Chapter Notes

The First Printed Books

The journey of printing began long before the heavy metal presses we might imagine. The earliest print technology was developed in East Asia, specifically in China, Japan, and Korea, and it was a system of hand printing.

• Origins in China: From AD 594, books in China were printed using woodblocks. Craftsmen would carve characters onto a wooden block, ink the surface, and then rub paper against it.
• The 'Accordion Book': Because the paper used was thin and porous, printing could only be done on one side. The sheets were then folded and stitched at the side, creating what is known as the traditional Chinese 'accordion book'.
• Printing for the State: For a long time, the imperial state in China was the main producer of printed materials. It ran a massive bureaucracy, and its officials were recruited through civil service examinations. The state sponsored the printing of huge numbers of textbooks for these exams. As the number of candidates grew from the sixteenth century, so did the volume of print.
• A New Reading Culture: By the seventeenth century, print was no longer just for scholar-officials. As cities grew, its uses diversified:
  • Merchants used print to collect trade information.
  • Reading became a leisure activity for a new audience who enjoyed fiction, poetry, autobiographies, and plays.
  • Women, particularly from wealthy families, began to read and even publish their own poetry and plays.

Later, in the late nineteenth century, Western printing techniques and mechanical presses were imported into China, with Shanghai becoming the new hub of this evolving print culture. This marked a gradual shift from hand printing to mechanical printing.

Print in Japan

The technology of hand-printing traveled from China to Japan with Buddhist missionaries around AD 768-770.

• The oldest Japanese book, printed in AD 868, is the Buddhist Diamond Sutra.
• Printing was not limited to books. Pictures were printed on textiles, playing cards, and paper money.
• By the late eighteenth century, in flourishing urban centers like Edo (modern-day Tokyo), printing of visual material became very popular. Illustrated collections depicted scenes of urban life, featuring artists, courtesans, and teahouse gatherings.
• Bookstores were filled with hand-printed books on various subjects, from women's etiquette and musical instruments to cooking and famous places.

One of the most famous art forms from this period was ukiyo, or 'pictures of the floating world,' which depicted ordinary human experiences. Artists like Kitagawa Utamaro became famous for these prints, which later influenced European artists like Manet, Monet, and Van Gogh.

Print Comes to Europe

For centuries, goods like silk and spices traveled from China to Europe along the silk route. In the eleventh century, Chinese paper followed the same path, making it possible for scribes to produce handwritten manuscripts.

In 1295, the explorer Marco Polo returned to Italy after many years in China, bringing with him the knowledge of woodblock printing. Soon, Italians began producing books with woodblocks, and the technology spread across Europe.

However, the transition wasn't immediate:

• Luxury editions were still handwritten on expensive vellum (parchment made from animal skin) for aristocrats and rich libraries, who looked down on printed books as "cheap vulgarities."
• Cheaper printed copies were bought by merchants and students in university towns.

As the demand for books grew, producing handwritten manuscripts couldn't keep up. Copying by hand was expensive, slow, and laborious. Manuscripts were fragile and difficult to handle. Woodblock printing became more popular, but there was a clear need for a faster and cheaper way to reproduce texts.

Gutenberg and the Printing Press

The major breakthrough in print technology happened in Strasbourg, Germany, where Johann Gutenberg developed the first-known printing press in the 1430s.

Gutenberg drew on his existing knowledge to create his invention:

1. The Press: He grew up on an agricultural estate and had seen wine and olive presses. The olive press became the model for his printing press.
2. The Moulds: As a master goldsmith, he knew how to create lead moulds for making trinkets. He used this skill to design moulds for casting metal types for the letters of the alphabet.

By 1448, Gutenberg had perfected his system of movable type printing. The first book he printed was the Bible. He printed about 180 copies, which took three years—a remarkably fast production for the time.

The shift from hand printing to mechanical printing led to the print revolution.

• Early Printed Books: At first, printed books tried to look like handwritten manuscripts. The metal letters imitated handwritten styles, and borders were often hand-painted by artists. Wealthy buyers could even have blank spaces left on the page for custom illustrations.
• Explosion of Print: Between 1450 and 1550, printing presses were set up all over Europe. In the second half of the fifteenth century, about 20 million books flooded European markets. By the sixteenth century, this number grew to about 200 million copies.

The Print Revolution and Its Impact

The print revolution was more than just a new way to make books. It transformed society by changing people's relationship with information, knowledge, and authority. It truly opened up new ways of seeing the world.

A New Reading Public

The printing press created a new reading public. Before print, reading was limited to the elites. Common people lived in a world of oral culture, where they listened to sacred texts being read aloud, ballads being recited, and folk tales being narrated. Knowledge was transferred orally.

• From Hearing to Reading: With cheaper, mass-produced books, a "reading public" emerged from the "hearing public."
• Bridging the Literacy Gap: However, literacy rates in Europe were very low. To reach the common people, printers published popular ballads and folk tales with lots of pictures. These books could be read aloud at gatherings in villages and taverns (pubs).
• Oral and Print Cultures Mix: In this way, oral culture entered print, and printed material was transmitted orally. The line between the hearing public and the reading public became blurred.

Religious Debates and the Fear of Print

Print made it possible for ideas to circulate widely, sparking debate and discussion. People who disagreed with established authorities could now print and share their views, persuading others to think differently.

Not everyone welcomed this change. Many religious authorities, monarchs, and artists feared the effect of printed books.

• They worried that if there was no control over what was printed, rebellious and irreligious thoughts might spread.
• They feared that the authority of "valuable" literature would be destroyed.

This fear played out dramatically in the field of religion.

• In 1517, the religious reformer Martin Luther wrote his Ninety Five Theses, criticizing the practices of the Roman Catholic Church.
• A printed copy was posted on a church door in Wittenberg, challenging the Church to a debate.
• Luther's writings were quickly reproduced in vast numbers and read widely, leading to a division within the Church and the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

Luther was so grateful to print that he called it "the ultimate gift of God and the greatest one." Many scholars believe print helped spread the new ideas that led to the Reformation.

Print and Dissent

Print encouraged people, even those with little education, to interpret religious texts for themselves.

• Menocchio, a miller in sixteenth-century Italy, read books available in his area and reinterpreted the Bible, forming a view of God and Creation that angered the Roman Catholic Church.
• The Church began its Inquisition to repress such heretical (non-standard) ideas. Menocchio was tried twice and ultimately executed.

Troubled by these new interpretations, the Roman Church imposed strict controls on publishers and booksellers. From 1558, it began to maintain an Index of Prohibited Books.

The scholar Erasmus, a Catholic reformer, also expressed anxiety about printing. He feared that the flood of "stupid, ignorant, slanderous, scandalous, raving, irreligious and seditious books" would create a glut where even valuable publications would lose their value.

The Reading Mania

Through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, literacy rates rose across Europe as churches started schools in villages. In some parts of Europe, literacy reached as high as 60 to 80 percent by the end of the eighteenth century. This created a virtual reading mania.

• New Forms of Literature: To cater to this new audience, printers produced new kinds of popular literature.
  • In England, pedlars called chapmen sold pocket-sized chapbooks for a penny, making them affordable for the poor.
  • In France, the "Biliotheque Bleue" were low-priced small books printed on poor quality paper with cheap blue covers.
• Periodicals and Newspapers: The periodical press developed in the early eighteenth century, carrying news about wars, trade, and current affairs, as well as entertainment.
• Spread of Ideas: The ideas of scientists like Isaac Newton and philosophers like Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Jean Jacques Rousseau became more accessible to the common people. Their ideas about science, reason, and rationality found their way into popular literature.

'Tremble, therefore, tyrants of the world!'

By the mid-eighteenth century, many believed that books were a powerful tool for spreading progress and enlightenment. They thought books could change the world, free society from despotism (absolute rule) and tyranny, and usher in an age of reason.

Louise-Sebastien Mercier, a French novelist, declared, "The printing press is the most powerful engine of progress and public opinion is the force that will sweep despotism away." Convinced of print's power, he proclaimed: "Tremble, therefore, tyrants of the world! Tremble before the virtual writer!"

Print Culture and the French Revolution

Many historians argue that print culture created the conditions that led to the French Revolution. Three main arguments are often made:

1. Spread of Enlightenment Ideas: Print popularized the writings of thinkers like Voltaire and Rousseau. Their works criticized tradition, superstition, and despotism, arguing for the rule of reason. Those who read their books began to see the world through new, critical eyes.
2. A New Culture of Debate: Print created a public space for dialogue and debate. People began to question existing norms and institutions, and new ideas of social revolution emerged.
3. Criticism of the Monarchy: By the 1780s, there was an explosion of literature that mocked the royalty and criticized their morality. Cartoons and caricatures suggested the monarchy was absorbed in pleasure while the common people suffered. This underground literature helped build hostile feelings against the monarchy.

The Nineteenth Century

The nineteenth century saw huge increases in literacy, bringing large numbers of new readers among children, women, and workers.

Children, Women and Workers

• Children: As primary education became compulsory, children became a key market for books. A children's press was set up in France in 1857. The Grimm Brothers in Germany collected traditional folk tales from peasants and published them in 1812, editing them to be suitable for children.
• Women: Women became important as both readers and writers. Penny magazines were aimed at women, along with manuals on housekeeping. Famous novelists like Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, and George Eliot created a new image of women—as individuals with will, personality, and the power to think.
• Workers: Lending libraries in England became centers for educating white-collar workers, artisans, and the lower-middle class. As the working day shortened, workers had more time for self-improvement and wrote political tracts and autobiographies.

Further Innovations

Printing technology continued to evolve throughout the nineteenth century.

• Power-driven Cylindrical Press: Perfected by Richard M. Hoe of New York, this press could print 8,000 sheets per hour and was ideal for newspapers.
• Offset Press: Developed in the late nineteenth century, it could print up to six colours at a time.
• Electrically Operated Presses: At the turn of the twentieth century, these accelerated printing even further.

Publishers also developed new strategies to sell their books:

• Serializing important novels in periodicals.
• Selling cheap paperback editions to sustain sales during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
• The dust cover or book jacket is also a twentieth-century innovation.

India and the World of Print

Before the arrival of print, India had a rich tradition of handwritten manuscripts.

Manuscripts Before the Age of Print

• Manuscripts in Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, and various regional languages were copied by hand onto palm leaves or handmade paper.
• They were often beautifully illustrated but were also expensive, fragile, and hard to read due to different script styles.
• Because of these limitations, manuscripts were not widely used in everyday life. Many students in pre-colonial Bengal learned to write by taking dictation from teachers but never actually read any texts themselves.

Print Comes to India

1. The printing press first came to Goa with Portuguese missionaries in the mid-sixteenth century. They learned Konkani and printed several books.
2. The first Tamil book was printed in 1579 in Cochin, and the first Malayalam book in 1713.
3. The English language press started later. In 1780, James Augustus Hickey began editing the Bengal Gazette, the first English weekly in India. He was independent of the colonial government and often published gossip about senior officials.
4. The first Indian-run newspaper was the weekly Bengal Gazette, brought out by Gangadhar Bhattacharya.

Religious Reform and Public Debates

In the early nineteenth century, print fueled intense public debates on religious and social issues in India.

• Reformers and orthodox groups used printed tracts and newspapers to argue over practices like widow immolation, monotheism, and idolatry.
• Rammohun Roy published the Sambad Kaumudi from 1821 to promote his reformist ideas. The Hindu orthodoxy responded with the Samachar Chandrika.
• Muslim ulama (legal scholars) used cheap lithographic presses to publish translations of holy scriptures and fatwas (legal pronouncements) to guide Muslims in their daily lives.
• Print also encouraged the reading of religious texts among Hindus. The first printed edition of the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas came out from Calcutta in 1810.

New Forms of Publication

Printing created an appetite for new kinds of writing, like the novel, which allowed people to read about their own lives, emotions, and experiences. A new visual culture also took shape.

• Painters like Raja Ravi Varma produced images for mass circulation.
• Cheap prints and calendars could be bought in the bazaar by the poor to decorate their homes.
• By the 1870s, journals and newspapers published caricatures and cartoons commenting on social and political issues, sometimes mocking Indians' fascination with the West and at other times criticizing imperial rule.

Women and Print

Print had a profound impact on the lives of women.

• Women's reading increased enormously in middle-class homes. Liberal husbands and fathers began educating their female family members.
• However, conservative families feared that education would corrupt women. Hindus feared a literate girl would be widowed, while Muslims feared they would be corrupted by reading Urdu romances.
• Some women defied these prohibitions. Rashsundari Debi, a young married woman in an orthodox household, secretly learned to read and later wrote her autobiography, Amar Jiban (1876), the first full-length autobiography in Bengali.
• From the 1860s, women like Kailashbashini Debi, Tarabai Shinde, and Pandita Ramabai wrote powerfully about the miserable lives of women, especially upper-caste Hindu widows.
• Journals for women became popular, discussing issues like education, widow remarriage, and the national movement.
• In Punjab, books like Ram Chaddha's Istri Dharm Vichar were published to teach women how to be obedient wives.
• In Calcutta, the Battala area was devoted to printing popular books, from religious tracts to scandalous literature, which pedlars took to homes for women to read.

Print and the Poor People

• Very cheap, small books were sold at crossroads in nineteenth-century Madras towns, allowing poor people to buy them.
• Public libraries were set up in the early twentieth century, expanding access to books.
• From the late nineteenth century, print was used to address caste discrimination. Jyotiba Phule wrote about the injustices of the caste system in his Gulamgiri (1871). Later, B.R. Ambedkar in Maharashtra and E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker (Periyar) in Madras wrote powerfully on caste.
• Factory workers, though overworked, also contributed. Kashibaba, a Kanpur millworker, wrote Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal (1938) to show the links between caste and class exploitation.

Print and Censorship

The colonial state grew increasingly wary of the power of the press and sought to control it.

• Before 1798, the East India Company was mainly concerned with Englishmen criticizing its rule.
• After the revolt of 1857, the attitude changed. Enraged Englishmen demanded a clampdown on the "native" press.
• In 1878, the colonial government passed the Vernacular Press Act, modeled on Irish Press Laws. This gave the government extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the vernacular (local language) press. If a newspaper was warned for publishing seditious material and ignored the warning, its press could be seized.

Despite these measures, nationalist newspapers grew in number. They reported on colonial misrule and encouraged nationalist activities. When the government tried to suppress criticism, it often provoked militant protests. For example, when Balgangadhar Tilak wrote with sympathy about Punjab revolutionaries in his newspaper Kesari, he was imprisoned in 1908, leading to widespread protests across India.