The Forgotten Gestetner

If the image of a man in a top hat on a horse isn’t quite what comes to mind when you think of a tech founder, then you haven’t heard of David Gestetner. He was one of the most successful tech inventors of the 19th Century. Decades before the Xerox machine, the Gestetner duplicating machine brought printing to the masses, revolutionizing the way people communicate through text. The invention changed the workplace, the way social groups organize and allowed aspiring writers to self publish for the first time.Jeff goes on a quest to find out more about David Gestetner and his invention, the Gestetner copying machine. He speaks to David’s grandson Jonathan Gestetner, as well as business historian Roger Horowitz , Director of the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library.