Chapter 5: Print Culture and the Modern World

1. The First Printed Books

China: Earliest print technology (AD 594) used woodblock printing, rubbing paper against inked woodblocks. 'Accordion books' were folded and stitched. Imperial state printed textbooks for civil service exams, increasing print volume by the 16th century.
By the 17th century, print diversified for merchants, leisure reading (fiction, poetry, plays), and women writers, including courtesans. Shanghai became a hub for mechanical printing in the late 19th century with Western influence.
Japan: Buddhist missionaries introduced hand-printing (AD 768-770). The Diamond Sutra (AD 868) was the oldest printed book. Edo’s urban culture produced ukiyo prints, influencing Western artists like Van Gogh.

Chinese paper reached Europe via the Silk Route (11th century). Marco Polo brought woodblock printing knowledge in 1295, leading to book production in Italy and beyond.
Handwritten vellum manuscripts were expensive, for elites. Woodblock printing grew for textiles, cards, and religious texts by the early 15th century.

Johann Gutenberg developed the printing press in the 1430s, adapting olive press and metal mould technology. By 1448, he printed the Bible (180 copies, 3 years).
Printed books mimicked manuscripts with hand-illuminated borders. Between 1450-1550, presses spread across Europe, producing 20 million books, rising to 200 million in the 16th century, sparking the print revolution.

Printing reduced book costs, increasing accessibility. A reading public emerged, replacing oral culture where elites read and commoners listened to recited texts.
Low literacy rates persisted, so printers published illustrated ballads and folktales, read aloud in villages and taverns, blending oral and print cultures.

Print enabled wide circulation of ideas, sparking debates. Martin Luther’s Ninety Five Theses (1517) criticized Catholic practices, leading to the Protestant Reformation. His New Testament sold 5,000 copies quickly.
Fears arose that print spread rebellious ideas. The Catholic Church created the Index of Prohibited Books (1558) after cases like Menocchio, a miller executed for heretical Bible interpretations.

Print fostered individual interpretations of faith, challenging Church authority. Erasmus feared print’s flood of books diluted scholarship and spread seditious ideas.

Literacy rose (60-80% in parts of Europe by late 18th century) due to church schools. Reading mania led to new literature: chapbooks, almanacs, and periodicals with news and entertainment.
Scientists like Isaac Newton and thinkers like Voltaire and Rousseau reached wider audiences, spreading ideas of reason and science.

Print was seen as a tool for progress. Louise-Sebastien Mercier believed it could end despotism by spreading enlightenment through public opinion.

Print contributed to the French Revolution by: 1) Popularizing Enlightenment ideas (Voltaire, Rousseau) against tradition; 2) Creating a culture of debate; 3) Spreading cartoons mocking monarchy’s excesses.
Readers interpreted ideas selectively, not uniformly influenced by print.

Compulsory education increased children’s readership. A French children’s press (1857) published fairy tales, including Grimm Brothers’ edited folk tales (1812).
Women readers grew; novelists like Jane Austen and the Brontës defined strong female characters. Penny magazines and manuals targeted women.
Lending libraries educated workers; self-educated workers wrote political tracts and autobiographies (e.g., Maxim Gorky).

Metal presses (late 18th century), cylindrical press (mid-19th century, 8,000 sheets/hour), offset press (late 19th century), and electric presses (20th century) improved printing.
Serialized novels, Shilling Series, and paperbacks countered the Great Depression’s impact on book sales.

India’s manuscripts (Sanskrit, Persian, vernacular) on palm leaves or paper were expensive, fragile, and not widely used. Students memorized dictated texts.

Portuguese missionaries brought printing to Goa (mid-16th century), printing Konkani and Tamil books. English printing grew late; Bengal Gazette (1780) by Hickey faced colonial censorship.
Indian newspapers like Bombay Samachar (1822) emerged, led by figures like Rammohun Roy.

Print fueled 19th-century religious debates. Rammohun Roy’s Sambad Kaumudi (1821) and Hindu orthodoxy’s Samachar Chandrika clashed over reforms like widow immolation.
Ulama used Urdu lithographic presses for fatwas and newspapers to counter colonial influence. Deoband Seminary (1867) published extensively.
Vernacular religious texts (e.g., Ramcharitmanas, 1810) reached wider audiences, fostering debates and pan-Indian identities via newspapers.

Novels, short stories, and essays reflected Indian lives. Raja Ravi Varma’s mass-produced mythological prints shaped ideas of modernity and tradition.
Cartoons in journals mocked Westernized Indians and imperial rule, reflecting social anxieties.

Women’s reading grew in middle-class homes. Rashsundari Debi’s Amar Jiban (1876) was the first Bengali autobiography. Writers like Tarabai Shinde criticized women’s oppression.
Women’s journals discussed education and widow remarriage; Battala books brought cheap literature to women.

Cheap books sold in Madras markets and public libraries expanded access. Reformers like Jyotiba Phule (Gulangiri, 1871) and Ambedkar wrote against caste oppression.
Workers like Kashibaba (1938) and Sudarshan Chakr published on caste and class; millworkers set up libraries for literacy and nationalism.

Pre-1798, the East India Company censored English critics like Hickey. Post-1857, the Vernacular Press Act (1878) targeted nationalist newspapers with warnings and seizures.
Nationalist papers grew despite repression, fueling protests. Tilak’s Kesari (1908) led to his imprisonment, sparking widespread agitation.
Wartime laws (Defence of India Act, Sedition Committee) suppressed papers, especially during the Quit India movement (1942).