Chapter 157: Printing

Before long, Bishop Flynn arrived at Owen’s office, accompanied by the personal guards.

“Marquis Eisen, sorry to trouble you.”

Owen looked up and smiled. 

“Bishop Flynn, what brings you here today? If it’s regarding the firearm training, please allow me some time to consider it properly.”

“No,” 

Bishop Flynn waved his hand. 

“That is not why I’ve come this time.”

“Oh? Please have a seat over there, Bishop Flynn.”

Owen stood from his chair and gestured toward the set of chairs and table arranged for receiving guests.

They moved to sit across from each other. At the same time, Owen called a maid to prepare some tea.

After just a sip of red tea, Bishop Flynn could no longer hold back and immediately brought up his question.

“By the way, Marquis Eisen, I heard from the clergy who teach at your school that you’ve prepared textbooks for each student. At first, I thought you must have hired many people to copy them by hand, but yesterday I happened to notice that the handwriting in textbooks for the same course is exactly identical. That doesn’t look like it was handwritten at all.”

“Oh! You mean those teaching materials.”

Owen seemed to understand and explained.

“Those textbooks are all produced in batches using a printing press. In the future, if you want to bind a book, there’s no need to hire people to copy it word by word anymore.”

In fact, after successfully making paper last winter, Owen had already begun preparing for the printing press.

Skipping woodblock printing, Owen adopted movable type printing. He gave the design blueprints to carpenters for construction, with only a few parts requiring Jita’s assistance.

The main body of the press was quickly completed. The tricky part was the type blocks, which were not only numerous but also required extremely high precision.

If a type block were even a millimeter too short, it might not leave a clear imprint on the paper.

As a result, the craftsmen spent nearly the entire winter preparing the type blocks. Only toward the end of winter did they attempt batch printing, binding the books, and sending them directly to the school for students’ use.

“A printing press? Books can be produced in batches?!” 

Bishop Flynn looked incredulous. 

“To think this could be done—truly unbelievable.”

“Indeed.”

Owen nodded in agreement. 

“With a printing press, education and the dissemination of knowledge can be greatly facilitated, increasing literacy rates.”

It was precisely because Owen understood the importance of education that he had moved so quickly to develop a printing press.

In his mind, developing military power was merely to ensure Biānshù Town’s immediate safety, while advancing education was for the town’s future. Both were equally important.

“Marquis Eisen,”

Bishop Flynn’s expression suddenly grew serious. He solemnly said.

“On behalf of the Caleb Holy Church, I wish to discuss another form of cooperation with you.”

“What kind of cooperation?” 

Owen asked knowingly.

“I wish to commission you to mass-produce the Sacred Texts, so that more people can read them, understand the Lumichael Church, and cultivate gratitude toward the divine.”

As he spoke, Bishop Flynn instinctively lifted his hands in a gesture of prayer toward the sky.

“Of course, that cooperation is no problem,” 

Owen agreed cheerfully.

Currently, the printing workshop only produced textbooks for the school and wasn’t profitable. Accepting an order from the Caleb Holy Church would be beneficial, and the volume of printing should be substantial.

After all, the church has followers across many countries, and as a core religious text, the Sacred Texts would have enormous demand—hand-copying alone would never suffice.

“However, the Sacred Texts contain many rare characters. I’ll need the craftsmen to prepare new type blocks, so printing will take some time to begin.” 

Owen warned.

“That’s fine. Marquis Eisen, please go ahead and prepare. Besides that, is there anything else you need my help with?”

Bishop Flynn’s eyes were full of anticipation; he clearly cared deeply about printing the Sacred Texts.

“I wonder if you could provide the original copies of the Sacred Texts from the church? I’d like to proofread them first to avoid any errors during printing.”

In fact, Owen already had a handwritten copy of the Sacred Texts in his study, but he was concerned there might be errors in the transcription and wanted to cross-check it first.

“No problem,” 

Bishop Flynn nodded. 

“Printing the Sacred Texts is such a sacred task; we certainly cannot afford any mistakes.”

“And how many copies do you intend to print?” 

Owen asked.

“How many…?”

Bishop Flynn stroked his beard, thought for a moment, and finally decided.

“Let’s start with one thousand copies.”

One thousand copies?! Owen was shocked. Then he thought again—this is an order from a nation, and one thousand copies isn’t actually that many.

“Um, sorry, Bishop Flynn.”

Owen said apologetically.

“Our printing workshop is not very large. Printing that many at once may not be possible. Could we deliver them in batches?”

“Batches, huh? That’s fine.”

To be honest, printing the Sacred Texts is quite a cumbersome task.

The Sacred Texts in the church are large and thick; one person could hardly hold a copy and usually has to consult it on a special shelf.

Moreover, the text is tiny, like mosquitoes on the page, densely packed across the entire sheet—anyone with trypophobia would definitely be overwhelmed.

Even with paper lighter than parchment, the finished printed and bound books would still be very heavy.

A new idea suddenly came to Owen. He continued.

“Bishop Flynn, even using relatively cheap paper and a printing press to reduce labor costs, a single printed Sacred Texts is still expensive. I have a suggestion—would you be interested?”

Owen roughly estimated the cost of each copy of the Sacred Texts. Even with his cost reductions, only nobles and wealthy merchants could afford it; for commoners, it was still out of reach.

“Oh?” 

Bishop Flynn was intrigued. 

“What suggestion? Tell me.”

“The Sacred Texts are divided into many chapters, correct? You could select one section, compile it into a smaller text with fewer words, and print and sell it as a ‘Mini Sacred Text.’”

A smaller version would greatly reduce costs, making it affordable for slightly well-off families.

“Wouldn’t that be like splitting the Sacred Texts into many parts? Is that acceptable?”

Bishop Flynn hesitated, feeling that this approach might be disrespectful to the sacred text.

“Of course it’s fine,” 

Owen continued persuasively. 

“Don’t you want more people to access the Sacred Texts? The Mini Sacred Texts are cheaper, making them easier for everyone to obtain. Plus, many passages in the Sacred Texts are difficult to understand; you could simplify the language so readers can more easily grasp the teachings. Isn’t that a good thing?”

After Owen’s explanation, Bishop Flynn felt increasingly convinced.

Not hesitating long, he nodded and agreed.

“Alright, I will take on the task of compiling the Mini Sacred Texts.”

“Then here’s to a successful collaboration,”

Owen said, extending his hand.

“Successful collaboration,”

The two shook hands, and Biānshù Town and the Caleb Holy Church established yet another partnership.

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