PRINT CULTURE AND THE MODERN WORLD..pdf

PRINT CULTURE AND THE MODERN WORLD..pdf

1. PRINT CULTURE AND THE
MODERN WORLD

2. What Is Print Culture?
•Printcultureembodiesallformsofprintedtextandotherprintedformsofvisual
communication.OneprominentscholarinthefieldisElizabethEisenstein,whocontrasted
printculture,whichappearedinEuropeinthecenturiesaftertheadventoftheWestern
printing-press(andmuchearlierinChinawherewoodblockprintingwasusedfromatleast
800AD).toscribalculture.WalterOng,bycontrast,hascontrastedwrittenculture,
includingscribal,tooralculture.

3. •Thisisaroyalworkshopinthesixteenth
century,muchbeforeprintingbeganinIndia.
Wecanseethatthetextbeingdictated,written
andillustrated.Theartofwritingand
illustratingbyhandwasimportantintheage
beforeprint.Thinkaboutwhathappenedto
theseformsofartwiththecomingofprinting
machines.

4. The First Printed
Books

5. •Theearliestkindofprinttechnologywas
developedinChina,JapanandKorea.
Thiswasasystemofhandprinting.
FromAD594onwards,booksinChina
wereprintedbyrubbingpaper-also
inventedthere-againsttheinked
surfaceofwoodblocks.Asbothsidesof
thethin,poroussheetcouldnotbe
printed,thetraditionalChinese
'accordionbook'wasfoldedandstitched
attheside.Superblyskilledcraftsmen
couldduplicate,withremarkable
accuracy,thebeautyofcalligraphy.

6. History Of
Books
•Thehistoryofbooksfollowsasuite
oftechnologicalinnovationsfor
books.Theseimprovedthequality
oftextconservation,theaccessto
information,portability,andthe
costofproduction.Thishistoryhas
beenlinkedtopoliticaland
economicalcontingencies,the
historyofideas,andthehistoryof
religion.

7. Calligraphy
•Calligraphy(fromGreekkallas
"beauty"+graphi"writing")is
atypeofvisualart.Itisoften
calledtheartoffancylettering.
Acontemporarydefinitionof
calligraphicpracticeis"theart
ofgivingformtosignsinan
expressive,harmoniousand
skillfulmanner"

8. Print In Japan
•BuddhistmissionariesfromChina
introducedhandprintingtechnologyinto
JapanaroundAD768-770.Theoldest
Japanesebook,printedinAD868,isthe
BuddhistDiamondSutra,containingsix
sheetsoftextandwoodcutillustrations.
Pictureswereprintedontextiles,Newwords
Calligraphy-Theartofbeautifulandstylized
Writing,155PrintCultureplayingcards
andpapermoney.InmedievalJapan,poets
andprosewriterswereregularlypublished,
andbookswerecheapandabundant.
A Morning Scene, Tokyo Print
By Shunman Kubo, In Late
Eighteenth Century.

9. •Printingofvisualmaterialledtointerestingpublishing
practices.Inthelateeighteenthcentury,inthe
flourishingurbancirclesatEdo(latertobeknownas
Tokyo),illustratedcollectionsofpaintingsdepictedan
eleganturbanculture,involvingartists,courtesans,and
teahousegatherings.Librariesandbookstoreswere
packedwithhand-printedmaterialofvarioustypes-
booksonwomen,musicalinstruments,calculations,tea
ceremony,flowerarrangements,properetiquette,cooking
andfamousplaces.

10. Print comes to Europe
•Asthedemandforbooksincreased,booksellersalloverEuropebeganexportingbookstomanydifferent
countries.Bookfairswereheldatdifferentplaces.Productionofhandwrittenmanuscriptswasalso
organizedinnewwaystomeettheexpandeddemand.Scribesorskilledhandwriterswerenolongersolely
employedbywealthyorinfluentialpatronsbutincreasinglybybooksellersaswell.Morethan50scribes
oftenworkedforonebookseller.Buttheproductionof
handwrittenmanuscriptscouldnotsatisfythe
ever-increasingdemandforbooks.Copyingwasan
expensive,laboriousandtime-consumingbusiness.
Manuscriptswerefragile,awkwardtohandle,and
couldnotbecarriedaroundorreadeasily.Their
circulationthereforeremainedlimited.Withthe
growingdemandforbooks,woodblockprintinggradually
becamemoreandmorepopular.Bytheearlyfifteenth
century,woodblockswerebeingwidelyusedinEurope
toprinttextiles,playingcards,andreligiouspictureswithsimple,brieftexts.

11. Gutenberg And The Printing Press
•Gutenberg was the son of a merchant and
grew up on a large agricultural estate. From
his childhood he had seen wine and olive
presses. Subsequently, he learnt the art of
polishing stones, became a master goldsmith,
and also acquired the expertise to create lead
moulds used for making trinkets. Drawing on
this knowledge, Gutenberg adapted existing
technology to design his innovation. 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.
A Portrait of Johann
Gutenberg, 1534.

12. Gutenberg Printing Press
•Noticethelonghandleattachedtothescrew.Thishandlewas
usedtoturnthescrewandpressdowntheplatenoverthe
printingblockthatwasplacedontopofasheetofdamppaper.
Gutenbergdevelopedmetaltypesforeachofthe26characters
oftheRomanalphabetanddevisedawayofmovingthem
aroundsoastocomposedifferentwordsofthetext.Thiscame
tobeknownasthemoveabletypeprintingmachine,andit
remainedthebasicprinttechnologyoverthenext300years.
Bookscouldnowbeproducedmuchfasterthanwaspossible
wheneachprintblockwaspreparedbycarvingapieceofwood
byhand.TheGutenbergpresscouldprint250sheetsononeside
perhour.

13. Pages Of Gutenberg's Bible, The First Printed Book In
Europe
A printer's workshop, sixteenth century.

14. Printing Revolution on Social and Cultural Formations
•PrintingrevolutionusheredintheeraofmodernEuropeby
makingbothancientandmedievaltextsavailabletoa
broaderaudiencewhichproducedafertilegroundfornew
ideasandnewtheories.MarshallMcLuhanrightlynotes
thattheshiftfrompredominantlyoralculturetoprint
culturealsoaffectedthenatureofhumanconsciousnessin
thatprintrepresentedanabstractionofthoughtwhichgave
precedencetolinearity,sequentiallyandhomogeneity.This
modeofthinkingisverymuchevidentnotonlyin
rationalistphilosophy,realisticfiction,butalsointherise
ofscientificmaterialisminthefollowingcenturies.Printing
alsoledtothestandardizationofvariousEuropean
languagesasworksbegantobepublishedinthese
languages.

15. •Eventuallythisstandardizationof
vernacularlanguagescontributedtoward
promotingliteratureswhichwereusedto
createnationalmythologies.Whereas
mapswereincirculationsinceancient
times,cartographyasascienceisthe
childofprintrevolution.And
cartographywasnotonlyimportantin
demarcatingnationalboundaries,but
alsomappingtheterritoriesthatwere
colonizedinthenewworld.
BARNES & NOBLE The Printing Revolution

16. Print Culture And The French Revolution
•Print popularized the ideas of the enlightenment thinkers.
Collectively, their writings provided a critical connmentaryor
tradition, superstition and despotism.
•Print created a new culture of dialogue and debate. All values,
forms and institutions were re-evaluated and discussed by a
public that had become aware of the power of reason.
•1780's there was an outpouring of literature that mocked the
royalty and criticized their morality. In the process, it raised
questions about the existing social order.
•The print helps the spread of ideas. People did not read just one
kind of literature. If they read the Ideas of Voltaire and
Rousseau, They were also exposed to monarchic and church
propaganda.
•Print did not directly shape their minds, but it did open up the
possibility of thinking differently.
The Dudley Randall Center
for Print Culture

17. Religious Debates and the Fear of Print and
Print and Dissent
J.V. Schley, L'Imprimerie, 1739.

18. INDIA AND THE WORLD OF PRINT
•ManuscriptsBeforetheAgeofPrintIndiahad
averyrichandoldtraditionofhandwritten
manuscripts-inSanskrit,Arabic,Persian,as
wellasinvariousvernacularlanguages.
Manuscriptswerecopiedonpalmleavesoron
handmadepaper.Pagesweresometimes
beautifullyillustrated.Theywouldbeeither
pressedbetweenwoodencoversorsewn
togethertoensurepreservation.Manuscripts
continuedtobeproducedtillwellafterthe
introductionofprint,downtothelate
nineteenthcentury.
Pages
from the
Diwan of
Hafiz,
1824.
Pages
from the
Rig-veda.

19. Print Comes to India
•The printing press first came to Goa with Portuguese missionaries
in the mid-sixteenth century. Jesuit priests learnt Konkani and
printed several tracts. By 1674, about 50 books had been printed
In the Konkani and in Kanaralanguages. Catholic priests printed
the first Tamil book in 1579 at Cochin, and in 1713 the first
Malayalam book was printed by them. By 1710, Dutch Protestant
missionaries had printed 32 Tamil texts, many of them
translations of older works. The English language press did not
grow in India till quite late even though the English East India
Company began to import presses from the late seventeenth
century.

20. New Forms of Publication
•Printingcreatedanappetitefornewkindsofwriting.Asmoreandmorepeople
couldnowread,theywantedtoseetheirownlives,experiences,emotionsand
relationshipsreflectedinwhattheyread.Thenovel,aliteraryfirmwhichhad
developedinEurope,ideallycateredtothisneed.Itsoonacquireddistinctively
Indianformsandstyles.Forreaders,itopenedupnewworldsofexperience,and
gaveavividsenseofthediversityofhumanlives.Othernewliteraryformsalso
enteredtheworldofreading-lyrics,shortstories,essaysaboutsocialandpolitical
matters.Indifferentways,theyreinforcedthenewemphasisonhumanlivesand
intimatefeelings,aboutthepoliticalandsocialrulesthatshapedsuchthings.By
theendofthenineteenthcentury,anewvisualculturewastakingshape.Withthe
settingupofanincreasingnumberofprintingpresses,visualimagescouldbe
easilyreproducedinmultiplecopies.PainterslikeRajaRaviVarmaproduced
imagesformasscirculation.Poorwoodengraverswhomadewoodblockssetup
shopneartheletterpresses,andwereemployedbyprintshops.

21. Print and Censorship
•Before1798,thecolonialstateundertheEastIndiaCompanywasnottooconcernedwith
censorship.Strangely,itsearlymeasurestocontrolprintedmatterweredirectedagainst
EnglishmeninIndiawhowerecriticalofCompanymisruleandhatedtheactionsof
particularCompanyofficers.TheCompanywasworriedthatsuchcriticismsmightbeused
byitscriticsinEnglandtoattackitstrademonopolyinIndia.Bythe1820s,theCalcutta
SupremeCourtpassedcertainregulationstocontrolpressfreedomandtheCompanybegan
encouragingpublicationofnewspapersthatwouldcelebrateBritishrule.In1835,facedwith
urgentpetitionsbyeditorsofEnglishandvernacularnewspapers,Governor-General
Bentinckagreedtorevisepresslaws.ThomasMacaulay,aliberalcolonialofficial,
formulatednewrulesthatrestoredtheearlierfreedoms.Aftertherevoltof1857,the
attitudetofreedomofthepresschanged.EnragedEnglishmendemandedaclampdownon
the'native'press.Asvernacularnewspapersbecameassertivelynationalist,thecolonial
governmentbegandebatingmeasuresofstringentcontrol.In1878,theVernacularPressAct
waspassed,modelledontheIrishPressLaws.Itprovidedthegovernmentwithextensive
rightstocensorreportsandeditorialsinthevernacularpress.Fromnowonthegovernment
keptregulartrackofthevernacularnewspaperspublishedindifferentprovinces.Whena
reportwasjudgedasseditious,thenewspaperwaswarned,andifthewarningwasignored,
thepresswasliabletobeseizedandtheprintingmachineryconfiscated.

22. Thank you