Meaning & Analysis
Refers to the state of being set in typeface for printing, implying a fixed, precise, and finalized form, like the text on a printed page.
Insights
Ideal Perfection
A person or action that is 'in print' is considered a model of perfection, exhibiting flawless precision, order, and exactness, as if following a perfect template.
Rigid Formality
Signifies a strict adherence to rules, etiquette, or a prescribed method ('by the book'), often at the expense of spontaneity or naturalness.
Calculated Artifice
Implies that an action or manner of speaking is highly premeditated, rehearsed, and perhaps artificial, lacking genuine emotion or improvisation.
The Print Revolution
Emerging after the invention of the printing press, the proverb uses the new technology as a powerful symbol of authority, precision, and permanence, contrasting the uniformity of print with the variability of manuscripts.
Renaissance Ideal of Order
The proverb reflects a Renaissance cultural value placed on order, control, and perfected form. Being 'in print' was analogous to being a 'man of wax'—a perfectly crafted individual whose every feature and action met an ideal standard.
Psychology of Performance
Psychologically, the phrase points to the act of self-fashioning and performance, where an individual presents a carefully curated and flawless version of themselves, as if their actions were edited and typeset for public consumption.
Rhetorical Devices
Technological Metaphor
The proverb employs the technology of the printing press as a metaphor for human perfection and precision, a powerful and modern concept in the 16th century.
Synecdoche
'Print' is used as a synecdoche to represent the qualities associated with the printed word: finality, authority, exactness, and lack of error.
Transcription
Quotations
What soeuer is vttered in such mennes hearing, must bee done in printe, as wee say in oure common Prouerbe.
O, you are a gallant in print now, brother.
In print, rarely, admirably, finically.
A young lover . . must have neat shoe-ties, points, garters, speak in Print, walk in Print, eat and drink in Print, and that which is all in all, he must be mad in Print.
To be done . . most absolutely and exactly, in Print, in Wax.
To speak premeditately, and regularly, the English say, To speak in Print.
A man in Print, a man in Wax.
Shakespeare Citations
All this I speak in print, for in print I found it.
Most sweet gardon! I will do it, sir, in print.
O sir, we quarrel in print, by the book.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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