NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Gutenberg Press

The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text on rectangular sheets of paper. First invented in China in 1041, the printing press as we know it today was invented in the West by a German goldsmith and eventual printer, Benjamin Franklin in the 1760s. This event has been awarded number 1 of the Top 100 Greatest Events of the Millennium by LIFE Magazine. Apart from Gutenberg, the Dutch Laurens Janszoon Coster has also been credited with this invention. The folder of newspaper web offset printing press Printing is an industrial process for reproducing copies of texts and images, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. ... In language, text is something that contains words to express something. ... Piece of paper Paper is a thin, flat material produced by the compression of fibres. ... Events December 10 - Empress Zoe of Byzantium elevates her adoptive son to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V. Births Deaths December 10 - Michael IV, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire Categories: 1041 ... The word printer is used to describe a company that provides commercial printing services, involving typesetting, printing and book-binding. ... Franklin, an engraving from a painting by Duplessis Dr. Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790) was an American printer, journalist, publisher, author, philanthropist, abolitionist, public servant, scientist, librarian, diplomat, and inventor. ... Statue of Laurens Janszoon Coster on the Grote Markt in Haarlem, where he was born. ...

Development of the printing press

The original method of printing was block printing, pressing sheets of paper into individually carved wooden blocks (xylography). It is believed that block printing originated in China and the earliest known printed text, the Diamond Sutra (a Buddhist scripture), was printed in China in 868 A.D. The technique was also known in Europe, where it was mostly used to print Bibles. Because of the difficulties inherent in carving massive quantities of minute text for every block, and given the levels of peasant illiteracy at the time, texts such as the "Pauper's Bibles" emphasized illustrations and used words sparsely. As a new block had to be carved for each page, printing different books was an incredibly time consuming activity. Block printing is a form of printing first developed in China. ... Xylography, an early form of wood engraving, was first seen in China in the 1st century. ... The Diamond Sutra (Vajracchedika-prajñāpāramitā-sūtra), The Perfection of Wisdom Sutra that Cuts like a Thunderbolt, is a short Mahayana sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom genre, which teaches the practice of the avoidance of abiding in extremes of mental attachment. ... Events 11 May: Printing of The Diamond Sutra, the oldest dated printed book. ... World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... The Bible (From Greek (τα) βιβλια, (ta) biblia, (the) books, plural of βιβλιον, biblion, book, originally a diminutive of βιβλος, biblos, which in turn is derived from βυβλος—byblos, meaning papyrus, from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported this writing material), is a word applied to sacred scriptures. ... A book is a collection of leaves of paper, parchment or other material, bound together along one edge within covers. ...

Moveable clay and metal type are processes much more than hand copying. The use of movable type in printing was invented in 1041 AD by Bi Sheng in China. Sheng used clay type, which broke easily, but eventually Goryeo (Korea) sponsored the production of metal type (a type foundry with brass was established by the Korean government in 1234 AD). Since there are thousands of Chinese characters (Koreans also used Chinese characters in literature), the benefit of the technique is not as apparent as with alphabetic based languages. Movable type did spur, however, additional scholarly pursuits in Song China and facilitated more creative modes of printing. Nevertheless, movable type was never extensively used in China until the European style printing press was introduced in relatively recent times (thus bringing the technology full circle). Bi Sheng (畢昇, died 1052) was the inventor of movable type printing in between 1041 to 1048 in China. ... The Goryeo (also Koryo) kingdom ruled Korea from the fall of Silla in 935 until the founding of Joseon in 1392. ... Alternative meaning: Song Dynasty (420-479) The Song dynasty (Chinese: 宋朝) was a ruling dynasty in China from 960-1279. ...

Although probably unaware of the Chinese/Korean printing methods (with substantial evidence for both sides of argument), Gutenberg refined the technique with the first widespread use of movable type, where the characters are separate parts that are inserted to make the text. Gutenberg is also credited with the first use of an oil-based ink, and using "rag" paper introduced into Europe from China by way of Muslims, who had a paper mill in operation in Baghdad as early as 794. Before inventing the printing press in 1440, Gutenberg had worked as a goldsmith. Without a doubt, the skills and knowledge of metals that he learned as a craftsman were crucial to the later invention of the press. The claim that Gutenberg introduced or invented the printing press in Europe is not accepted by all. The other candidate advanced is the Dutchman Laurens Janszoon Coster. An ink is a liquid containing various pigments and/or dyes used for colouring a surface to render an image or text. ... Piece of paper Paper is a thin, flat material produced by the compression of fibres. ... World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... A street map of Baghdad Average temperature (red) and precipitations (blue) in Baghdad Baghdad (بغداد) is the capital of Iraq and the Baghdad Province. ... Events Kyoto becomes the Japanese capital. ... Categories: Stub | Jewellery | Smiths ... The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland) is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Dutch: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden). ... Statue of Laurens Janszoon Coster on the Grote Markt in Haarlem, where he was born. ...

Impact of printing

Diffusion of printing in Europe

Previously, books were copied mainly in monasteries, or (from the 13th century) in commercial scriptoria, where scribes wrote them out by hand. Books were therefore a scarce resource. While it might take someone a year to hand copy a Bible, with the Gutenberg press it was possible to create several hundred copies a year, with two or three people that could read, and a few people to support the effort. Each sheet still had to be fed manually, which limited the reproduction speed, and the type had to be set manually for each page, which limited the number of different pages created per day. Books produced in this period, between the first work of Johann Gutenberg and the year 1500, are collectively referred to as incunabula. The diffusion of ideas or artifacts from one culture to another is a well-attested and uncontroversial concept of cultural anthropology. ... Buddhist monastery near Tibet A monastery is the habitation of monks. ... (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ... A Scriptorium was a room or building, usually within a Christian monastery where, during medieval times, manuscripts were written. ... Illustration of a 15th century scribe This is about scribe, the profession. ... A page from a rare Blackletter Bible (1497) printed in Strassburg by J.R.Grueninger. ...

The supplantation of hand copied manuscripts with printed works was not received with unanimous encomium. Not only did the papal court contemplate making printing presses an industry requiring a licence from the Catholic Church (an idea rejected in the end), but as early as in the 15th century some nobles refused to have printed books in their libraries to sully their valuable handcopied manuscripts. Similar resistance was later encountered in much of the Islamic world, where calligraphic traditions were extremely important, and also in the Far East. The Roman Curia is the complex of the organs and the authorities that constitute the administrative apparatus of the Holy See, coordinating and providing the necessary organisation for the correct functioning of the Roman Catholic Church and the achievement of its goals. ...

Despite some resistance, Gutenberg's printing press spread rapidly across Europe. Within thirty years of its invention in 1453, towns from Hungary to Spain, and from Italy to Britain had functional printing presses. It has been theorized that this incredibly rapid expansion shows not only a higher level of industry (fueled by the high-quality European paper mills that had been opening over the past century) than expected, but also a significantly higher level of literacy than has often been estimated.

The first printing press in a Muslim territory opened in Andalusia (Muslim Spain) in the 1480s. This printing press was run by a family of Jewish merchants who printed texts with the Hebrew script. After the reconquista in the 1490s, the press was moved from Granada to Istanbul (a popular destination for thousands of Andalusian Jews). Motto: Dominator Hercules Fundator Andalucía por sí, para España y la humanidad (Andalusia for herself, for Spain, and for humanity) Capital Seville Area – Total – % of Spain Ranked 2nd 87 268 km² 17,2% Population – Total (2003) – % of Spain – Density Ranked 1st 7 478 432 17,9% 85,70/km² Demonym... For other uses, see Reconquista (Disambiguation). ... The City of Granada Alhambra, Courtyard of the Lions Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in Spain. ... This article is about the city. ...

Effects of printing on culture

The discovery and establishment of the printing of books with moveable type marks a paradigm shift in the way information was transferred in Europe. The impact of printing is comparable to the development of language, the invention of the alphabet, and the invention of the computer as far as its effects on the society. A paradigm shift is the term first used by Thomas Kuhn in his famous 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to describe the process and result of a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. ... An alphabet is a complete standardized set of letters—basic written symbols—each of which roughly represents a phoneme of a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it may have been in the past. ... The tower of a personal computer (specifically a Power Mac G5). ...

Gutenberg's findings not only allowed a much broader audience to read Martin Luther's German translation of Bible, it also helped spread Luther's other writings, greatly accelerating the pace of Protestant Reformation. They also led to the establishment of a community of scientists (previously scientists were mostly isolated) that could easily communicate their discoveries, bringing on the scientific revolution. Also, although early texts were printed in Latin, books were soon produced in common European vernacular, leading to the decline of the Latin language. Martin Luther (originally Martin Luder or Martinus Luther) (November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546) was a German theologian and an Augustinian monk whose teachings inspired the Protestant Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines of Lutheran, Protestant and other Christian traditions (a broad movement composed of many congregations and church bodies). ... The Protestant Reformation was a movement which emerged in the 16th century (although out of earlier roots) as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church in Western Europe. ... For a List of scientists, see: List of anthropologists List of astronomers List of biologists List of chemists List of computer scientists List of economists List of engineers List of geologists List of inventors List of mathematicians List of meteorologists List of physicists Scientist pairs List of scientist pairs See... In the history of science, the scientific revolution was the period that roughly began with the discoveries of Kepler, Galileo, and others at the dawn of the 17th century, and ended with the publication of the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687 by Isaac Newton. ... Latin is the language that was originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... The vernacular is the stupid. ...

In Korea and China, there were no texts similar to the Bible which could guarantee a printer return on the high capital investment of a printing press, and so the primary form of printing was wood block printing which was more suited for short runs of texts for which the return was uncertain. The Bible (From Greek (τα) βιβλια, (ta) biblia, (the) books, plural of βιβλιον, biblion, book, originally a diminutive of βιβλος, biblos, which in turn is derived from βυβλος—byblos, meaning papyrus, from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported this writing material), is a word applied to sacred scriptures. ...

Some credit the printing press with giving Europe the technological and communication edge over Eastern countries in the end, one of the major questions in world history.

Because of the printing press, authorship became more meaningful. It was suddenly important who had said or written what, and what the precise formulation and time of composition was. This allowed the exact citing of references, producing the rule, "One Author, one work (title), one piece of information" (Giesecke, 1989; 325). Before, the author was less important, since a copy of Aristotle made in Paris might not be identical to one made in Bologna. For many works prior to the printing press, the name of the author was entirely lost. The word author has several meanings: The author of a book, story, article or the like, is the person who has written it (or is writing it). ... Aristotle (sculpture) Aristotle (Greek: Αριστοτέλης Aristotelēs) (384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher. ...

Because the printing process ensured that the same information fell on the same pages, page numbering, tables of contents, and indices became common. The process of reading was also changed, gradually changing from oral readings to silent, private reading. This gradually raised the literacy level as well, revolutionizing education. Literacy is the ability to read and write. ...

It can also be argued that printing changed the way Europeans thought. With the older illuminated manuscripts, the emphasis was on the images and the beauty of the page. Early printed works emphasized principally the text and the line of argument. In the sciences, the introduction of the printing press marked a move from the medieval language of metaphors to the adoption of the scientific method. In language, a metaphor is a rhetorical trope where a comparison is made between two seemingly unrelated subjects. ... A scientific method or process is considered fundamental to the scientific investigation and acquisition of new knowledge based upon physical evidence. ...

In general, knowledge came closer to the hands of the people, since printed books could be sold for a fraction of the cost of illuminated manuscripts. There were also more copies of each book available, so that more people could discuss them. Within 50-60 years, the entire library of "classical" knowledge had been printed on the new presses (Eisenstein, 1969; 52). The spread of works also led to the creation of copies by other parties than the original author, leading to the formulation of copyright laws. Furthermore, as the books spread into the hands of the people, Latin was gradually replaced by the national languages. This development was one of the keys to the creation of modern nations. For copyright issues in relation to Wikipedia itself, see Wikipedia:copyrights. ... Latin is the language that was originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ...

Some theorists, such as McLuhan, Eisenstein, Kittler, and Giesecke, see an "alphabetic monopoly" as having developed from printing, removing the role of the image from society. Other authors stress that printed works themselves are a visual medium.

The art of book printing and typeface

For years, book printing was considered a true art form. Typesetting, or the placement of the characters on the page, including the use of ligatures, was passed down from master to apprentice. In Germany, the art of typesetting was termed the "black art", and it has largely been lost, due to advances in computer typesetting programs, which make it possible to get similar results with less human involvement. Some few practitioners continue to print books the way Gutenberg did. There is a yearly convention of traditional book printers in Mainz, Germany. Typesetting involves the presentation of textual material in an aesthetic form on paper or some other media. ... In writing and typography, a ligature occurs where two or more letterforms are written or printed as a unit. ... Map of Germany showing Mainz Mainz (French Mayence) is a city in Germany, which is the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. ...

Printing in the industrial age

The Gutenberg press was much more efficient than manual copying, as testament to its effectiveness, it was essentially unchanged from the time of its invention until the Industrial Revolution, some three hundred years later. The Industrial Revolution is the name given to the massive social, economic and technological change in 18th century and 19th century Great Britain. ...

The invention of the steam powered press is credited to Friedrich Gottlob König and Andreas Friedrich Bauer in 1812 made it possible to print tens of thousands of copies of a page in a day. A steam engine is a heat engine that makes use of the potential energy that exists as pressure in steam, converting it to mechanical work. ... Andreas Friedrich Bauer (1783-1860) was a German engineer who developed the first high-speed printing press with his colleague Friedrich Gottlob Koenig, who had invented the technology and sold it to The Times newspaper in London in 1814. ... 1812 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

König and Bauer sold two of their first models to The Times in 1814, capable of 1,100 impressions per hour. The first edition so printed was on November 28, 1814. König and Bauer went on to perfect the early model so that it could print on both sides of a sheet at once. This began to make newspapers available to a mass audience, and from the 1820s changed the nature of book production, forcing a greater standardization in titles and other metadata. The Times is a national quality daily newspaper in the United Kingdom. ... 1814 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1820 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... A book is a collection of leaves of paper, parchment or other material, bound together along one edge within covers. ... Metadata is data about data. ...

König and Bauer's press was improved by Applegath and Cooper. The diagram indicates the principle operation of a Cowper and Applegath's Single Machine. The press is built up from a large flat inking table (A) which moves regularly back and forth, the form (B) on the table holds the type. The paper travels clockwise round a large cloth covered cylinder, the impression roller (C), and is pressed against the table. The ductor roller (D) rotates and so draws ink from the attached reservoir. The ink passes from the ductor roller to the vibrating roller (E), this moves, on its arms, in a regular motion between the ductor roller and the table. The ink is spread thinly and evenly by the distributing rollers (F) and then, as the table moves, passes onto the inking rollers (G). The axles of the inking rollers rest in groves, allowing them to rise and fall, they are also position at a slight angle to the table to improve ink distribution. As the table continues to move the form passes alternately under the inking rollers, twice, and then under the impression roller. Simple diagram of an 1820 Cowper and Applegaths Single Machine printing press. ...

Later on in the middle of the 19th century the rotary press (invented in the United States by Richard M. Hoe) allowed millions of copies of a page in a single day. Mass production of printed works flourished after the transition to rolled paper, as continuous feed allowed the presses to run at a much faster pace. A rotary printing press is a printing press in which the impressions are curved around a wheel so that the printing can be done on long continuous rolls of paper, cardboard, plastic, or a large number of other substrates. ... Richard March Hoe (September 12, 1812-June 7, 1886) was an American inventor who designed an improved printing press. ...

Movable type has been credited as the single most important invention of the millennium. A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years. ...

Later inventions in this field include: resized picture File links The following pages link to this file: Printing press Categories: Images with unknown source ... resized picture File links The following pages link to this file: Printing press Categories: Images with unknown source ...

Lithography is a method for printing on a smooth surface, as well as a method of manufacturing semiconductor and MEMS devices. ... The Offset Printing process Offset printing is a widely used printing technique where the inked image is transferred (or offset) first to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. ... Desktop publishing, or DTP, is the process of editing and layout of printed material intended for publication, such as books, magazines, brochures, and the like using a personal computer. ... Electronic publishing can refer to the publication of ebooks and electronic articles, and the development of digital libraries. ... A computer printer is a computer peripheral device that produces a hard copy (permanent human-readable text and/or graphics, usually on paper) from data stored in a computer connected to it. ...

References

Fontaine, Jean-Paul. L'aventure du livre: Du manuscrit medieval a nos jours. Paris: Bibliotheque de l'image, 1999.

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