Print revolution

Topic: Print Culture and the Modern World · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 5 "Print Culture and the Modern World"

Meaning

The print revolution was the change from producing books by hand to printing them on machines. It happened in Europe between 1450 and 1550, after Johann Gutenberg's moveable type press. Output grew from 20 million books in the second half of the fifteenth century to about 200 million in the sixteenth century.

It matters because, for the first time, Europe could make books in huge numbers at low cost. Books reached ordinary readers and helped spread literacy and education. [3]

Explanation

Background: why Europe needed a new way to make books

• Paper came first, printing later.
• Chinese paper reached Europe in the eleventh century along the silk route (the old trade road that linked China to West Asia and Europe).

• Paper was cheaper and smoother than animal skin. Because of it, many more scribal manuscripts (books copied by hand) could be made.

• Knowledge of printing came from China.

• In 1295, Marco Polo returned to Italy from China. He brought knowledge of woodblock printing (a whole page cut into one wooden block, then inked and pressed on paper).
• From Italy the technology spread across Europe.

• By the early fifteenth century, woodblocks were common in Europe. People used them to print textiles, playing cards and religious pictures.

• Demand for books grew faster than scribes could copy them.

• Universities were growing, and merchants and students wanted cheap books.
• A bookseller who exported books across Europe often employed more than 50 scribes.

• Hand copying was still slow, costly and fragile. Manuscripts were awkward to carry and easily damaged.

• The rich kept to the old way. Aristocrats and monastic libraries (libraries in monasteries) wanted luxury editions handwritten on vellum (parchment made from animal skin). They scoffed at printed books as "cheap vulgarities".

The machine that started it: Gutenberg's press

• Johann Gutenberg built the first-known printing press at Strasbourg in the 1430s and perfected it by 1448.
• He joined two old skills to make one new machine:
• He grew up on an agricultural estate, where he saw wine presses and olive presses. The olive press became the model for the printing press.

• He was a master goldsmith, skilled at making moulds for casting lead. He used these moulds to cast metal types (small metal blocks, each carrying one letter).

• He made types for the 26 letters of the Roman alphabet. The letters could be taken apart and arranged again for each new page, so it was called the moveable type machine.

• Output: 250 sheets an hour, printed on one side.
• His main technical solutions [3]:
• a metal alloy that melted easily and cooled quickly into hard type that could be used again;
• an oil-based ink thick enough to stick to metal type and print cleanly on paper or vellum;

• a press adapted from wine, oil or paper presses that pressed firmly and evenly.

• People in the printing shop:

• Compositor: the worker who picks the metal types letter by letter and sets them in order.
• Galley: the metal frame or tray in which the types are laid out.
• Platen: the flat board pressed on the back of the sheet to push it against the inked type. It was first made of wood and later of steel.

How it spread and changed over time

• The first printed book was the Bible.
• About 180 copies were made in three years. No more than 50 survive today.
• It is called the 42-line Bible because most pages have double columns of 42 lines. It was printed at Mainz, Germany, in 1454/1455, with Gutenberg's partner Johannes Fust. [2]

• Probably at least 120 copies were on paper and up to 40 on vellum. [2]

• Early printed books copied the look of handwritten ones.

• Metal letters were cut to look like ornamental handwriting.
• Borders were illuminated by hand (painted with leaves and other designs).
• In copies for rich buyers, printers left blank spaces, which the buyer paid a painter to decorate.

• So no two copies were the same. Rich buyers saw this uniqueness as a mark of status.

• 1450–1550: presses spread across Europe. Printers from Germany travelled to other countries and set up new presses. By 1550 most countries of Europe had them.

Results

• A huge rise in scale:
• 20 million books in the second half of the fifteenth century;

• about 200 million books in the sixteenth century, a tenfold rise.

• Cheap books for a wide public. Books were no longer kept for aristocrats and monasteries. They reached a wide general audience, which helped spread literacy and education. [3]

• A long-lasting technology. Moveable type stayed the basic print technology for the next 300 years.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: the press was developed in the 1430s and perfected by 1448. The print revolution itself covers 1450–1550.
• Places: Strasbourg (where Gutenberg built his press) and Mainz, Germany (where the 42-line Bible was printed). Printing spread from Germany to most of Europe. Earlier, woodblock knowledge had entered Europe through Italy.
• Key people:
• Johann Gutenberg, born c. 1400 and died c. 1468. These dates are approximate. [2]
• Johannes Fust, Gutenberg's partner on the Bible. [2]

• Marco Polo, who brought woodblock knowledge from China in 1295.

• Evidence:

• Surviving Gutenberg Bibles (no more than 50).
• The Library of Congress copy, printed entirely on vellum. It is one of only three perfect vellum copies known. [2]
• Estimates of book output (20 million, then 200 million), as given in NCERT Class 10, Ch 5.

Don't confuse with

• Woodblock printing: one whole page is carved into a single wooden block. It came to Europe through Marco Polo (1295). The print revolution rested on moveable metal type, where single letters could be reused.
• Korean movable type: printing with movable type appeared in Korea in the fourteenth century, before Gutenberg. Gutenberg did not invent movable type. He built the mechanised press system in Europe. [3]
• Gutenberg's invention vs the print revolution: the press was built in the 1430s and perfected by 1448. The print revolution is the wider spread of mechanical printing across Europe in 1450–1550.
• Strasbourg vs Mainz: Gutenberg developed his press at Strasbourg, but the 42-line Bible was printed at Mainz (1454/55). [2]

Prelims Hooks

• The print revolution was the shift from hand printing to mechanical printing in Europe, 1450–1550.
• Book output: 20 million in the second half of the fifteenth century, then about 200 million in the sixteenth century.
• Olive press = the model for the printing press. Goldsmith's lead moulds = the model for casting metal types.
• Gutenberg's press printed 250 sheets an hour on one side, using types for the 26 Roman letters.
• First printed book = the Bible (42-line Bible), printed at Mainz in 1454/55 with Johannes Fust. About 180 copies were made and no more than 50 survive. [2]
• Trap: "Gutenberg invented movable type". This is wrong. Movable type appeared in Korea in the fourteenth century. [3]

Mains Points

• New technology is built from earlier borrowings. Gutenberg's press combined existing parts:
• Chinese paper, which came by the silk route;
• woodblock inking, which came through Marco Polo;
• the olive press;
• goldsmith's moulds.

Movable type had already appeared in Korea. [3] This is a strong point against accounts that give Europe all the credit for printing, and it shows how trade contact carried ideas.

• Social class shaped how the technology was received. Elites rejected printed books as "cheap vulgarities" and valued unique, hand-decorated copies. The demand for cheap, uniform books came from merchants and students. Early printed books even imitated manuscripts so that buyers would accept them.
• The change was in scale, not just in speed. Output went from 20 million books to about 200 million within roughly 150 years. Books became cheap and reached a wide audience, which helped spread literacy and education. [3] This created a reading public, and it links forward to the Reformation and, later, the spread of print to India.

Related concepts

• Johann Gutenberg
• Gutenberg press

Read more

• Print comes to Europe: Gutenberg and the print revolution