Editing Copying (section)

==In office work==
{{further|Duplicating machines}}
Offices need more than one copy of a document in a number of situations. They usually need a copy of outgoing correspondence for their records. Sometimes they want to circulate copies of documents they create to several interested parties.

Until the late 18th century, if an office wanted to keep a copy of an outgoing letter, a clerk had to write out the copy by hand. This technology continued to be prevalent through most of the 19th century. For these purposes, offices employed copy clerks, also known as copyists, scribes, and scriveners.

A few alternatives to hand copying were invented between the mid-17th century and the late 18th century, but none had a significant impact on offices. In 1780 [[James Watt]] obtained a patent for letter copying presses, which [[James Watt & Co]]. produced beginning in that year. Letter copying presses were used by the early 1780s by people like [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[George Washington]], and [[Thomas Jefferson]]. In 1785, Jefferson was using both stationary and portable presses made by James Watt & Co.

During the 19th century, a [[Duplicating machines|host of competing technologies]] were introduced to meet office copying needs.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Rhodes
 |first1               = Barbara J.
 |last2                = Streeter
 |first2               = William W.
 |year                 = 1999
 |title                = Before Photocopying: The Art & History of Mechanical Copying, 1780-1938 : a Book in Two Parts
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=JXngAAAAMAAJ
 |publication-place    = New Castle, Delaware
 |publisher            = Oak Knoll Press
 |isbn                 = 9781884718618
 |access-date          = 10 January 2023
}} 
</ref>
The technologies that were most commonly used in 1895 are identified in an 1895 description of the New York Business College's course program: "All important letters or documents are copied in a letter-book or [[carbon copies]] [are] made, and instruction is also given in the use of the [[mimeograph]] and other labor-saving office devices."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.officemuseum.com/copy_machines.htm |title=Copying Machines |publisher=Officemuseum.com |access-date=2013-10-01}}</ref>