Ans) The earliest kind of print technology was developed in China, Japan and Korea. It was hand printing. From A.D. 594 onwards, books in China were printed by rubbing paper against the inked surface of woodblocks. As both sides of thin, porous sheet could not be printed, the traditional Chinese “Accordion book’ was folded and stitched at the side. Superbly skilled craftsmen could duplicate, with remarkable accuracy, the beauty of calligraphy.

Ans)

1. Around A.D. 768-770, hand printing technology was introduced in Japan by buddhist missionaries of China. The oldest book of Japan is the ‘Diamond Sutra printed in A.D. 868 containing text with woodcut illustrations.
2. Pictures were usually printed on textiles, playing cards and paper money
3. In medieval Japan, poets and prose writers were regularly published and books were cheap and abundant.
4. In the late 18th century, in the flourishing urban circles at Edo (later to be known as Tokyo), illustrated collections of paintings depicted on elegant urban culture. involving artists, courtesans and teahouse gatherings.
5. Libraries and books stores were packed with hand-printing material of various types of books based on women, musical instruments, calculations, tea, ceremony, flower arrangements, proper etiquette, cooking and famous places.

Ans) Kitagawa Utamaro was born in Edo in 1753 and contributed to an art form called ukiyo (‘pictures of the floating world’) or depiction of ordinary human experiences, especially urban ones. These prints reached to Europe and US and influenced artists like Manet, Monet and Van Gogh. Publishers like Tsutaya Juzaburo identified subjects and commissioned artists who drew the theme in outline. Then a skilled woodblock carver pasted the drawing on a woodblock and carved a printing block to reproduce the painter’s lines. In the process, the original drawing would be destroyed and only prints would survive.

Ans) The Jikji of Korea is among the world’s oldest existing books printed with movable metal type. It contains the essential features of Zen Buddhism. In this book, about 150 monks of India, China and Korea are mentioned. It was printed in late 14th century. The first volume of the book is unavailable, the second one is available in the National Library of France. This work marked an important technical change in the print culture. That is why it was registered on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register is 2001.

Ans) The father of Gutenberg was a merchant and he grew up on a large agricultural estate. From his childhood he had seen wine and olive presses. Later he learnt the art of polishing stones, became a goldsmith, and finally acquired the expertise to create lead moulds used for making trinkets. He used his knowledge and experiences to design his new invention. The olive press provided the model for the printing press, and moulds were used for casting the metal types for the letters of the alphabet. By 1448, Gutenberg invented his machine. The first book he printed was the Bible. He took three years to print about 180 copies. By the standards of the time this was fast production.

Ans) Erasmus was a latin scholar and a Catholic reformer who criticised the excesses of Catholicism, but kept his distance from Luther. He showed a deep anxiety about printing. He wrote in Adages, that the books are like swarms which could fly to every corner of the world. The very multitude of books is hurtful to scholarship because it creates a glut, and even in good things, satiety is very harmful. Printers fill the world with not just trifling things, but stupid, ignorant, slanderous, scandalous books, raving, irreligious and seditious books and the number of them is such, that even the valuable publications lose their value.

Ans) Due to print culture, the ideas of scientists and philosophers became more accessible to the common people. Ancient and medieval scientific texts were compiled and published, and maps and scientific diagrams were widely printed. When scientist like Issac Newton began to publish their discoveries, they could influence a much wider circle of scientifically minded readers. Thomas Paine, Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau were also widely printed and read. Obviously their ideas about science, reason and rationality found their way into popular literature.

Ans)

1. Since 1780, James Augustus Hickey began to edit the Bengal Gazette, a weekly magazine that described itself as ‘a commercial paper open to all, but influenced by none.”
2. This magazine was private English enterprise, proud of its independence from colonial influence that began English printing in India.
3. Hickey published a lot of advertisements including those related to the import and sale of slaves.
4. Besides, he also published a lot of gossip about the company’s senior officials in India. Enraged by this, Governor-General Warren Hastings persecuted Hickey, and encouraged the publication of officially sanctioned newspapers that could counter the flow of information that damage the image of the colonial government.

Ans) Woodblock print only came to Europe after 1295 The reasons behind this were as follows:-

1. In 1295, Marco Polo, a great explorer returned to Italy after many years of exploration in China.
2. China already had woodblock printing technology. Marco Polo brought this knowledge back with him.
3. After this, Italians began producing books with woodblocks, soon the technology spread to other parts of Europe.

Ans) Martin Luther was in favour of print and spoke out in praise of it-In 1517, religious reformer Martin Luther wrote, ‘Ninety Five Theses’ criticising many of the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church. Its printed copy was posted on a church door in Wittenberg. It challenged the Church to debate his ideas. Luther’s writings were immediately reproduced in vast numbers and read widely. This lead to a division within the church and to the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Luther’s translation of the New Testament sold 5,000 copies within a few weeks and a second edition appeared within three months. Deeply grateful to print, Luther said, ‘Printing is the ultimate gift of God and the greatest one’.

Ans) The Roman Catholic Church began keeping an Index of Prohibited books from the mid 16th century-In the 16th century Menocchio, a miller in Italy. began to read books, available in his locality. He reinterpreted the message of the Bible and formulated a view of God and creation that enraged the Roman Catholic Church. When the Roman Church began its inquisition to repress heretical ideas, Menocchio was hauled up twice and ultimately executed. The Roman Church troubled by such effects of popular readings and questionings of faith, imposed severe controls over publishers and booksellers and began to maintain an Index of Prohibited Books from 1558.

Ans) The Gutenberg Press-In 1448, Gutenberg designed a printing press. In this press, the long handle was attached to the screw. This handle was used to turn the screw and press down the platen over the printing block that was placed on top of a sheet of damp paper. He devised metal types for each of the 26 characters of the Roman alphabet and also a way of moving them around so as to compose different words of the text. This came to be known as the moveable type printing machine and it remained the basic print technology over the next 300 years. Books could now be produced much faster than was possible when each print block was prepared by carving a piece of wood by hand. The Gutenberg Press could print 250 sheets on one side per hour.

Ans) Erasmus’s idea of the printed book-Erasmus was a latin scholar and a Catholic reformer who criticised the excesses of Catholicism, but kept his distance from Luther. He showed a deep anxiety about printing. He wrote in Adages, that the books are like swarms which could fly to every corner of the world. The very multitude of books is hurtful to scholarship because it creates a glut, and even in good things, satiety is very harmful. Printers fill the world with not just trifling things, but stupid, ignorant, slanderous, scandalous books, raving, irreligious and seditious books and the number of them is such, that even the valuable publications lose their value.

Ans) The Vernacular Press Act:-

1. After the revolt of 1857, the attitude towards freedom of the press changed. Angered Englishmen demanded to put an end on the ‘native’ press. As vernacular newspapers became decisive nationalist, the colonial government began debating measures of stringent control.
2. In 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed, modelled on the Irish Press Laws. It provided the government with extensive rights to Censor reports and editorials in the vernacular press.
3. The government began to keep regular track of the vernacular newspapers published in different provinces.
4. If any report was judged as seditious, the Newspaper was warned and if the warning was ignored, the press was liable to be seized, and the printing machinery confiscated.