William Ged facts for kids
William Ged (born 1699, died October 19, 1749) was a clever Scottish goldsmith. He is often given credit for inventing a special printing method called stereotyping. This method made it easier and cheaper to print books.
Who Was William Ged?
William Ged was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He worked there as a goldsmith, which means he made and repaired things out of gold and other precious metals. But William Ged was also very interested in printing.
Inventing Stereotyping
In 1725, William Ged came up with his new printing idea and got a patent for it. A patent is like an official document that says you are the inventor of something, and it protects your idea.
His invention, stereotyping, was a big deal. Before stereotyping, printers had to set up all the tiny metal letters for every page each time they wanted to print copies. If they wanted to print more copies later, they had to set up the whole page again!
Stereotyping changed this. With Ged's method, printers could make a solid metal plate (a "stereotype") of an entire page. Once they had this plate, they could use it to print many copies, even years later, without having to set up the individual letters again. This saved a lot of time and money.
Challenges and Struggles
Even though his idea was brilliant, William Ged found it hard to get people to use his invention. He tried to convince printers in Edinburgh, but they weren't interested.
In 1729, he moved to London to try and make his invention popular there. He teamed up with a stationer (someone who sells paper and writing supplies) and a type-founder (someone who makes the metal letters for printing). However, things didn't go well. His partners and workers didn't help him as he hoped.
Feeling disappointed, Ged returned to Edinburgh. He even received offers from printers in the Netherlands who wanted to use his process. But he said no, because he wanted his invention to benefit his own country, Scotland.
Ged's Legacy
William Ged sadly died poor in Edinburgh in 1749. He was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard, but his grave doesn't have a marker.
Even though he faced many difficulties, his invention was used for some important books. He stereotyped an edition of a book by Sallust (an ancient Roman historian) and two prayer-books for the University of Cambridge.
William Ged's invention of stereotyping eventually changed the printing world, making books more available to everyone.
