,
which was thought to be tremendous
when it was first constructed. In addi-
ton, the Archives Building has been
erected at the National Capital Every
great library and, for that matter, every
record Office has difficulty in finding
accommodation for the growing accumu-
lations Of material too valuable to throw
away.
Here are some figures, cited by M.
Llewellyn Raney, which indicate what
vital reform would be accomplished
by general adoption of film books. A
standard edition of the Encyclopedia
Britannica has $4,000 pages and the set
in usual formal weighs about 100 pounds
and fills 1000 cubic inches of space.
Filmed by this process it would weigh
IL pounds and occupy about 200 cubic
inches. The Encyclopedia volumes are
large and heavy, but take the ordinary
octave novel. Twenty such novels of
an aggregate Of 5000 pages would weigh
10 pounds and fill 1.050 cubic inches. On
the film scrolls the weight would be
reduced to 3 ounces and the space to
20 cubic inches.
There is an important price advantage,
too. While 1t may normally be expected
that with increased demand for Aim
books costs would be reduced, they are
low now. Some editions of the Britain
MICA cost $780, Fifty dollars or less
would be the price for the Britannica
in film form,
X X
The type Of film used looks like mo-
tion picture film. but actually is of a
different composition, which is highly
important. Motion picture film is so
highly indammable as to be regarded
as practically an explosive. Film for
books would be of the acetate cellulose
variety and is less inflammable than
paper. If stored in the right manner,
this film has as long life expectancy as
rag paper. The National Bureau of
Standards has made tests on deteriora-
tion of papers and other materials of
great value to librarians and archivists.
One OF the greatest difficulties of
preservation has been in connection
with newspaper files. Newsprint paper
deteriorates rapidly, so rapidly that one
of the most important American dailies
now is printing duplicate edition on
linen in order to keep detailed account
of current history. Moreover, rewspa-
pers are SO large in size that they require
a great amount of storage space. These
new films are highly useful in reproduc-
ing on the small scrolls whole files Of
newspapers. For example file of the
London Times from 1800-covering q
century and third Of the most impor-
tant history of the world-was repro
duced in photostat, but the cost was
$500 and the size was still unwieldy.
The film scrolls would decrease cost
and especially decrease size. A five-year
file of the New York Times, covering the
World War, has been filmed and requires
but per cent of the storage space the
full sized editions take.
Experimentation still is going on to
perfect the reading end. There are two
feasible methods and workable instru-
ments are in use The films, of course,
show the type in almost microscopic
size, far too minute to be read. But
instruments somewhat on the principle
of the old-fashioned stereopticon enable
a reader to read off the film. Another
system calls for a protector which would
throw the images on the film on to
screen in somewhat the same manner
that a motion picture film protector is
used
Naturally, the question of copyright
has arisen, and it is probable some legiss
lation on the subject will follow. For
,,rocort sort of traatv has haeY,