diff --git a/pdf/notes.txt b/pdf/notes.txt
index 1f8969e48..889f17cd1 100644
--- a/pdf/notes.txt
+++ b/pdf/notes.txt
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 The majority of the work in this library is done by iText.
 http://www.lowagie.com/iText/
 
-The version bundled in this release is 2.1.4.
-
-The files in the library must be named itext.jar because they're specifically
-included on the classpath as part of the build/platform/make.sh scripts. 
+The version bundled with previous releases was 2.1.4. After Processing 1.0.9,
+the library was downgraded to iText 1.5.4., because later versions seem to
+load slower, and don't seem to offer additional benefits. If the PDF library
+gets worse, please post a bug and we'll go back to the 2.x release we were
+using, or upgrade to the more recent 5.x series.
 
diff --git a/pdf/src/processing/pdf/PGraphicsPDF.java b/pdf/src/processing/pdf/PGraphicsPDF.java
index 90c706469..eba226f39 100644
--- a/pdf/src/processing/pdf/PGraphicsPDF.java
+++ b/pdf/src/processing/pdf/PGraphicsPDF.java
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ import java.util.*;
 
 import com.lowagie.text.*;
 import com.lowagie.text.pdf.*;
+//import com.itextpdf.text.*;
+//import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.*;
 
 import processing.core.*;
 
@@ -67,6 +69,7 @@ public class PGraphicsPDF extends PGraphicsJava2D {
 
 
   public void beginDraw() {
+//    long t = System.currentTimeMillis();
     if (document == null) {
       document = new Document(new Rectangle(width, height));
       try {
@@ -106,6 +109,7 @@ public class PGraphicsPDF extends PGraphicsJava2D {
       //System.out.println("done registering directories");
 
       if (PApplet.platform == PApplet.MACOSX) {
+//        long t = System.currentTimeMillis();
         try {
           String homeLibraryFonts =
             System.getProperty("user.home") + "/Library/Fonts";
@@ -117,6 +121,7 @@ public class PGraphicsPDF extends PGraphicsJava2D {
         // add the system font paths
         mapper.insertDirectory("/System/Library/Fonts");
         mapper.insertDirectory("/Library/Fonts");
+//        System.out.println("mapping " + (System.currentTimeMillis() - t));
 
       } else if (PApplet.platform == PApplet.WINDOWS) {
         // how to get the windows fonts directory?
@@ -154,6 +159,7 @@ public class PGraphicsPDF extends PGraphicsJava2D {
       g2 = content.createGraphics(width, height, mapper);
 //      g2 = template.createGraphics(width, height, mapper);
     }
+//    System.out.println("beginDraw " + (System.currentTimeMillis() - t));
     super.beginDraw();
   }