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Chapter 3: Print Culture and the Modern World
The First Printed Books:
The earliest print technology was developed in China, Japan and Korea.
From AD 594 onwards, books in China were printed by rubbing paper.
China remained the major producer of printed material by printing vast
numbers of textbooks for the civil service examinations held for recruiting
its personnel.
Academicians and merchants used print in their everyday lives. Many
people started to read and write.
Shanghai became the hub of new print culture, catering to the Western-
style schools. There was a gradual shift from hand printing to machine
printing.
Print in Japan:
AD 768-770: Buddhist missionaries from China introduced hand-printing
technology to Japan
The Buddhist Diamond Sutra was the oldest Japanese book.
The illustrated collections of paintings depicted an elegant urban culture
involving artisans, courtesans and teahouse gatherings.
Print Comes to Europe:
11th century: Chinese paper reached Europe through the silk route
In Italy, Marco Polo brought the knowledge of print.
Scribes or skilled hand writers were employed by wealthy or influential
patrons and booksellers for increasing the production of handwritten
manuscripts.
However, the handwritten manuscripts could not satisfy the ever increasing
demand for goods because the manuscripts were fragile, awkward to
handle and could not be carried around or read easily.
By the early 15th century, woodblocks were being widely used in Europe for
printing textiles, playing cards and religious pictures with simple, brief texts.
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1430s: Johann Gutenberg developed the printing press
The first book printed on Gutenberg’s printing press was the Bible. It took
three years to print 180 copies of the Bible.
Printed books at first closely resembled the written manuscripts in
appearance and layout.
1450-1550: Printing presses were set up in most countries of Europe. 20
million copies of printed books flooded the European market s during the
second half of the 15thcentury.
The time and labour required for producing each book decreased and
multiple copies could be produced with greater ease.
Common people now had access to books and therefore the oral culture of
a hearing public was now replaced by a reading public.
Oral culture entered print and the printed material was orally transmitted.
Printers began publishing new ballads and folktales with profusely
illustrated pictures .
Religious Debates and the Fear of Print:
The new printed literature was criticized as it was feared that if there was
no control over what was printed and read, then rebellious and irreligious
thoughts might spread. Those who disagreed with established authorities
could now print and circulate ideas.
1517: A religious reformer, Martin Luther wrote ‘Ninety-five Theses’
criticizing many of the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church.
Luther’s writings were immediately reproduced in vast numbers and read
widely. This led to a division within the Church and to the beginning of the
Protestant Reformation.
Several scholars think that print brought about a new intellectual
atmosphere and helped spread the new ideas that led to the Reformation.
1558: The Roman Church, troubled by effects of popular readings and
questionings of faith, imposed several controls over publishers and
booksellers and began to maintained an Index of Prohibited Books.
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The Reading Mania:
By the end of the 18th century, literacy rates in Europe were as high as 60 to
80%.
Churches of different denominations set up schools in villages, carrying
literacy to peasants and artisans.
New forms of literature appeared in print that targeted new audiences.
There were almanacs or ritual calendars, along with ballads and folktales.
In England, penny chapbooks were carried by petty pedlars known as
chapmen. They were sold for a penny and could be afforded even by the
poor.
Ancient and medieval scientific texts were compiled and published. Maps
and scientific diagrams were widely printed. The discoveries of Isaac
Newton and the writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire and Jean Jacques
Rousseau were also widely printed and read.
People believed that books could change the world, liberate society from
despotism and tyranny and herald a time when reason and intellect would
rule.
Print Culture and the French Revolution:
Print culture created the conditions within which French Revolution
occurred.
Print popularized the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers. They attacked
the sacred authority of the Church and the despotic powers of the state;
thus, eroding the legitimacy of a social order based on tradition. Voltaire
and Rousseau were widely read.
All values, norms and institutions were re-evaluated and discussed by a
public that was inquisitive, critical and rational. Hence, new ideas of social
revolution came into being.
By the 1780s: Literature mocked the royalty and criticized their morality.
This led to the growth of hostile sentiments against the monarchy.
Children, Women and Workers:
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As primary education became compulsory from the late nineteenth
century, children became an important category of readers.
1857: A children’s press devoted to literature for children alone was set up
in France.
Women became important readers and writers. The writings of George
Eliot, Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters were read and enjoyed.
In the 19th century, lending libraries in England became instruments for
educating white-collar workers, artisans and lower middle -class people.
Further Innovations:
By the mid-19th century, Richard M. Hoe of New York had perfected the
power-driven cylindrical press, which printed 8,000 sheets per hour.
In the late 19th century, the offset print was developed that could print
about 6 colours at a time.
From the turn of the 20th century, presses operated electrically, methods of
feeding paper were improvised, the quality of plates became better,
automatic paper reels and photoelectric controls of the colour register
were introduced.
19th century periodicals serialized important novels, which gave birth to a
particular way of writing.
1920s: In England, popular works were sold in cheap series, called the
Shilling Series.
Book jackets were also introduced.
India and the World of Print:
India had a very rich and old tradition of handwritten manuscripts in
Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian and other vernacular languages. Manuscripts
were copied on palm leaves or on handmade paper. They would be
preserved between wooden covers or sewn together. They were highly
expensive, fragile and illegible.
Print Comes to India:
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Mid-16th century: The first printing press came to Goa with Portuguese
missionaries.
By 1674: About 50 books had been printed in Konkani and in Karana
languages.
Cochin, 1579: Catholic priests printed the first Tamil book.
1713: Catholic priests printed the first Malayalam book
By 1710: Dutch protestant missionaries had printed 32 Tamil texts
From 1780: James Augustus Hickey began editing the Bengal Gazette, a
weekly magazine.
Religious Reform and Public Debates:
From the early 19th century, there were intense debates around religious
issues. Some criticized existing practices and campaigned for reform, while
others countered the arguments of reformers.
Public tracts and newspapers spread the new ideas and generated
discussions and expressions from the public.
1821: Raja Ram Mohan Roy published the Sambad Kaumudi and the Hindu
orthodoxy commissioned the Samachar Chandrika to oppose his opinions .
From 1822: Two Persian newspapers were published, Jam-i-Jahan Nama
and Shamsul Akhbar. A Guajarati newspaper, the Bombay Samachar, was
also published.
In North India, the ulama were deeply anxious about the collapse of
Muslim dynasties. They used cheap lithographic presses, published Persian
and Urdu translations of Holy Scriptures and printed religious tracts and
newspapers.
Calcutta, 1810: The first printed edition of the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas,
a 16th century text, appeared.
New Forms of Publication:
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New literary forms such as novels, lyrics, short stories and essays about
political and social matters reinforced the new emphasis on human lives
and intimate feelings and the political and social rules that shaped such
things.
By the end of 19th century, visual images could be easily reproduced in
multiple copies. Painters such as Raja Ravi Verma produced images for
mass circulation.
Cheap prints and calendars were easily available in the bazaar. These prints
shaped ideas about modernity and tradition, religion and politics, and
society and culture.
By the 1870s, there were imperial caricatures lampooning nationalists as
well as nationalist cartoons criticizing imperial rule.
Women and Print
Liberal husbands and fathers began educating their womenfolk at home
and sent them to schools.
Many journals began carrying writings by women and explained why
women should be educated.
Conservative Hindus believed that a literate girl would be widowed and
Muslims feared that educated women would be corrupted by reading Urdu
romances.
1876: Rashsundari Debi’s autobiography, Amar Jiban, was published. It
was the first full-length autobiography published in the Bengali language.
From 1860s: Few Bengali women such as Kailashbashini Debi wrote books
highlighting the experiences of women.
In 1880s (Maharashtra): Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai wrote with
passionate anger about the miserable lives of upper-caste Hindu women,
especially widows.
Print and the Poor People
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Very cheap and small books were brought to markets in 19th century.
Madras towns sold at crossroads, allowing poor people travelling to
markets to buy them.
Public libraries were set up from the early 20th century. These libraries were
mostly located in cities and towns and at times in prosperous villages.
1871: Jyotiba Phule, the Maratha pioneer of ‘low caste’ protest
movements, wrote about the injustices of the caste system in his
Gulamgiri.
In the 20th century, B. R. Ambedkar in Maharashtra and E. V. Ramaswamy
Naicker in Madras, better known as Periyar, wrote powerfully on caste and
their writings were read by people all over India.
1938: Kashibaba, a Kanpur millworker, wrote and published Chhote Aur
Bade Ka Sawal. The poems of Kashibaba and Sudarsan Chakr (another
Kanpur millworker) were compiled in Sacchi Kavitayan.
By 1930s: Bangalore cotton millworkers set up libraries for educating
themselves. These were sponsored by social reformers who tried to restrict
excessive drinking among them, for bringing literacy and, sometimes, for
propagating the message of nationalism.
Print and Censorship
Before 1789: The colonial state under the East India Company was too
concerned with censorship.
By 1820s: The Calcutta Supreme Court passed certain regulations to
control press freedom and the Company began encouraging publication of
newspapers that would celebrate the British rule.
In 1835: Faced with urgent petitions by editors of the English and
vernacular newspapers, Governor-General Bentinck agreed to revise press
laws. Thomas Macaulay formulated new rules that restored their earlier
freedoms.
After the revolt of 1857, press freedoms were clamped down.
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1878: The Vernacular Press Act was passed, modelled on the Irish Press
Laws. It provided the government with extensive rights to censor reports
and editorials in the vernacular press.
1907: When the Punjab revolutionaries were deported, Bal Gangadhar
Tilak wrote with great sympathy about them in his Kesari. This led to his
imprisonment in 1908.
During the First World War, under the Defence of India Rules, 22
newspapers had to furnish securities.
