Three things in combination are necessary before visual methods of presentation can be adequately used.

1. Accurate factual data readily available.

2. Competent drafting talent to chart the data on a standardized basis.

3. Equipment and organization for reproducing the charted data at a cost not too high compared to the printed word.

Until mankind developed reasonably cheap paper, there was no convenient method for preserving quantitative data. The study

"One hundred rumors are not comparable to one look."

An Old Chinese Inscription

of statistical records and the developing of policies from facts had to wait until records gradually accumulated. The making of paper and the preserving of records developed rapidly after the invention of loose-type printing about 1450.

At the time William Playfair wrote his first book on graphics in 1786, the word "statistics" had not come into general use. The word itself is derived from "state." The state first had to keep records of tax rolls, collections, and various government activities. Playfair lamented the inadequacy of historical data in a number of his writings; for instance, in Commercial and Political Atlas of 1801: "Had our ancestors represented the gradual increase of their commerce and expenditures, if it had not been an object of utility, it would

INTRODUCTION

at least have been one of curiosity; but had records, written in this sort of shape [plotted curves] and speaking a language that all the world understands, existed at this day, of the commerce and revenue of ancient nations, what a real acquisition would it not have been to our stock of knowledge! In place of which, a few detached facts are collected and brought forward as the only criterion from which we can judge of the manners and wealth of the ancient world.