[trichobezoar]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

I've noticed in the Harry Potter movies that there doesn't seem to be mechanical printing (including the use of regular muggle ballpoint/felt tip/ink gel pens). It looks like all text is hand written using inked quills. Could it be because wizards/witches use magic to animate pens to do their writing for them (like Rita Skeeter) and thus printing isn't needed. Even if it takes hours to write an entire book, couldn't you just use a spell to magically write the same book over and over again? While it might be slower than mechanical printing, it might be fast enough to produce the needed books since it could be done 24/7.

Could a factor in this might be that wizards/witches are either: (1) Unknowledgeable about muggle technology (I remember in one of the Harry Potter books that Ron didn't know how to use a telephone and in one of the movies Ron's father was curious about Muggles, wondering what the function of a rubber duck was), (2) Due to their ability to use magic non-magical ways to do things are not needed, or (3) Muggle technology disrupts magic.

The answer to the first question--the Elder Wand (one of the three Deathly Hallows objects) could be used to make a thousand books at a time, but a powerful witch, wizard or elf would have to cast the printing spell. The answer to your second question is--due to their use of all that is magical in the world and their vast knowledge, non-magical ways would impede them or seem mundane, cumbersome and tedious.