Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode

Light On Light Through

You'll hear a little of this and lot of that on Light On Light Through - my reviews of great television series and movies, my interviews with authors and creative media people and their interviews of me, my media theory and political commentary, thoughts about my favorite cars and food and space travel, discussions of my music, and a few of my readings from my science fiction stories. In the first years, starting in 2006, I put up a new episode at least once a month.  More recently, it became more or less often than once a month, usually less often.  But in the Summer of 2020, I began getting more in the mood to podcast, and on 17 October 2023, I began publishing a new episode of the podcast every Tuesday at 12:01 pm -- a minute after Noon (New York time).  - Paul Levinson 

24 October 2021: Interview about Light On Light Through podcast

26 December 2023: Chuck Todd interviews Paul Levinson about Alternate Realities on The Chuck Toddcast  

  1. All Episodes
  2. Pounce Pots to Pownce

Pounce Pots to Pownce

Sep 6, 2007



I was just looking at the small collection of sanders my wife and I have acquired over the years...

No, it's not a collection of power tools - I don't really do too much woodwork.

The sander - also known as a pounce pot - was a crucial part of the quintessentially Victorian writing process.   You started, of course, with paper, pen, and ink.   But the ink back then was not quick-drying.

So you sprinkled some sand or pumice on to your paper, and gently blew it off.

And the pounce pot or sander held the sand.   The pots came in various styles and constructions.   My favorites are wood, porcelain, and enamel.

What always occurs to me, whenever I look at our pounce pots, is how utterly without practical use they are today.   The evolution of media passed them by, a long time ago...

The world of letters has gone from hand-written documents that needed drying via sand from a pounce pot to ... micro-blogging on Pownce...