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| Johannes Gutenberg |
The printing press was invented in the Holy Roman
Empire by the German Johannes Gutenberg around 1440, based on existing
screw presses. Gutenberg, a goldsmith by profession, developed a complete
printing system, which perfected the printing process through all its stages by
adapting existing technologies to printing purposes, as well as making
groundbreaking inventions of his own. His newly devised hand mould made for the
first time possible the precise and rapid creation of metal movable type in
large quantities, a key element in the profitability of the whole printing
enterprise.
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg ( 1398 –
February 3, 1468) was a German blacksmith, goldsmith, printer, and publisher
who introduced modern book printing. His invention of mechanical movable type
printing started thePrinting Revolution and is widely regarded as the most
important event of the modern period. It played a key role in the development
of the Renaissance, Reformation and the Scientific Revolution and laid the
material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy and the spread of
learning to the masses.
Gutenberg was the first European to use movable type
printing, in around 1439, and the global inventor of the printing press. Among
his many contributions to printing are: the invention of a process for mass-producing
movable type; the use of oil-based ink; and the use of a wooden printing press
similar to the agricultural screw presses of the period.
His truly epochal invention was the combination of
these elements into a practical system which allowed the mass production of
printed books and was economically viable for printers and readers alike.
Gutenberg's method for making type is traditionally considered to have included
a type metal alloy and a hand mould for casting type.
The use of movable type was a marked improvement on
the handwritten manuscript, which was the existing method of book production in
Europe, and upon woodblock printing, and revolutionized European
book-making. The mechanization of
bookmaking led to the first mass production of books in history in assembly
line-style.
GUTENBARG’S BIBLE
Gutenberg's printing technology spread rapidly
throughout Europe and later the world. His major work, the Gutenberg Bible
(also known as the 42-line Bible), has been acclaimed for its high aesthetic and
technical quality. From its beginnings, printing was practiced also as a true
art form, setting a high aesthetic and artistic standard, such as in the famous
42-line Bible. Today, incunables are among the most prized possessions of
modern libraries.
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| Gutenberg 42 lineBible |
Gutenberg was born in the German city of Mainz, the
youngest son of the upper-class merchant Friele Gensfleisch zur Laden, and his
second wife Else Wyrich, who was the daughter of a shopkeeper. According to
some accounts Friele was a goldsmith for the bishop at Mainz, but most likely,
he was involved in the cloth trade. Gutenberg's year of birth is not precisely
known but was most likely around 1398.
In 1462, during a conflict between two archbishops,
Mainz was sacked by archbishop Adolph von Nassau, and Gutenberg was exiled. An
old man by now, he moved to Eltville where he may have initiated and supervised
a new printing press.
In January 1465, Gutenberg's achievements were
recognized and he was given the title Hofmann ( gentleman of the court) by von
Nassau. This honor included a stipend, an annual court outfit, as well as 2,180
liters of grain and 2,000 liters of wine tax-free. It is believed he may have
moved back to Mainz around this time. Gutenberg died in 1468 and was buried in
the Franciscan church at Mainz, his contributions largely unknown. This church
and the cemetery were later destroyed, and Gutenberg's grave is now lost.
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DEVLOPMENT OF PRINTING
- A single Renaissance printing press could produce
3,600 pages per workday,
- compared to forty by typographic hand-printing and a
few by hand-copying.
- Books of bestselling authors like Luther or Erasmus
were sold by the hundreds of thousands in their lifetime.
- From a single point of origin, Mainz, Germany,
printing spread within several decades to over two hundred cities in a dozen
European countries.
- By 1500, printing presses in operation throughout
Western Europe had already produced more than twenty million volumes.
- In the 16th century, with presses spreading further
afield, their output rose tenfold to an estimated 150 to 200 million copies.
The operation of a press became so synonymous with the
enterprise of printing that it lent its name to an entire new branch of media,
the press.
The English philosopher Francis Bacon could write that
typographical printing has "changed the whole face and state of things
throughout the world"
The unprecedented impact of Gutenberg-style printing
on the long-term development of modern European and then world history is
difficult to capture in its entirety. Attempts at analysing its manifold
effects include the notion of a proper Printing Revolution and the creation of
the Gutenberg Galaxy. The ready availability and affordability of the printed
word to the general public boosted the democratization of knowledge and laid
the material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy.
In Renaissance Europe, the arrival of mechanical
movable type printing introduced the era of mass communication which
permanently altered the structure of society: The relatively unrestricted
circulation of information and ( revolutionary ) ideas transcended borders,
captured the masses in the Reformation and threatened the power of political
and religious authorities; the sharp increase illiteracy broke the monopoly of
the literate elite on education and learning and bolstered the emerging middle
class. Across Europe, the increasing cultural self-awareness of its peoples led
to the rise of proto-nationalism, accelerated by the flowering of the European
vernacular languages to the detriment of Latin's status as lingua franca.
LITHOGRAPHY
Lithography (from
Greek ) ( lithos, 'stone' + -graphy = to write) is a method for printing
using a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a completely
smooth surface. Invented in 1796 by Bavarian author Alois Senefelder as a cheap
method of publishing theatrical works, lithography can be used to print text or
artwork onto paper or other suitable material.
HOW LITHOGRAPHY WORKS
Lithography originally used an image drawn into a
coating of wax or an oily substance applied to a plate of lithographic stone as
the medium to transfer ink to a blank paper sheet, and so produce a printed
page.
In modern
lithography, the image is made of a polymer coating applied to a flexible
aluminum plate. To print an image lithographically, the flat surface of the
stone plate is roughened slightly—etched—and divided into hydrophilic regions
that accept a film of water, and thereby repel the greasy ink; and hydrophobic
regions that repel water and accept ink because the surface tension is greater
on the greasy image area, which remains dry. The image can be printed directly
from the stone plate ( the orientation of the image is reversed ), or it can be
offset, by transferring the image onto a flexible sheet ( rubber) for printing
and publication.
As a printing technology, lithography is different
from intaglio printing ( gravure), wherein a plate is either engraved, etched,
or stippled to score cavities to contain the printing ink; and wood block printing,
and letter press printing, wherein ink is applied to the raised surfaces of
letters or images.
Most types of
books of high-volume text are printed with offset lithography, the most common
form of printing technology. Etymologically, the word lithography also denotes
photo lithography, a micro fabrication technique used to make integrated
circuits and micro electro mechanical systems, as such are more technologically
akin to etching than lithography, printing from a stone plate.
Rotary press
In the 19th century, the replacement of the
hand-operated Gutenberg-style press by steam-powered rotary presses allowed
printing on industrial scale. while Western-style printing was adopted all over
the world, becoming practically the sole medium for modern bulk printing.
A rotary printing press is a printing press in which
the images to be printed are curved around a cylinder. Printing can be done on
large number of substrates, including paper, cardboard, and plastic. Substrates
can be sheet feed or unwound on a continuous roll through the press to be
printed and further modified if required ( e.g. die cut, overprint varnished,
embossed ). Printing presses that use
continuous rolls are sometimes referred to as "web presses". Rotary
drum printing was invented by Richard March Hoe in 1843, perfected in 1846 and
patented in 1847.
(Note – Some sources describe Parisian 'Hippolyte
Auguste Marinoni', (1823, 7 January 1904) as the inventor of the Rotary
printing press
( COR- PIB)
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