LESSON 5: PRINT CULTURE

Q1.Why couldn’t the production of handwritten manuscripts satisfy the ever

increasing demand for books? Give any three reasons.

1. Production of handwritten manuscripts was a tiresome work. Copying was time

consuming, high priced and painful.
2. Manuscripts were delicate and difficult to handle.
3. It was not easy to carry the manuscripts everywhere.

Q2. Explain some features of handwritten manuscripts before the age of print in India.
1. They were very popular and were produced in various vernacular languages.
2. They were produced on palm leaves or on handmade paper which were beautifully
illustrated.
3. They were pressed between wooden covers or sewn together so that they can be
preserved for long.
4. They were fragile and time consuming. It could not be carried easily from one place
to another.

Q3.Explain any three factors responsible for the invention of new printing
techniques.
1. The production of handwritten manuscripts could not satisfy the ever increasing
demand for books.
2. Copying was an expensive, laborious and time consuming exercise.
3. Manuscripts were fragile, difficult to handle and could not be cared for or read
easily.
4. Wood-block printing was popular but there was a need for quicker and cheaper
reproduction of texts.

Q4. How were magazines different from novels? Write any three differences.
1. Magazines had several stories along with varied contents. Novels presented just one
story.
2. Magazines were published periodically but the novels were published only once. 3.The
writers of the magazines could be several. Novel was written by one author. 4.Magazines
contained advertisements as compared to novels.
5. Magazines had written as well as pictorial representations while novels had Q5.

How did the knowledge of wood-block printing come to Europe? Explain.

 1. Paper reached Europe in the 11th century from China through the Silk
Route. This made possible the production of manuscripts.
2. China already possessed the technology of wood-block printing. Travellers like
Marco Polo brought this knowledge to Italy.
3. Now Italians began to produce books with this technology.
4.This increased the demand for books.
5.Soon it spread to other parts of Europe.

Q6. In what three ways did the printed books at first closely resemble the written
manuscripts?

1. Both printed books and manuscripts looked similar because metal letters imitated the
ornamental handwritten style.
2. Like written manuscripts, the borders of printed books were also illuminated by hand
with foliage and patterns were painted.
3. Both in written manuscripts and printed books, space for decoration was kept blank
so that the buyer could choose their designs.

Q7. What was Protestant Reformation?

1. Protestant Reformation was a movement dedicated to reform the Roman Catholic Church
in the sixteenth century. Martin Luther was its chief preacher.
2. He wrote Ninety Five Theses criticising many of the practices and rituals of the
Roman Catholic Church in 1517 in which he challenged the Church to debate his ideas.
3. This led to division of church and beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

Q8. What was the attitude of liberal and conservative Indians towards women’s
reading? How did women like Kailashbhashini Debi respond to this in their writings?

1. Liberal husbands and fathers began educating their womenfolk at home.

2. They sent them to schools when women’s schools were set up in the cities and towns
after the mid-nineteenth century.
3. While conservative Hindus believed that a literate girl would be widowed, muslims
feared that reading Urdu romances would corrupt Muslim women. Women like
Kailashbhashini Debi responded to this in their writings in the following ways.
4. Lives and feelings of women began to be written in particularly vivid and intense ways.
From the 1860s, a few Bengali women like Kailashbashini Debi wrote books highlighting
the experiences of women.
5. Kailashbhashini wrote about how women were imprisoned at home, kept in ignorance,
forced to do hard domestic labour and treated unjustly by the very people they served.
Q9. Explain with examples the role of print culture in the bringing of French
Revolution.

1. Print popularised the ideas of the enlightenment thinkers. The writings of Voltaire and
Rousseau were read widely.
2. These thinkers argued for the rule of reason rather than custom and demanded that
everything should be judged through the application of reason and rationality. 3.Print
created a new culture of dialogue and debate. All values, norms and
institutions were re-evaluated and discussed by a public that had become aware of the
power of reason and recognised the need to question existing ideas and beliefs. 4.By the
1780s, there was an outpouring of literature that mocked the royalty and criticised their
morality. In the process, it raised questions about the,existing social order.
5.Print did not directly shape their minds, but it did open up the possibility of thinking
differently.

Q10. Who invented the printing press? How did he develop printing
technology?
1. Johannes Gutenberg developed the first mechanical printing press.
2. Most of his childhood was spent on a large agricultural estate where he saw wine
and olive presses. He learned polishing stones and created lead moulds. 3.The olive
press was the model for the printing press and the moulds were used for casting the
metal types for the letters of the alphabet.

Q11.What was the Print Revolution?

1. The shift from hand printing to mechanical printing led to the print revolution.

2. It changed people’s relationship with information and knowledge and with

institutions and authorities.

3. It influenced people’s perceptions and opened up new ways of looking at

things.

Q12.How did the print bring the reading public and the hearing public
closer?

Earlier society was divided into the reading public and the hearing public. The common
people had the oral culture while the rich people had the reading culture. The common
people heard sacred texts read out, ballads recited and folk tales narrated.
The reading culture was only limited to the elites and they only read books individually
and silently. The reasons behind this culture were:
i. The books were expensive
ii. The books were produced in fewer numbers
iii. The literacy rate was low in most European countries.
1.To bridge the gap between these two public, printers began publishing popular
ballads and folk tales, and such books were illustrated with pictures. 2.These were then
sung and recited at gatherings in villages and in towns.
Oral culture thus entered print and printed material was orally transmitted.

Q13.The production of handwritten manuscripts could not satisfy the

ever-increasing demand for books.” Give reasons to support this
statement.
1.Copying was an expensive, laborious, and time-consuming business. 2.The
manuscripts were highly expensive, fragile, and needed careful handling.
3.The handwritten manuscript production was not sufficient to meet the demand.

Q14. Why did the new technology not entirely displace the existing art of
producing books by hand?
1. The metal letters imitated the ornamental handwritten styles.

2. Borders were illuminated by hand with foliage and other patterns and
illustrations were painted.
3. There was blank space for decoration in the books printed for the rich and the
design was chosen by the buyer.

Q15.Write about the impact of the printing press on the lives of women
in Europe.
1. Women became important readers as well as writers.
2. Penny magazines and manuals teaching housekeeping and other such topics
were printed especially for women.
3. Women read as well as wrote novels.
4. Some popular women writers were Jane Austen, The Bronte Sisters, and George
Elliot.
5. Their writings defined a new type of woman: a person with a will, the
strength of personality, determination, and the power to think.
Q16.Explain the effects of print culture in the religious sphere in early
modern Europe.
The print culture helped in the circulation of ideas and introduced a new culture of
debate and discussion. It was used by the rebellions to let the people know the truth
and take action against the established authorities. The printed books were welcomed
and also people had fear due to the rebellious and irreligious thoughts.

1. Martin Luther was a religious reformer. He wrote Ninety-Five Theses in 1517

criticising the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church.

2. Menocchio, a miller in Italy, interpreted the message of the Bible and

formulated a view of God and Creation that enraged the Roman Catholic
Church.

3. The Roman Catholic Church started identifying such ideas, beliefs, and persons
who wrote against the Church and thus Menocchio was hauled up twice and
finally executed.

4. Several restrictions were put over the publishers and the booksellers by the church
and also the church began to maintain an Index of Prohibited Books from 1558.

Q17.Martin Luther remarked, “Printing is the ultimate gift of God and the
greatest one.” Explain his remarks in the light of religious reforms that
took place in Europe.

1.In 1517, the religious reformer Martin Luther wrote Ninety-Five Theses criticising
many of the practices of the Catholic Church.
2.A printed copy of this was posted on a church door in Wittenberg.
3. His writings were read and reproduced in vast numbers using the printing press.
4. This print brought about a new intellectual atmosphere, which helped in the spread
of new ideas. This also paved the way for the reformation in the practices of the
church.
5. This led to a division within the Church and to the beginning of the
Protestant Reformation.
6. Print encouraged people to think reasonably and question the customs
followed in the Church, which enraged the Roman Catholics.

Q18.Briefly describe Indian manuscripts and their drawbacks.

India had a rich tradition of handwritten manuscripts in Sanskrit, Arabic, and
Persian as well as vernacular languages.
ii. Manuscripts were copied on palm leaves or on handmade paper and were
sometimes beautifully illustrated.
iii. They were pressed between wooden covers or sewn together to ensure
preservation.
Drawbacks:
i. Manuscripts were highly expensive and fragile.
ii. They had to be handled carefully.
iii. They could not be read easily as the script was written in different styles.
iv. So manuscripts were not used widely in daily life.

Q19.How did the printing press lead to a new visual culture in India?
1.Painters like Raja Ravi Verma produced images for mass circulation. 2.Cheap
prints and calendars became easily available and could be bought even by the poor
to decorate their homes.
3. These prints began shaping popular ideas about modernity and tradition,
religion and politics, and society and culture.
4. By the 1870s caricatures and cartoons were being published in journals and
newspapers commenting on social and political issues.
5. Some cartoons made fun of Indians blindly copying the West and criticised
British rule over India while imperial caricatures made fun of Indian nationalists.

Q20.“Printing technology gave women a chance to share their feelings

with the world outside.” Support the statement with suitable examples.
1.Rashundari Devi, a young married girl in a very orthodox household, learnt to read
in the secrecy of her kitchen. Later she wrote her autobiography Amar Jiban which
was published in 1876. It was the first full length autobiography in bengali.
2. Many other women writers, like Kailashbhashini Debi, highlighted experiences of
women like their imprisonment at home, ignorance and unjust treatment in their
writings.
3.Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai narrated the plight of upper caste Hindu
women, especially the widows.
4.Tamil writers expressed the poor status of women.
5. By the early 20th century, journals written by women became popular, which
highlighted issues like women’s education, widowhood and widow remarriage. Some
of them highlighted fashion lessons to women and entertainment through short stories
and serialised novels.
Q21.What was the Vernacular Press Act?
The vernacular Press Act was passed in 1878. It was modelled on the Irish Press
Laws. It provided the Government with extensive rights to censor reports and
editorials in the vernacular press.