The First Printed Books: From East Asia to Gutenberg
Copying a whole book by hand for every friend would take months. A rubber stamp or a photocopier does the same work in minutes. Printing began as a way of copying text and pictures quickly and cheaply.
The earliest print technology was woodblock printing in China, Japan and Korea: paper was rubbed against an inked wooden block, from AD 594 in China. Marco Polo brought the knowledge to Italy in 1295. In the 1430s Johann Gutenberg of Strasbourg developed the first-known printing press with movable metal type, adapted from the olive press.
In the figure : From woodblocks in China to the Gutenberg press.
Rule 1 : Hand printing in East Asia — In China the state printed huge numbers of textbooks for civil service examinations, while later merchants and readers used print for trade and leisure. Buddhist missionaries took the technique to Japan.
- Easy : The Chinese 'accordion book' was folded and stitched at the side because only one side of the thin paper could be printed.
- Medium : The Buddhist Diamond Sutra (AD 868) is the oldest dated printed book mentioned in the chapter.
- Exam-type : In Edo (Tokyo) printed pictures like Utamaro's ukiyo prints show an urban print culture.
Rule 2 : Print arrives in Europe — Chinese paper reached Europe in the eleventh century, and manuscripts were copied by scribes. When hand-copying could not meet demand, Gutenberg's press made books faster; 20 million printed copies appeared in the late 1400s and about 200 million in the 1500s.
- Easy : Gutenberg made metal type for the 26 letters of the Roman alphabet that could be moved to form any word.
- Medium : The first book he printed was the Bible: about 180 copies, which took three years.
- Exam-type : The Gutenberg press could print 250 sheets on one side per hour.
The shift from hand printing to mechanical printing is called the print revolution.
Thinking Gutenberg invented printing. Woodblock printing existed in East Asia long before; he developed the first-known press with movable metal type in Europe.
Memory clue : Wood first, metal later — woodblocks in East Asia, then metal type in Gutenberg's Europe.
What happened before? (From Marco Polo to Gutenberg) In Europe books were handwritten by scribes on expensive vellum, and copying was slow and costly. In 1295 Marco Polo returned to Italy from China and brought back knowledge of woodblock printing, and Italians began producing books with woodblocks.
What happened next? (From Marco Polo to Gutenberg) The technology spread, but the demand for books kept growing and woodblocks were still slow. The breakthrough came in the 1430s at Strasbourg, where Gutenberg developed the first-known printing press; between 1450 and 1550 presses were set up in most countries of Europe.
Spot the difference
| Stage | Where | Method |
|---|---|---|
| From AD 594 | China, then Japan, Korea | Woodblock hand printing |
| 1295 | Italy | Woodblock books after Marco Polo |
| 1430s-1448 | Strasbourg, Germany | Gutenberg's movable-type press |
Practice questions
- 1From which year were books printed in China by woodblock?
- 2Who brought knowledge of woodblock printing to Italy?
- 3Where did Gutenberg develop the printing press?
- 4What did Gutenberg adapt to design the press?
- 5Why did the Chinese state print so many books?
- 6Why were scribes not enough for Europe's demand for books?
- 7Why did early printed books look like manuscripts?
- 8Give cause and result: rising demand for books in Europe.
Show answers (try them yourself first)
- 1From AD 594.
- 2Marco Polo, in 1295.
- 3At Strasbourg in Germany, in the 1430s.
- 4The olive press, and moulds used for casting metal trinkets.
- 5It needed textbooks for the civil service examinations that recruited officials.
- 6Copying was expensive, slow and laborious, and manuscripts were fragile and hard to carry.
- 7The metal types imitated ornamental handwriting, and rich buyers had borders and pictures painted by hand in blank spaces.
- 8Cause: manuscripts and woodblocks were too slow. Result: Gutenberg's press, then presses across Europe and millions of printed books.
The Print Revolution and Its Impact
When a notice is photocopied in hundreds of copies, everyone in school can read it and talk about it. Print did this for ideas: arguments that once reached a few reached thousands.
Printing made books cheaper and created a new reading public. Print also allowed dissenting ideas to circulate: in 1517 Martin Luther printed his Ninety-Five Theses, leading to the Protestant Reformation, and the Church responded with an Index of Prohibited Books from 1558. Many historians link print to the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.
In the figure : From fear of print to the reading mania.
Rule 1 : A new reading public and fear of print — Cheaper books reached more people, and printers added ballads and folk tales that could be sung or read aloud to those who could not read. But religious authorities and rulers feared that uncontrolled print would spread rebellious and irreligious ideas.
- Easy : Oral culture entered print and printed material was heard aloud, so the hearing public and reading public mixed.
- Medium : Erasmus worried in 1508 that swarms of books included stupid and seditious ones and harmed scholarship.
- Exam-type : Menocchio, a miller in Italy, read books, formed his own view of God and was executed after two inquisition trials.
Rule 2 : Reading mania, Enlightenment and revolution — Literacy rose to 60-80 per cent in some parts of Europe by the late 1700s and cheap books, almanacs and periodicals spread. Writers like Voltaire and Rousseau reached many readers. Historians argue print helped create conditions for the French Revolution, though readers chose what to accept.
- Easy : Chapbooks were small cheap books sold by pedlars; in England they cost a penny.
- Medium : Print spread Enlightenment ideas that questioned tradition and despotism and created a culture of debate.
- Exam-type : By the 1780s cartoons and writings mocking the monarchy circulated underground.
Print did not directly shape minds; it opened the possibility of thinking differently.
Thinking print alone caused the French Revolution. People also read propaganda of the Church and monarchy and chose what to believe.
Memory clue : Read, Question, Act — print let people read, then question, then act.
What happened before? (Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses, 1517) Print was spreading across Europe, and many people criticised practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1517 the religious reformer Martin Luther wrote his Ninety-Five Theses criticising them, and a printed copy was posted on a church door in Wittenberg to challenge the Church to a debate.
What happened next? (Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses, 1517) Luther's writings were reproduced in vast numbers and widely read. His translation of the New Testament sold 5,000 copies within a few weeks. The result was a division within the Church and the Protestant Reformation, and in 1558 the Roman Church began keeping an Index of Prohibited Books.
Spot the difference
| Person / group | View of print | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Martin Luther | Grateful for it | Print spread his ideas widely |
| Roman Church | Feared and controlled it | Heresy and dissent spread; Index from 1558 |
| Mercier (France) | Called it a powerful engine of progress | Believed books can end despotism |
Practice questions
- 1What was the Protestant Reformation?
- 2Who was Menocchio?
- 3What are chapbooks?
- 4Why did printers publish ballads and folk tales?
- 5Why were some people afraid of print?
- 6Why did the Roman Church impose controls on publishers and booksellers?
- 7State the three arguments linking print to the French Revolution.
- 8Link cause and result: Luther's printed Theses in 1517.
Show answers (try them yourself first)
- 1A sixteenth-century movement to reform the Catholic Church dominated by Rome.
- 2An Italian miller who read books, formed his own view of God and was executed by the Church.
- 3Pocket-size cheap books sold by travelling pedlars called chapmen.
- 4They could be sung or read aloud, so even people who could not read could enjoy them.
- 5They feared that uncontrolled print would spread rebellious and irreligious thoughts and destroy the authority of valuable literature.
- 6Popular reading was producing heretical interpretations like Menocchio's, which troubled the Church.
- 7Print spread Enlightenment ideas; it created a culture of dialogue and debate; and by the 1780s it carried writings and cartoons mocking the monarchy.
- 8Cause: printed copies challenged the Church publicly and were widely reproduced. Result: division in the Church and the Protestant Reformation; later the Church's Index of Prohibited Books.
Print in the Nineteenth Century and Its Arrival in India
Before a school library existed, a hand-copied notebook passed from friend to friend. Printing in India started like that: manuscripts were precious, hand-copied and fragile, and only a few people could read them.
In the nineteenth century women, children and workers became readers, and faster presses appeared, such as Richard Hoe's cylindrical press (8,000 sheets per hour). In India, rich manuscript traditions continued after print came. The press reached Goa with Portuguese missionaries in the mid-sixteenth century, and in 1780 James Augustus Hickey began the Bengal Gazette.
In the figure : From the first Tamil book to nineteenth-century children's publishing.
Rule 1 : Nineteenth-century readers and technology — Mass literacy and compulsory primary education created readers among women, children and workers. Machines became faster, publishers found new ways to sell, and cheap series and paperbacks followed.
- Easy : A children's press was set up in France in 1857; the Grimm Brothers published folk tales in 1812 after editing out parts unsuitable for children.
- Medium : Women novelists such as Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters and George Eliot defined a new kind of woman.
- Exam-type : Hoe's power-driven cylindrical press printed 8,000 sheets per hour; later came the offset press and electric presses.
Rule 2 : Manuscripts and the coming of print to India — India had a rich tradition of manuscripts on palm leaf and handmade paper in many languages, but they were costly and fragile. Missionaries brought presses and printed books in Indian languages; English newspapers began late and Indians too soon began their own.
- Easy : Catholic priests printed the first Tamil book in 1579 at Cochin and the first Malayalam book in 1713.
- Medium : In pre-colonial Bengal many pupils learnt only to write from dictation and did not read texts.
- Exam-type : Gangadhar Bhattacharya's weekly Bengal Gazette was the first Indian newspaper; he was close to Rammohun Roy.
Manuscripts did not disappear when print arrived; they continued till the late nineteenth century.
Thinking the first English newspaper in India was a government paper. It was private: Hickey's Bengal Gazette.
Memory clue : Goa, Cochin, Calcutta — the path of early printing: missionaries first, then the English press.
What happened before? (Hickey's Bengal Gazette, 1780) The English East India Company had been importing presses since the late seventeenth century, yet the English-language press did not grow in India for a long time. As late as 1768 William Bolts put up a notice asking for printers, but nothing came of it.
What happened next? (Hickey's Bengal Gazette, 1780) From 1780 James Augustus Hickey edited the Bengal Gazette, a private weekly, and printed gossip about the Company's senior officials. Enraged, Governor-General Warren Hastings persecuted Hickey and encouraged officially sanctioned newspapers. By the close of the eighteenth century a number of papers and journals appeared, including Indian ones.
Spot the difference
| Item | Where / who | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Press arrives | Goa, Portuguese missionaries | Mid-16th century |
| First Tamil book | Cochin, Catholic priests | 1579 |
| First English weekly | Calcutta, J.A. Hickey | 1780 |
Practice questions
- 1What are manuscripts?
- 2Where did the printing press first come to India?
- 3Who started the Bengal Gazette in 1780?
- 4Who brought out the first Indian-owned weekly Bengal Gazette?
- 5Why were manuscripts not widely used in everyday life?
- 6Why did children become an important category of readers?
- 7How did print change the Grimm Brothers' folk tales?
- 8Give cause and result: Hickey's gossip about Company officials.
Show answers (try them yourself first)
- 1Handwritten books, copied on palm leaves or handmade paper.
- 2Goa, with Portuguese missionaries in the mid-sixteenth century.
- 3James Augustus Hickey.
- 4Gangadhar Bhattacharya.
- 5They were expensive, fragile, hard to read because scripts differed, and had to be handled carefully.
- 6Primary education became compulsory from the late nineteenth century, making textbooks critical for publishers.
- 7Parts unsuitable for children or vulgar to elites were left out, so rural folk tales took a new form.
- 8Cause: he printed gossip about senior officials. Result: Warren Hastings persecuted him and encouraged officially sanctioned newspapers.
Print, Public Debate, Women and Censorship in India
When a school notice board lets every student write and read opinions, arguments begin and rules get made to control it. Print in India led to public debate and then to government control.
From the early nineteenth century religious reformers and orthodox groups argued in print, in tracts and newspapers such as the Sambad Kaumudi (1821). Women wrote, for example Rashsundari Debi's autobiography Amar Jiban (1876), and writers like Jyotiba Phule wrote on caste. The colonial state responded with censorship, notably the Vernacular Press Act of 1878.
In the figure : From press freedom to the Vernacular Press Act and Tilak's jailing.
Rule 1 : Debates, women and the poor in print — Print carried religious debates in vernacular languages, new literary forms such as the novel, and the voices of women, lower castes and workers. It also connected communities in different parts of India.
- Easy : The Deoband Seminary (1867) published thousands of fatwas; Hindu and Muslim groups used cheap lithographic presses.
- Medium : Rashsundari Debi learnt to read secretly in her kitchen and wrote Amar Jiban (1876), the first full-length Bengali autobiography.
- Exam-type : Jyotiba Phule wrote Gulamgiri (1871); later Ambedkar and Periyar wrote on caste; the Kanpur millworker Kashibaba wrote in 1938.
Rule 2 : Censorship and the nationalist press — The colonial state first allowed press freedom, then tightened control after the revolt of 1857. Each attempt to throttle nationalist papers led to protest and more persecution.
- Easy : In 1835 Bentinck and Macaulay revised the press laws and restored the earlier freedoms.
- Medium : The Vernacular Press Act (1878), modelled on the Irish Press Laws, allowed censorship and seizure of presses.
- Exam-type : When Tilak wrote sympathetically in Kesari about deported Punjab revolutionaries in 1907, he was jailed in 1908, causing protests across India.
The more the state tried to silence the nationalist press, the more protest it produced.
Thinking the government always censored the press. In 1835 it restored freedoms; strict control came mainly after 1857.
Memory clue : Free, then clamp — 1835 freedom, 1857 revolt, 1878 Act.
What happened before? (The Vernacular Press Act, 1878) In 1835 Governor-General Bentinck agreed to revise the press laws after petitions from editors, and Thomas Macaulay framed rules restoring earlier freedoms. After the revolt of 1857, enraged Englishmen demanded a clamp-down on the 'native' press as vernacular newspapers became assertively nationalist.
What happened next? (The Vernacular Press Act, 1878) In 1878 the Vernacular Press Act gave the government wide powers to censor vernacular reports and editorials. A newspaper judged seditious was warned and, if it ignored the warning, its press could be seized. Despite this, nationalist newspapers grew in numbers, and the cycle of persecution and protest continued.
Spot the difference
| Year | Event | Effect on press |
|---|---|---|
| 1835 | Bentinck and Macaulay | Earlier freedoms restored |
| 1878 | Vernacular Press Act | Censorship and seizure of presses |
| 1908 | Tilak jailed over Kesari | Protests all over India |
Practice questions
- 1What was the Sambad Kaumudi and who published it?
- 2Which was the first full-length Bengali autobiography?
- 3Who wrote Gulamgiri?
- 4What was the Battala?
- 5Why did some families oppose women's reading?
- 6How did print help create pan-Indian identities?
- 7Why did the colonial government tighten press control after 1857?
- 8Give cause and result: Tilak's writing in Kesari in 1907.
Show answers (try them yourself first)
- 1A newspaper published by Rammohun Roy from 1821.
- 2Amar Jiban by Rashsundari Debi (1876).
- 3Jyotiba Phule, in 1871.
- 4An area in central Calcutta devoted to printing cheap popular books.
- 5Conservative Hindus feared a literate girl would be widowed; some Muslims feared Urdu romances would corrupt women.
- 6Newspapers carried news from one place to another and connected people in different parts of India.
- 7Enraged Englishmen demanded a clamp-down because vernacular newspapers had become assertively nationalist.
- 8Cause: he wrote with sympathy about deported Punjab revolutionaries. Result: he was imprisoned in 1908, which provoked widespread protests across India.
Print, Public Debate, Women and Censorship in India
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