The guillotine got its name from the ‘cutting equipment’ used during the french revolution (interestingly a war they actually won… as it was with themselves - hurrah!… but I digress). Italian cutting machines had existed from the early 16th century but didnt have any impact on the printing industry until the 1800’s.

Aparently people prefered to ‘open’ book pages with paper knives - quite a dangerous idea if you let your children read their own bedtime stories.. Thus a hole in the market for accurate cutting opened up, and the guillotine was born… next week, how the trees of Great Birnam wood ‘fought back’.

Trackback from your own site.