A dictionary of Marshall McLuhan’s quotations

Xerox extends the function of the typewriter almost to the point where the secret, personal memo is moved into the public domain, as with the Pentagon Papers. When notes for briefing individuals or groups are first typed and then Xeroxed, it is as if a private manuscript were put in the hands of the general reader. The typewriter plus photocopying thus, unexpectedly, restores many of the features of confidential handwritten records.
“Do Books Matter?” (1973), in On the Nature of Media (2016), p 214
Year: 1973
Chapter: Xerography
↪ Also at #7488
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan