Since the beginning of time mankind has always recorded life on earth by way of pictures, petroglyphs, and hieroglyphics using various minerals, plant dyes, or charcoals as tools. Printing history must include these earliest attempts to preserve thoughts and impressions for others to see and interpret.
The cave of Lescaux in France holds imagery carbon-dated at 30,000 years ago. These images are examples of the earliest forerunner of modern day printmaking. Using painting, drawing, sculpture, and engraving techniques, ancient peoples left their marks for future generations. It stands to reason that future generations would explore this form of communication as populations and cultures grew.
The use of papyrus by the Egyptians to make paper as early as 3000 BC is the single most important development in the progression from early cave paintings to modern day computerized printing presses.
The Chinese are given credit for the first printed book when they carved works of Confucius into stone in 175 AD. They could obtain copies by placing paper over the stone and rubbing it with charcoal or graphite. The Koreans and Japanese followed with different printing techniques.
Using woodcuts, the Chinese produced the first known printed book that contained text and illustrations of the Diamond Sutra. The next advance in printing, also made by the Chinese, was the use of moveable type where individual letters were made of clay that was then fired. The Koreans, around 1380 AD, began to cast the Chinese alphabet in bronze. They then developed their own simpler alphabet in 1443 AD.
At about the same time, the first printing press surfaced in Germany. Developed by Gutenberg, a goldsmith, this press used individual pieces of type and pressure to print text and woodcut illustrations onto paper. The first book printed on this press was the Bible, printed in Latin. In 1457 AD, this press produced the Maine Psalter, containing the first two-color prints. Germany became the leader in printing, and soon carried their knowledge across the world.
The Italians began to produce fine printing, made possible by their use of engraving onto copper plates. This intaglio technique that produced very fine prints used a different type of press that could not combine text and illustrations in one step. Copper plates were produced for illustrations that were added to pages of a book.
During the Protestant Reformation in the early sixteenth century, Martin Luther’s protests against the Roman Catholic Church were printed in pamphlets that were mass-produced and disseminated to the people. Thus began the use of printed material as propaganda and political tool.
By the 17th and 18th centuries, various printing techniques were developed, mostly by artists. Mezzotint, aquatint, and lithography were all perfected by artists. Lithography developed into chromolithography where four separate stones were used to create color prints. By the 1850s photography became a part of lithographic prints, and by the 1870s this was the standard printing method used across the world. Because the printing presses remained much the same, printing changed little until the advent of computers.
Although contemporary printing techniques allow for less labor-intensive production, as in making woodcuts, those engaged in the process must have technical expertise in everything from computer programming, graphics, and computer-generated printing.
The American Printing History Association
Daniel Traister's Home Page
China: the invention of printing
Gutenberg and the Koreans: The Invention of Paper
History of PRINTING
The Museum of Printing History
Manuscript Studies: Bibliography (History of Printing)
Media Revolution in Early Modern Europe
Printing
Printing: Renaissance & Reformation
The Atlas of Early Printing - Sources - The University Of Iowa Libraries
The First Hundred Years of Printing in British North America: Printers and Collectors
The History of Visual Communication - The Printing Press
The Printing Press
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