Trained, or journeymen, printers were scarce in colonial times, and they seem to have been often on the go. Even master printers moved about frequently. William Parks had engaged in printing in three English towns and in Annapolis before coming to Williamsburg in 1730. William Rind, who established his paper in Williamsburg in 1766, came there from Annapolis. Of Williamsburg’s other master printers and journeymen, some were locally trained but others had been apprenticed in England. _A NOTE ON THE PRINTING OFFICE_ Although the Printing Office of Colonial Williamsburg does not attempt precisely to re-create any particular colonial printing shop, it does represent the craft as it was practiced in the mid-1700s. Here the twentieth-century American is invited to pause and look about him. Perhaps, if he is in a receptive mood, he may sense the spirit of the talented William Parks, keeping a watchful eye over apprentices and journeymen while type is set, presses are inked, and impressions are pulled from the press. Perhaps he can discern some Virginia planter making his way to Parks’s bookshelf, to buy Allestree’s _The Whole Duty of Man_ or Bayly’s _The Practice of Piety_ to take with him to his plantation and read during winter evenings. Entering the Printing Office, the visitor finds himself in a typical Williamsburg structure of the eighteenth century. Fireplaces on each floor of the shop warm the workers in cold weather and dry the printed sheets of paper hung on overhead racks. Many-paned windows provide most of the shop’s illumination during daylight hours, and also a place—in the bays on Duke of Gloucester Street—for the printer to post signs and samples of his work. At night and on dark days candelabra hanging from the ceiling and tin sconces against the walls hold candles whose smoky flames blacken the plaster as they help to light the working areas. On the street floor are the post office, stationery, and bookselling counter—one of the important areas of the normal colonial printing office, since it combined three of the most important sidelines. Along with the shelves of books for sale, some bound in leather and some in temporary paper covers, there is a mail rack with slots for letters and newspapers. [Illustration: _A bookbindery. In this view, several important binding operations can be seen. (a) Beating folded sections of a book so that they will lie flat. (b) Stitching folded sections to the heavy cords that hold the book together. (c) Trimming the edges of a freshly sewn book on a ploughing press. (d) Pressing freshly bound books in a large standing press. BELOW. (1-3) The blocks and hammer used by the binder. (4) The sewing frame. (5-6) Twine. (7-12) Parts of the sewing frame. (13-14) Wood or bone folders._ DIDEROT.]