The story of the Sun, New York: 1833-1928 / by Frank M. O'Brien ; with an introduction by Edward Page Mitchell ...

76

THE STORY OF "THE SUN"

mile. The work which we have seen from this press
is Robinson Crusoc, and consists of one hundred and
sixty duodecimo pages.
The Bible could be printed off and almost disseminated among the Indians in one continuous stream of
living truth. The Sun would occupy a roll about
seven feet in diameter, and our issue to Boston,
Philadelphia, and other cities would be not far from a
quarter of a mile long, each. The two cents postage
on this would be but a trifle. The whole length of our
paper would be about seventy-seven thousand feet,
a papyrus which, it must be confessed, it would take
Lord Brougham a longer time to unroll than the
vitrified scrolls of Herculaneum and Pompeii.
All that is necessary for a man to (lo on going into
a paper-mill is to take off his shirt, hand it to the
devil who officiates at one extremity, and( have it
come out Robinson CrusocN at the other. We should
like to exchange some of our old shirts in this way,
as we cannot afford the expense, during these hard
times, of getting them washed.
Mr. Thomas French, the inventor, is from Ithaca,
and is now in this city. He has one roll about six
inches in diameter which is six hundred feet long.
No display advertising was printed in the Sun of those
years, but there was a variety of "liners." These were
adorned with tiny cuts of ships, shoes, horses, cows, hats,
dogs, clocks, and what not. For example:
Came to the premises of F. Reville, Gardener, on
the 16th inst., a COW, which has since calved. The
owner is requested to call, prove property, and pay
expenses. Bloomingdale, between fifth and sixth
mile-stones.