The history of the printing press


Made by Gert-Jan Blonk, Paula Boele, Claudia Feenstra Froukje Rienks, H4b

This is our final assignment for English, True Colours.
Four Important Periods in the History of the Book
I. 7th to 13th Century: The age of religious "manuscript" book production. Books in this period are entirely constructed by hand, and are largely religious texts whose creation is meant as an act of worship.
II. 13th to 15th Century: The secularisation of book production. Books are beginning to be produced that do not serve as objects of worship, but that try to explain something about the observable world. The difficulty with the spread of such knowledge is that production is still taking place via pre-print - manuscript - methods.
The production of secular books is driven by two things:
1. The rise of universities in Europe, spreading from Italy.
2. The return of the crusaders in the 13th century, who bring with them texts from Byzantium. These books, written during the Greek and Roman periods in history, focus on this-world concerns.
III. 15th to 16th Century: The first printed books. These are print versions of traditional works like the Bible, books of hours (prayer books) and the religious calendars.
IV. 16th to 17th Century: New information is put into books that has important consequences for European life and society.
Authors like Elizabeth Eisenstein, who say that print had a massive effect in European culture, are looking at the differences between periods II and III above. Febvre and Martin see other factors as more important because they are looking at the differences between periods I and IV above.

Let's now turn to an examination of each of these periods in European history so that we can get a better grasp on the motivating factors for change.
The 7th to the 9th century was the heyday of the illuminated manuscript. Production of these works took place in the monasteries scattered across Europe. These religious retreats were the repositories of those texts of Greece and Rome which survived in Europe. They were also the seats of the intellectual life of Europe during the Middle Ages. Monks in the monasteries made copies of the books in their care - both religious and secular manuscripts. However, they did not contribute much more to the advancement of that intellectual tradition, because they were not engaged in thinking about the relationship between the works in their care and the world outside the monastery.
During this time, the production of Bibles was the place where the arts of the monastic scribes, and later lay artists, flowered. It was here that the most elaborate and beautiful illumination found its outlet and the manuscript books from this period represent the height of the art of decoration.
One of the most beautiful examples of an illuminated manuscript is the Irish Book of Kells: "a large-format manuscript codex of the Latin text of the gospels" (Meehan 1994:9). The image shown here is an eight-circle cross - one of the central motifs of this manuscript, all of which focus on aspects of Christ's life and message. According to Meehan, the Book of Kells is the most lavishly decorated of any manuscript produced between the 7th and 9th centuries.
The most important thing about the manuscript books of this period is that they were objects of religious veneration. They were seen as consecrated objects. Their creation was an act of religious devotion. The monks who sat for years, working on single chapters of the Bible, were not reproducing books. They were making the word of God manifest in the world.
The style of these books is very different from anything we are used to reading. They are not meant to be a collection of words that convey information from an author to the reader. Their primary function is to serve as decoration which pays tribute to the word of God.
In an illuminated manuscript, the complexity of the decoration was intended to mirror the complexity of the biblical passages the decoration illustrates. Just as Biblical text is open to many different interpretations, the illumination of that text was intended to pose the same allusive and meditative possibilities. (Meehan 1994:16)
However, in interlacing, the interweaving of the bodies of snakes and lions, of peacock and fishes, chalices and vines, is not intended to be a naturalistic representation of the existing world. These images are schematic and symbolic. The elements of the work are chosen from a repertoire of marks and usable images and themes; a set collection of pre-agreed upon symbols, forms, and images. The images are meant to represent some aspect of Christ's life: the snake representing rebirth (in the shedding of its skin) and, at the same time, Original Sin; the peacock representing the incorruptibility of Christ (a reflection of the ancient belief that the flesh of a peacock is incorruptible) (Meehan 1994:50,53,59).
We think of modern books as being illustrated, but the illustration and photographs, the images, are usually distinct from the text. In these early manuscripts dedicated to God, the two were not so separate.
For all their beauty, as mentioned above, the manuscripts of the monasteries did little to affect life in Europe. Primarily this comes about as a consequence of the inaccessibility of the monastic libraries. Instead of books being openly available as they are today, manuscript books were mostly locked up in monasteries strewn across Europe. Given the amount of time and energy and financial resources the went into their production, books were far too valuable to make available to the general public. So there was no way to use them for scholarship, even the few secular texts that may have been available.
This problem was compounded by the lack of a uniform cataloguing system in the monasteries. So, even if one did have access to the library of a monastery, there was no no way of knowing what was in the collection, or where it might be located.








The Development of Print Technology
In the Mid-15th Century, things begin to change with the advent of the printing press. In 1452, Gutenberg conceives of the idea for movable type. In his workshop, he brings together the technologies of paper, oil-based ink and the wine-press to print books. The printing press is not a single invention. It is the aggregation in one place, of technologies known for centuries before Gutenberg.
One thing to remember is that Gutenberg gets credit for an invention that is thought to have been developed simultaneously in Holland and in Prague.
The other inventions brought together by Gutenberg in his pursuit of a printing press were:
· The adaptation for printing, of the wine or olive oil, screw-type press that had been in use for hundreds of years, throughout Europe and Asia.
· The adaptation of block-print technology - known in Europe since the return of Marco Polo from Asia at the end of the 13th century.
· The development of mass production paper-making techniques. Paper was brought from China to Italy in the 12th C. but was thought too flimsy for books.
Prior to the advent of the printing press, books were made of vellum (calf or lamb skin) because of its durability. Vellum is extremely durable. In San Simeon (also known as Hearst's Castle), there are lampshades that William Randolph Hearst had made from 15th century Gregorian prayer books and the vellum is still in excellent condition. For books that took more than a year to produce, paper was too flimsy.
However, for print books, vellum was too costly to produce.
· The development of oil-based inks. These had been around since the 10th century, but smeared on the vellum used to make books. The religious manuscripts used an egg-based tempura. This was unsuitable for printing with type.
· Gutenberg's contribution to printing was the development of a punch and mold system which allowed the mass production of the movable type used to reproduce a page of text. These letters would be put together in a type tray which was then used to print a page of text. If a letter broke down, it could be replaced. When the printing of the copies of one page was finished, the type could be reused for the next page or the next book.
These technological improvements stretch across five centuries. They do not cluster around Gutenberg's time.
But the advent of the printing press did not bring about a great shift in the social organisation of learning in Europe.
The first books to show up in print shops were bibles and religious tracts. The next books to attract publishers were the "humanist" texts brought back from Byzantium by the Crusades, and other texts of antiquity but there was little or no printing of new ideas.
Many people went into the printing business and went right back out again. The reason was that the distribution of books was poorly organised. The market was there, and the potential for filling the demand, but the transport and control and "advertising" mechanisms were not in place.
In addition, there was still a low literacy rate in Europe. Most people did not know how to read at all. But non-literates were still affected by the book trade because the elites, who controlled society, were affected by books. And people who could not read still had access to book culture because there were travelling raconteurs who stood in the market and read from books as a means of making a living as entertainers.
The situation was improved by the introduction of the Frankfort Book Faire. Cities in Europe held yearly fairs, featuring whatever kinds of things the city and surrounding area was good at producing. (The county fair of today is the descendant of these early commerce fairs).
Frankfort was an early center for printing and so it sponsored a book fair which drew publishers, booksellers, collectors, scholars, who could find what they needed for their livelihoods. This helped co-ordinate supply and demand.
The fair also produced a catalogue of all the works shown at the fair - an early Books in Print.
None of this is to say that new book printing posed much of a challenge to the power and prestige of the church.
Early print books were conservative in content, and were filled with medieval images and ideas.

William Caxton
Born in the Weald of Kent, c. 1422; died at Westminster, 1491; the first English printer and the introducer of the art of printing into England. Of his life we have little definite information beyond that given us by himself in the prefaces and epilogues to his printed books. He thanks his parents for having given him an education that fitted him to earn a living, though he says nothing as to the place where he had been educated. From the records of the Mercers' Company we learn that in 1438 (the first definite date of his life that is known) he was apprenticed to Robert Large, a well-known and wealthy London mercer.

About 1446 he became a merchant on his own account and settled at Bruges, and, being a good man of business, soon became prosperous. In 1453 he went to England for his formal admittance to the Mercers' Company, and in 1465 he was appointed governor for Bruges of the Merchant Adventurers, an association of English merchants. This important position involved delicate and responsible commercial negotiations, and Caxton seems to have fulfilled his duties honourably and with success.

About 1470 a change took place in his life. He gave up his connection with commerce, and entered the service of Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, sister of Edward IV. It is not known why he did this, but it may well be that he wished for greater freedom for literary work. He had already begun his first translation from the French, the "Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye", and this he finished in 1471, dedicating it to his patroness, the Duchess of Burgundy. It was this piece of work which led him to turn his attention to the art of printing. The book in manuscript was much sought after, and the labour of copying was too heavy and too slow to meet the demand. Therefore, he says, "I have practysed & lerned at my grete charge & dispense to ordeyne this said book in prynte…that every man may have them attones."
There is some evidence to show that Caxton first learned printing at Cologne, where other famous printers had learned it, but the question is still under debate. His first book, the "Recuyell", was undoubtedly printed at Bruges in 1474, at the press of Colard Mansion, an illuminator of manuscripts, who had set up a press in that city in 1473. Caxton's second book, the "Game & Pleye of Chess", another translation from the French, came, it is almost certain, from the same press in 1475.

The highest point of interest in Caxton's life is reached when in 1476, returning to England, he set up a printing press of his own at Westminster. The first dated book issued from this press was the "Dictes and sayings of the Philosophers" and bears the imprint 1477. From this date to the end of his life he issued ninety-six books from the Westminster press, including, amongst others, the works of Chaucer and Gower, Sir Thomas Malory's "Morte d'Arthur", and various translations of more or less classical works from French, Latin, and Dutch, together with a number of smaller books, a good many of which are religious. His industry was very great, and he died in the midst of his work. He was not only a skilful master printer and publisher of books, but to some extent a man of letters–editor, author, translator–with a certain style of his own and a true enthusiasm for literature. His work as writer and translator helped to fix the literary language of England in the sixteenth century. Specimens of his printed books exist in various public and private libraries. The British Museum possesses eighty-three Caxton volumes, twenty-five of which are duplicates.
William Blake
William Blake was born on November 28th, 1757 as the third of five children to a London hosier. Because of the relatively lower middle class status of his father's profession, Blake was raised in the same state of poverty that he would experience throughout his entire life. As a child, he was already fond of painting and was eventually sent to drawing school as a result. Young William received only enough schooling to learn how to read and write while working in his father's shop. While Blake received very little of a traditional education, he was well versed in Greek and Latin literature, the Bible, and Milton.
Blake continued to grow intellectually through the influence of his brother Robert who died by consumption when he was twenty. After he saw his brother's soul "ascend heavenward clapping its hands for joy," Blake continued to seek inspiration through his favourite brother. Blake continued his strong belief in the spiritual world throughout the rest of his life. When he was ten years old, he tried to convince his father that he had seen angels in a tree and, he asserted throughout the rest of his life, that he spoke with many of the spirits, angels, and devils that he wrote about.
By age fourteen (1771), Blake was apprenticed to an engraver named James Basire where he served for seven years, learning the craft that would later become the focal point around which his other professions would center. Even before his apprenticeship, at the age of twelve, Blake began writing the poetry that would become his first printed work, Poetical Sketches, in 1783. After this time (1779), he enrolled at the Royal Academy but rebelled against the doctrines of its dominating president, Sir Joshua Reynolds. It was at the Royal Academy though, where Blake established relations with John Flaxman and Henry Fuseli whose work served as influences to his own projects.
From 1779, Blake served as an engraver for a London bookseller while contracting his services to others. It is during this time, at the age of twenty-five (1782), that Blake married his lifelong companion and wife, Catherine Boucher. He taught her to read, write, and help him with his work. They never had any children. It is true that his wife actually helped him produce an edition Blake's Songs of Innocence. For this edition and various other projects, Blake engraved the plates while Catherine made the impressions, helped hand-coloured them, and bound the books together.
John Flaxman helped Blake set up his own print shop at 27 Broad Street in 1784. The business was an eventual failure. Blake continued to contract his skills to others while producing his major works with his wife. During this time, he produced An Island in the Moon (1784-5), All Religions Are One and There is No Natural Religion (1788), The Book of Thel (1789), and Songs of Innocence (1789). The year 1789 marked the beginning of tremendous creativity for Blake as he published his major works in the relatively short period to follow- The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93), The French Revolution (1791), America: A Prophecy (1793), Visions of the Daughters of Albion (1793), The Book of Urizen (1794), the Songs of Experience (1793-4), Europe: A Prophecy (1794) The Book of Los (1795) and The Four Zoas (1795-1804).
Blake and his wife left London for the southern coastal town of Felpham between 1800 and 1803. It is in Felpham where Blake evicted a drunken soldier from urinating in his garden who later accused him of making seditious remarks. A jury acquitted him but the event would surface in some of Blake's later works including one of his masterpieces, Jerusalem (1804-20).
After 1818 and until his death on August 12, 1827, Blake produced no more poetry but continued his engravings including the twenty-one plates of the Book of Job and illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy. Blake continued his creative vision until his death having lived in London, with the exception of his time in Felpham, his entire life. He was buried in common grave in relative obscurity. His wife died four years later. The vast majority of Blake's original copper engraved plates were destroyed after his death leaving his appreciators few and rare editions of his printed works.
Blake produced a multitude of works ranging from the creative to political to social and every combination in between. Blake's major works serve as an excellent sample of the writing of an accomplished artisan and writer. Many Union College English classes demonstrate a commitment to furthering Blake in the classroom through the close examination of Blake's work. During the ten-week Blake Seminar, students typically read and discuss all of Blake's major works and some other "nuggets" related to an understanding of the man and his craft.
Instead of a rolling-press, it is believed Blake used a screw press or simply pressed paper to plate by hand. There is, however, evidence that Blake might have spent quite a sum at one time to purchase his own in-home rolling press. This process would have required Blake to place the inked plate in the center of the press bed with dampened paper placed faced down on its surface. The printable paper was covered with a protective sheet of paper, and very often, several blankets. The rollers were turned, cylinders moved across the bed, and enough force was exerted to press the damp paper into the incisions: picking up delicate lines of ink. The paper was removed and hung on a clothesline to dry without further wrinkling.