Repeatability as the subliminal message of print has 
permeated every area of thought and culture in the 
Western world since Gutenberg. To the political ruler 
repeatability has meant the means of achieving a 
uniform regime within the patterns of a singular 
vernacular. . . . For the reader of print, the 
consumer, repeatability confers non-conformity as 
a basic human right and makes of the print point of 
view a title to dignity and maturity. Repeatability 
makes possible the mobilization of man and 
resources within a uniform visual order which we call 
nationalism and which is unthinkable under pre-
print conditions. Repeatability became the basis of 
scientific method in a print culture just as it made