Codex Sinaiticus is a 1,600 year old form of the Bible or manuscript (Non-canonized; a minority text, not a Textus Receptus based Bible translation.) that is now available online. As their web site says about it’s history:

Codex Sinaiticus is named after the Monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai, where it was preserved for many centuries. It is generally dated to the middle of the fourth century.

View it here if you like, which is pretty interesting:
http://www.codex-sinaiticus.net/en/manuscript.aspx

Codex Sinaiticus

You say your not Christian, so what does it matter? Think of the workflow to create this masterpiece. Then think of exactly why Johannes Gutenberg set forth to create the printing press and more importantly movable type; to automate the publishing process. We read on the web page that hosts the Codex this about how such a manuscript was produced. The production workflow; amazing how some elements remain the same:

Production

Codex Sinaiticus was copied by more than one scribe. Constantine Tischendorf identified four in the nineteenth century. Subsequent research decided that there were three, but it is possible that a fourth (different from Tischendorf’s fourth scribe) can be identified. Each of the three undisputed scribes has a distinctive way of writing which can be identified with practice. Each also had a distinctive way of spelling many sounds, particularly vowels which scribes often wrote phonetically. One of them may have been a senior copyist.  Read more... (530 words, 1 image, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

The future is short-run printing; Gareth Ward

Gareth Ward, Editorial Director of The Print Business reports:

“The recession and the possibilities of developing technology are combining to drive print runs lower and lower. It is a trend that has been underway for many years. This how sales of he Radio Times have fallen the last 30 years for example, but with marketing departments looking to save money and to buy effectively, it has taken on more urgency and gained a lethally sharp edge. No sector of the industry is immune. From direct mail to magazines and newspapers, print runs are tumbling. A new book today may have an initial print run of the like not seen since Gutenberg’s day.
Article continues here (The Print Business).

Source: http://www.fcm-ezines.com/tpb/tpb-may09/

We once had the honor, oh I guess it was drupa 2000, to have Gareth stay with us on a Rhine river boat we hired. Basically, when Gareth speaks, the print industry generally listens and his editorial piece here seems to be spot on.

Shorter print-runs does not have to mean less profit and even could offer more opportunity by offering better quality (nudge, nudge; preflight!), coupled with more services. A print document is only one form of the content used in that file.