William Mann's Centennial Calendar Shows Off Advances in Printing Technology

For his Centennial Calendar Philadelphia lithographer William Mann pulled out all the stops, producing one of the most spectacular single page chromolithographed productions. In the lower margin he presented illustrations of the Franklin-style hand press that would have been used in 1776 along with a large scale Hoe steam-driven cylinder printing machine. Mann would not have used such a press for chromolithography, but he might have used a press something like it for steam power printing that he also advertised in the lower right corner.