• Mail
• Ancient/Early Medieval
• Difficult to move clay tablets- voice, scrolls on horseback
• Second Millennia in Egypt develops mail system
• Persians (Iran) develop famous system with 111 relay stations
• Romans model their system after Persians (as do others)
• Mail follows traders (who travel and also need information); military
• Revival
• Mixture of public and private systems
• 1450: private Thurn and Taxis trading families of Venice
• Could pay merchants to carry information
• Public- then monopoly money could go to crown.
• Mail and Newspapers- a link
• Benjamin Franklin, first Postmaster General of US, also printer

• Newspapers
• Ancient/Early Medieval
• Royal/Religious Proclamations
• Rome: Acta Diurnia, Acta Publicus, Acta Senatus; China.
• Who could read?
• Revival- Business Groups need up to date information
• Private Organized circulation of world news among trading families
• Early System- Public Circulation Based on Subscription
• Venice 1562; Netherlands 1616 first daily; England 1620; France 1631; etc.
• Need for a reading public: who can afford subscription
• Who is this public? What is the demand?
• Need for some freedom of speech
• Modern System- Circulation based on advertisements (and subscription)
• Reading Public
• American Public knows how to read. In 1640-1700 male literacy rates in Massachusetts and Connecticut was 89-95% based on signatures.
• Thomas Paine's Common Sense sells 100,000 copies in Jan-March, 1776. (compare to 8 million copies today). Total 3-400,000 compare to 24 million copies today- a 'Super Bowl scale Event' (Postman)
• DeToqueville- Americans talk at you as if writing
• "Penny Press"- low cost, circulation explodes. Benjamin Day's Sun.
• Does circulation drive lead to biased, sensational, uncritical styles?
• Industrial Printing- steam engines to modern engines; 1811 patent for flatbed press (Times of London uses it first); 1844 American Rotary press.
• For many, this is the beginning of the 'Mass Society.' Or was it Early Printing or Early Broadcast? Depends on your question.

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