print culture 2

• 'Accordion Book' is a traditional Chinese book, folded and stitched at the side

  • Hand printed by rubbing paper against the inked surface of wooden blocks
  • Both sides of the thin, porous sheet could not be printed, so it was folded and stitched at the side
  • Duplicated by skilled craftsmen with remarkable accuracy and beauty of calligraphy
• Reasons favouring shift from hand printing to mechanical printing in China:

  • Textbooks for Civil services examination printed in vast numbers under imperial state sponsorship
  • Urban culture bloomed, diversifying the uses of print
  • Reading became a leisure activity, catering to new readership preferences
  • Western printing techniques and mechanical presses imported in the late nineteenth century
• Imperial State in China was the major producer of printed material because:

  • Huge bureaucratic system recruited personnel through civil service examinations
  • Responsible for printing textbooks, increasing volume of print as number of candidates went up in the 16th century
• Progress of print in Japan:

  • Hand-printing technology introduced by Buddhist missionaries from China
  • Poets and prose writers regularly published in medieval Japan
  • Flourishing urban circles at Edo depicted an elegant urban culture
  • Libraries and bookstores packed with hand-printed material of various types
• Impact of the print revolution in Europe during the 15th and 16th century:

  • Reduced cost of books and increased ease of production
  • Wide circulation of ideas, leading to new world of debate and discussion
  • Challenged established authorities, leading to division of the Church and beginning of the Protestant Movement
• Johann Gutenberg's creation of the first printing press:

  • Adapted existing technology, using the olive press as a model
  • Perfected the system by 1448, printing the Bible
  • Personalized printed books with illuminated borders and illustrations
• Martin Luther's remark on printing:

  • Ninety-Five Theses criticized Roman Catholic Church practices
  • Writings reproduced widely, leading to division within the Church and Protestant Reformation
• Reason for Roman Catholic Church keeping an Index of prohibited books:

  • Popular readings and questioning of faith led to individual interpretations that enraged the Church
  • Imposed severe controls over publishers and booksellers, maintaining an Index of Prohibited Books from 1558
• New printed books sold by pedlars in villages in 18th century Europe:

  • Almanacs, ritual calendars, ballads, and folktales targeted new audiences
  • Penny chapbooks in England, 'Biliotheque Bleue' in France
• Circumstances leading to intermingling of hearing culture and reading culture:

  • Printers published popular ballads and folk tales with illustrations
  • Orally transmitted material entered print, blurring the line between oral and reading cultures
• Print culture and French Revolution:

  • Print popularized Enlightenment thinkers' ideas, criticizing tradition and despotism
  • Created a culture of dialogue and debate, questioning existing ideas and beliefs
  • Outpouring of literature mocking royalty and criticizing social order
• Innovations in printing technology from the 19th century onwards:

  • Richard M. Hoe of New York perfected the power-driven cylindrical press capable of printing 8,000 sheets per hour, particularly useful for newspapers
  • The offset press was developed in the late nineteenth century, capable of printing up to six colors at a time
  • Electrically operated presses accelerated printing operations from the turn of the twentieth century
  • Methods of feeding paper improved, quality of plates became better, automatic paper reels and photoelectric controls of the color register were introduced
• Strategies developed by printers and publishers in the 19th century to sell their products:

  • Serialized novels were brought out, considered an important innovation
  • The first serialized novel was the Shilling Series, a cheap series popular in England in the 1920s
  • Advertisements were strategically placed at public locations like buildings and railway stations
  • The dust cover or book jacket was introduced as a twentieth-century innovation
  • Publishers brought out cheap paperback editions during the Great Depression in the 1930s
• What is a manuscript and why were they not widely used:

  • Manuscripts were documents or books written by hand
  • Manuscripts were not widely used because their circulation was limited and could not meet the increasing demand for books
  • Copying manuscripts was expensive, laborious, and time-consuming
  • Manuscripts were fragile, awkward to handle, and difficult to carry around
  • Manuscripts were written in different styles, making them hard to read easily
• Role of print in connecting various communities in different parts of India:

  • Religious texts reached a wide audience, encouraging discussions and debates within and among different religions
  • Newspapers conveyed news across regions, creating pan-Indian identities and allowing wider public participation in discussions
  • Clash of opinions through print led to the emergence of new ideas and social reform movements against practices like Sati and the Purdah system
• Examples supporting the statement that printing technology gave women a chance to share their feelings with the world outside:

  • Rashsundari Debi wrote her autobiography 'Amar Jiban' in 1876
  • Kailashbashini Debi highlighted women's experiences in books from the 1860s
  • Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai wrote about the lives of upper-caste Hindu women in the 1880s
  • Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossein condemned the withholding of education from women in 1926
  • A girl from a conservative Muslim family learned to read and write in Urdu to read a language she understood
• • Bombay and Bangalore cotton millworkers set up libraries sponsored by social reformers for self-education
• Effects of the spread of print culture for poor people in 19th century India:

  • Cheap small books were sold at crossroads in Madras towns, making them accessible to poor people
  • Public libraries were set up from the early twentieth century, expanding access to books
  • Writers like Jyotiba Phule, B.R. Ambedkar, and E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker wrote about caste issues, attracting readers from all social classes
  • Books reflecting the lives of the poor, like 'Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal' and 'Sacchi Kavitayan', resonated with mill workers
• Effect of print technology on Indian visual culture in the 19th century:

  • Increasing number of printing presses allowed easy reproduction of visual images
  • Painters like Raja Ravi Varma produced images for mass circulation
  • Cheap prints and calendars were available for decoration in homes and workplaces
  • Caricatures and cartoons commenting on social and political issues were published in journals and newspapers
  • Imperial caricatures and nationalist cartoons critiqued social and political aspects of the time
• Reasons that created new readers in the 19th century:

  • Compulsory primary education led to children becoming important readers
  • Penny magazines and novels targeted women readers, with women also becoming important writers
  • Lending libraries in England educated white-collar workers, artisans, and lower-middle-class people, leading to self-educated individuals writing political tracts and autobiographies