Print Revolution

• China, Japan and Korea developed the earliest kind of print technology, which was a system of hand printing
• Hand-printing technology was introduced by Buddhist missionaries from China into Japan around AD 768-770
• Johann Gutenberg developed the first-known printing press in the 1430s
• The first printed book with the new system was the Bible
• In 1517, the religious reformer Martin Luther wrote Ninety-Five Theses, criticising many of the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church
• From 1558, The Roman Church began to maintain an Index of Prohibited Books.
•  Catholic priests printed the first Tamil book in 1579 at Cochin
• in 1713 the first Malayalam book was printed
•  In 1822, two Persian newspapers published Jam-i-Jahan Nama and Shamsul Akhbar
• In 1821, Rammohun Roy published the Sambad Kaumudi
• In 1907, Punjab revolutionaries were deported; Bal Gangadhar Tilak wrote with great sympathy about them in his Kesari, which led to his imprisonment in 1908
• Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information
• Maxim Gorky wrote My Childhood and My University
• James Augustus Hickey began to edit the ‘Bengal Gazette’ a weekly magazine
•  Gangadhar Bhattacharya began to publish the weekly Bengal Gazette
• Erasmus expressed a deep anxiety about printing
• In France, a children’s press was set up in 1857
•  Jyotiba Phule wrote Gulamgiri
•  Diamond Sutra is the oldest Japanese book, printed in 868 AD containing six sheets of text and woodcut illustrations
•  Portuguese introduced the printing press in India
• Shanghai became the hub of the Western style-school culture printing
• In 1295, Marco Polo, a great explorer returned to Italy with complete knowledge of printing
• By 1674, more than 50 books were printed in Konkani and Karana languages
• Before 1798, the colonial state was not afraid of censorship that by 1820s, the Calcutta Supreme Court passed certain regulations to control press freedom
• After the revolt of 1857, the attitude to freedom of press completely changed. The Vernacular Press Act was passed which provided the government extensive rights to censor reports and journals in the vernacular press
• Martin Luther hailed printing as the ultimate gift of God
• The Grimm Brothers of Germany compiled traditional folktales gathered from peasants and published them in 1812.
• Louise Sebastian Mercier said “The printing press is the most powerful engine of progress and public opinion is the force that will sweep despotism away.”
• Penny chapbooks were carried by petty pedlars known as chapmen in England
• Protestant Reformation was a 16th Century movement to reform Catholic Church dominated by Rome.
•  India used to have a tradition of handwritten manuscripts in Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian as well as in various vernacular languages
• Charles Metcalfe was the Acting-Governor General of India in 1835
• The periodical press and newspapers carried combined information about current affairs with entertainment
• In 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed which provided the Government with extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the vernacular press
• Rashsundari Debi wrote her autobiography - Amar Jiban in 1876 on secrecy in her ignorant household
• Kailashbashini Devi wrote a book highlighting the struggles of women in an Indian society and the hardships living in an ignorant household
• Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai wrote with passionate anger about the struggles of upper-caste Hindu women, especially widows.
• Manuscripts were fragile, expensive and hard to carry
• Vernacular Press Act = 1878
• Diamond Sutra = 868 AD