All for the money

The emblem on the right depicts a scene that takes place in a more contemporary setting. In this presumably eighteenth-century factory, two workers are dressed in simple clothes that were widely worn by the working class of the eighteenth and nineteenth century (fig. 23). They are busy printing long sheets of cotton with a printing block and a printer's hammer. The other person is busy printing paper with a printing press. At the top of the ceiling, the freshly printed sheets of paper hang from long poles to dry. This process takes place in a 'modern' factory that is at the cradle of the Industrial Revolution. Deeper into the nineteenth century, the printing processes were mainly mechanized by steam engines.

The illustration also shows a saying that reads: D’Een drukt papier, en d’aâr Catoen, En beiden is ’t om poen te doen. Roughly translated, this means: “One prints paper, the other cotton, and both are doing it for the money.” Although the Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij has no origins in the older craft of book printing, the development of the mechanization and industrialization of cotton printing closely coincides with that of book printing (fig. 24). Steam engines that were designed in the nineteenth century for book printing could also be used in cotton printing companies after some adjustments. The accompanying saying immediately impresses the reader with the truth that both trades do not so much pursue artistic ideals, but economic profit above all!