PRINT CULTURE

AND
THE MODERN WORLD
THE FIRST PRINTED BOOKS

PRINT IN PRINT IN
CHINA JAPAN
PRINT IN CHINA
• The new reading culture was accompanied by a new technology.
• Western printing techniques and mechanical presses were imported in the
late 19th century as Western powers established their outposts in China.
• SHANGHAI became the hub of the new print culture, catering to the
Western- style schools.
• From hand printing there was now a gradual shift to mechanical printing.
 PRINT IN JAPAN

• Buddhist missionaries from China introduced hand printing technology into

Japan around AD 768-770.

• The oldest Japanese book, printed in AD 868, is Buddhist DIAMOND

SUTRA.
A PAGE FROM DIAMOND SUTRA
 Continue…….
• Pictures were printed on textiles, playing cards and paper money.
• In the late 18th , in the flourishing urban circles at EDO later to be known as
Tokyo, illustrated collections of paintings depicted an elegant urban culture,
involving artists, courtesans, and teahouse gatherings.
• Libraries and bookstores were packed with hand printed material of various
types.
 KITAGAWA UTAMARO

KITAGAWA UTAMARO , born in EDO was widely known for his

contribution to an art form called UKIYO or depiction of ordinary
human experiences, especially urban ones. These prints travelled to
contemporary US and Europe 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
line. In the process, the original drawing would be destroyed and
only prints would survive.
 PRINT COMES TO EUROPE
• Chinese paper reached Europe via Silk Route.
• Production of manuscripts began.
• Production of book in Italy.
• Demand for book increased.
• Books began to be exported.
• Scribes began to be employed.
• Woodblock printing brought by Marco Polo became popular.
 Spread of Technology of Woodblock printing
in Europe
• In 1925, Marco Polo, a great explorer from Italy.

Brought the technology of woodblock printing from China

Introduced it in Italy, they began producing books with woodblocks.

Soon the technology spread to other countries of Europe.

 Continue…….
• Demand for books increased
• Booksellers started exporting books.
• Handwritten manuscripts were also produced by scribes.
• Scribes were no longer solely employed by wealthy people only. Booksellers
also hired them.
• Production of handwritten manuscripts could not meet the ever increasing
demand for books.
 Manuscript……
• Copying was an expensive, laborious and time consuming business.
• The manuscripts were fragile, awkward to handle and could not be carried
around or read easily.
• In the early 15th century, woodblocks started being widely used in Europe to
print textile, playing textiles, playing cards and religious pictures with simple,
briefs texts.
 Breakthrough……
• There was clearly a great need for even quicker and cheaper reproduction of
texts.
• The breakthrough occurred at Strasbourg, Germany, where Johann
Gutenberg developed the first-known printing press in the 1430s.
Gutenberg and The Printing
G
Press
 Gutenberg and The Printing
Press
Son of a merchant, Adapted existing technology of
grew on an Olive and wine presses, made a
agricultural estate. printing press and metal alphabets. First book printed was Bible.

Production of book multiplied.

Printed book resembled Printing presses
written manuscripts in setup in Europe
appearance and layout. (1450 – 1550)
Beginning of Print Revolution.
The Gutenberg Bible