ABSTRACT
William and Robert Chambers argued that the enormous success of their cheap, instructive weekly magazine, Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, had forced them to adopt the innovative technologies of steam-printing and stereotyping. Stereotyping solved the immediate problem, but the long-term solution lay with steam power. Steam-printing was a moral power, without which the tide of knowledge and human improvement would be forced back, greatly to the injury of society. Steam-powered printing made possible faster production speeds, hence larger outputs in a given time, and it reduced the unit-costs on very large print runs. William and Robert Chambers were transforming their British operations; they were also becoming more aware of the possibilities of the North American market. When William Chambers began to issue Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, he had a natural market in lowland Scotland, but faced substantial practical difficulties in making his dream of reaching every man in the British dominions come true.
