timeline, 15th century:

1
time-line, 15th century 1423
Europeans begin Chinese method of block printing.
1450 A few newsletters begin
circulating in Europe. 1451 Johannes
Gutenberg uses a press to print an old German
poem. 1452 Metal plates are used in
printing. 1453 Gutenberg prints the
42-line Bible. First book, "The Gutenberg
Bible, is published.
1464 King of France establishes postal system.
1490 Printing of books on paper becomes
more common in Europe. 1495 A paper
mill is established in England. 16th century
1500 Arithmetic and - symbols are
used in Europe. 1500 By now
approximately 35,000 books have been printed,
some 10 million copies. 1518 Martin
Luther begins Protestant Reformation with the
publication of his "95
theses" attacking Roman Church corruption.
1520 Spectacles balance on the noses of
Europe's educated. 1533 A postmaster
in England. 1545 Garamond designs his
typeface. 1550 Wallpaper brought to
Europe from China by traders. 1560 In
Italy, the portable camera obscura allows precise
tracing of an image.
2
17th century 1609 First
regularly published newspaper appears in Germany.
1627 France introduces registered
mail. 1631 A French newspaper carries
classified ads. 1639 In Boston,
someone is appointed to deal with foreign mail.
1639 First printing press in the
American colonies. 1640 Kirchner, a
German Jesuit, builds a magic lantern.
1661 Postal service within the colony of
Virginia. 1673 Mail is delivered on a
route between New York and Boston.
1689 Newspapers are printed, at first as
unfolded "broadsides." 1696 By now
England has 100 paper mills. 1698
Public library opens in Charleston, S.C. early
18th century 1704 A newspaper in
Boston prints advertising. 1710
German engraver Le Blon develops three-color
printing. 1714 Henry Mill receives
patent in England for a typewriter.
1719 Reaumur proposes using wood to make paper.
1725 Scottish printer develops
stereotyping system. 1732 In
Philadelphia, Ben Franklin starts a circulating
library.
3
Printing The Gutenberg Galaxy Before we talk
about printing, we need to know about paper To
understand paper, we have to go back to China in
the year 105 CE, when Tsai Lun is said to have
invented the first lightweight paper, made from
old rags, hemp, tree bark, and fish nets. Prior
to this, writing was done on silk or
bamboo. Paper making then spread to Arabs in
Samarkland, who then taught it to Europeans in
the 12th century CE.
4
Before the invention of paper, the emperor set
himself the task of reading 120 lbs. of state
documents a day.
5
During this period, Chinas empire included East
Turkestan, Korea, and a large part of Indonesia.
6
The Buddhists introduced first stone tablet
rubbings, then block printing to China. Block
printing on paper was brought to China over the
Himalyas by Buddhist monks traveling from India
during the Tang dynasty (618-906), a time of
great openness and innovation in ancient China,
following Chinas Dark Ages (around 200-600
CE)
The first book with a verifiable date of printing
was made in 868 CE (600 years before the first
European book.)
7
The technology of block printing then spread to
Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines. But
there were problems with block printing -the
boards were useless after the printing was
done. -1 mistake ruined the whole board. Between
1041-1048 CE, Bi Sheng carved individual
characters on identical pieces of clay and baked
them, creating the first movable type (about 400
years before Johann Gutenberg invented metal
movable type.)
Chinese movable type
8
Why didnt printing with movable type
revolutionize Chinese society as it does later on
in Europe? The case of China reveals some
important caveats to the work of Innis and
Ong -the way we communicate (print vs. oral) or
the medium we use (paper versus stone) may have
an important impact on society. But the
relationship works both ways. Society must be
ripe to use new communication technologies. e.g.
The openness of the Tang dynasty led to the
adoption of Buddhist printing techniques. After
the fall of the Tang dynasty in 845,
all Buddhist temples were destroyed.
9
Moving to 15th century Europe, a German
metallurgist named Johannes Gutenberg creates
movable type out of metal, the first step
toward revolutionary changes across Europe In
1452, Gutenberg began his famous Bible project.
He published 200 of them, about 50 of which
still exist today. They were printed on vellum
and cost the equivalent of three years pay for
the average clerk. Visit this website to see an
online version of the Gutenberg Bible, courtesy
of the British Library www.prodigi.bl.uk/gutenbg
/default.asp In 1455, Gutenberg lost his press
due to insolvency.
10

• Books printed in the first 50 years after the
  invention of movable type
• are known as Incunabula Latin for swaddling
  clothes.
• Although 8 million books are estimated to be
  printed in this 50 year
• period, only a few rare copies remain.
• Why do we call it the Gutenberg Revolution?
• Social changes the growth of the bourgeoisie
• -Printing and Capitalism
• Benedict Anderson characterizes the convergence
  of the
• printing press and capitalism as print
  capitalism. Why?
• The book was the first mass produced commodity in
  Western
• capitalism.

11
Vernacular languages and the rise of
Nationalism The decline of Latin and the rise
of printed vernacular languages makes mass
literacy possible Vernacular languages allow for
the emergence of national consciousness (instead
of local or pan-European Latin) This new
national consciousness in turn fuels bourgeois
revolution in Europe, and the creation of the
modern nation-state as alternative to the
pan-European power of the Church
12
More from Anderson Before Gutenberg 1. truth
was accessible only through sacred language and
sacred text. Latin was the language of church
and state power, accessible only to a few. 2.
the power structure was derived from the monarch
by the Divine Right of Kings -the king or queen
was the Christian gods emissary on earth.
To challenge the monarchy was to challenge
God. -there was little sense of human history
separate from the Christian Bible
13

• Culture after Gutenberg
• the truth was accessible to anyone who could read
• the value of this is confirmed during the
  Protestant Reformation,
• which begins with Martin Luthers 95 theses in
  1518.
• 2. Cultural power is democractized. How?
• 3. Growth of secular thought and culture. Why?
• How does the spread of print text, as opposed to
  hand-copied
• manuscripts, affect society? (in part from
  Eisenstein)

14
Concepts Lewis Mumford Mumford was an American
critic of technology, communications, and
culture. He wrote many books, some examples are
Technics and Civilization and The Myth of the
Machine. Mumford argued that technology did not
act of its own accord it was not autonomous,
but controlled through culture by
humans. Because he believed humans could control
technology, he is considered a technological
optimist. Although he believed that technology
could be changed through culture, he argued that
changes in Western culture had led to many of the
problems of the Industrial Revolution.
15

• - Technology and Culture
• - Culture and the clock.
• The first operational clock was invented in 1286,
  and was used primarily
• monasteries.
• Mumford outlined three phases of technological
  change
• The Medieval Eotechnic Phase (1000 CE to 1750 CE)
• 2. The industrial-era paleotechnic phase (1750 CE
  to 1900)
• 3. The Coming Utopian Neotechnic Phase (1900 to
  today)

16
Mumford argued that the printing press is second
only to the clock in its effects on society. He
thought it had changed culture more than any
other single technology. With the transition
from manuscript to the printed word, the
imagery, calligraphy and art of the manuscript
had to be suppressed, replaced by the printed
words cool efficiency. But Printing broke
the class monopoly of the written word, and
provided the common man with a means of gaining
access to the culture of the worldThe swiftness
and economy of printmore than made up for the
other human qualities that were forfeited through
the invention of the printing press. (p. 88)
17
The advent of new printing technologies allowed
for the return of the gorgeous fonts and pictures
of old. Thus, Mumford saw an opportunity for
some of the old organic values to return, via
the printing press. He hoped to see printing
move away from mass production to
more small-scale production and therefore to a
larger measure of personal expression. He hoped
these more organic values would create a culture
focused on the myth of the garden, instead of
our current focus on
18
The Myth of the Machine - The megamachine and
its impact on society