PRINT CULTURE AND THE MODERN WORLD

NOTES
Q.1Where was the earliest kind of print technology developed?
The earliest kind of print technology was developed in China, Japan and Korea.
Q2. Briefly describe the earliest kind of print technology that developed in the world.
• The earliest kind of print technology was based on manual labor hand printing.
• From AD 594 onwards, books in China were printed by rubbing paper – also invented there –
against the inked surface of woodblocks.
• As both sides of the thin, porous sheet could not be printed, the traditional Chinese ‘accordion
book’ was folded and stitched at the side.
• Superbly skilled craftsmen could duplicate, with remarkable accuracy, the beauty of
calligraphy- The art of beautiful and stylized writing is known as Calligraphy.

ACCORDION BOOK
Q3. What was an “accordion book”? How was hand printing done in China? Who did the duplicating
of books in China and how?
Ans. (1) (i) As both sides of the thin, porous sheet could not be printed, the traditional Chinese
‘Accordion’ book was folded and stitched at the side. Accordion was invented to accommodate scrolls
that had become unmanageable.
(2) (i) From AD 594 onwards books were printed by rubbing paper against the inked surface of
woodblocks.
(ii) Buddhist missionaries from China introduced hand-printing technology into Japan around AD 768-
770.
(3) Superbly skilled craftsmen could duplicate, with remarkable accuracy, the beauty of calligraphy.
Q4.Which country was the major producer of printed material? Why?
The imperial state in China was, for a very long time, the major producer of printed material.
REASONS-
1. HUGE BUREAUCRATIC SYSTEM -China possessed a huge bureaucratic system which recruited
its personnel through civil service examinations.
2. PRINTING OF TEXTBOOKS- Textbooks for this examination were printed in vast numbers under
the sponsorship of the imperial state.
3. INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF CANDIDATES -From the sixteenth century, the number of
examination candidates went up and that increased the volume of print.
 USES OF PRINT DIVERSIFY IN CHINA
By the seventeenth century, as urban culture bloomed in China, the uses of print diversified. Print was
no longer used just by scholar officials for-
• TO COLLECT TRADE INFORMATION- Merchants used print in their everyday life, as they
collected trade information.
• READING-
• Reading increasingly became a leisure activity.
• The new readership preferred fictional narratives, poetry, autobiographies, anthologies
of literary masterpieces, and romantic plays.
• PUBLISHING-
• Rich women began to read, and many women began publishing their poetry and plays.
• Wives of scholar-officials published their works and courtesans wrote about their lives.
• Western printing techniques and mechanical presses were imported in the late
nineteenth century as Western powers established their outposts in China.
• Shanghai became the hub of the new print culture, catering to the Western-style
schools.
• From hand printing there was now a gradual shift to mechanical printing.

Q5. How had the earliest printing technology developed in the world? Explain. [IMP]

The earliest Then the The

Up to 6th Marco Polo
kind of print Buddhist invention of
century, the brought
technology missionaries the printing
print was woodblock
was introduced press proved
used only by printing
developed in hand great miracle
scholar- from China
China, Japan, printing in spreading
officials. to Italy.
and Korea. technology. knowledge.

PRINT IN JAPAN
1. Buddhist missionaries from China introduced hand-printing technology into Japan around AD 768-
770.
2. The oldest Japanese book, printed in AD 868, is the Buddhist Diamond Sutra, containing six sheets
of text and woodcut illustrations.
3. Pictures were printed on textiles, playing cards and paper money.
4. In medieval Japan, poets and prose writers regularly published books and those books were cheap
and abundant.
5. Printing of visual material led to interesting publishing practices at Edo (Tokyo).
6. Libraries and bookstores were packed with hand-printed material of various types – books on
women, musical instruments, calculations, tea ceremony, flower arrangements, proper etiquette,
cooking and famous places.
 PRINT CULTURE IN EUROPE
Q.10 What were the factors that helped the rise of print culture in Europe?
• In the eleventh century, Chinese paper reached Europe via the silk route.
• Paper made possible the production of manuscripts, carefully written by scribes.
• Then, in 1295, Marco Polo, a great explorer, returned to Italy after many years of exploration in
China. China already had the technology of woodblock printing. Marco Polo brought this
knowledge back with him.
• Now Italians began producing books with woodblocks, and soon the technology spread to
other parts of Europe.
• Luxury editions were still handwritten on very expensive vellum, meant for aristocratic circles
and rich monastic libraries which scoffed at printed books as cheap vulgarities.
• Merchants and students in the university towns bought the cheaper printed copies.
Vellum- A parchment made from the skins of animals.
Q12 How were luxury editions in Europe printed?
Luxury editions were handwritten on very expensive vellum meant for aristocratic people and rich
monastic libraries.
Q13. Who were the people who brought cheaper copies?
Merchants and students in the university towns bought cheaper printed copies.

DEMAND FOR BOOKS

Q14. What steps were taken by the booksellers to meet the increasing demand for books?

Scribes or skilled handwriters

As the demand for books increased, Production of handwritten
were no longer solely employed
booksellers all over Europe began manuscripts was also
by wealthy or influential patrons
exporting books to many different organised in new ways to
but increasingly by booksellers
countries. Book fairs were held at meet the expanded
as well. More than 50 scribes
different places. demand.
often worked for one bookseller.

Q. Why were Manuscripts not used widely in everyday life before the age of print in India?
Ans. Handwritten books were expensive and took a long time to produce. Copying was expensive and it was
hard and laborious work. The manuscripts were very fragile and could easily be spoilt. They were awkward in
size and difficult to carry. The result was that their circulation was limited. Middle-class people could not
afford them.
PRINT REVOLUTION
The shift from hand printing to mechanical printing led to the print revolution after the invention of
the printing press by Gutenberg.
Johann Gutenberg developed the first known printing press in 1430’s in Germany. He got the idea of
printing through the following observations:
a. Gutenberg (from his childhood) had seen wine and olive presses.
b. He learnt the art of polishing stones.
c. He learnt the art of making jewel and became a master goldsmith.
d. He also acquired the expertise to create lead moulds used for making trinkets.
e. Drawing on this knowledge, Gutenberg adapted existing technology to design his printing machine.
The first book he printed was the Bible.
f. The olive press provided the model for the printing press, and moulds were used for casting the
metal types for the letters of the alphabet.

The main three difficulties in copying manuscripts were as follows: (DRAWBACKS)

When scribes copied manuscripts,

There was one more problem. The they also introduced small changes in
The copying of manuscript was an
manuscripts were fragile, awkward to word here and there. Repeatedly
expensive, laborious and time
handle. They could not be easily these changes made the text
consuming business.
carried around or read easily. substantially different from the
original.

Q.19 What were the FEATURES OF THE PRINTED BOOKS?

• Printed books at first closely resembled the written manuscripts in appearance and layout.
• The metal letters imitated the ornamental handwritten styles.
• Borders were illuminated by hand with foliage and other patterns, and illustrations were
painted.
• In the books printed for the rich, space for decoration was kept blank on the printed page.
• Each purchaser could choose the design and decide on the painting school that would do the
illustrations.
• This shift from hand printing to mechanical printing led to the print revolution.

Q20. What was the impact of the print revolution in Europe?

A new way of producing books; it transformed the lives of people, changing their relationship to
information and knowledge, and with institutions and authorities. It influenced popular perceptions
and opened up new ways of looking at things.

1. EMERGENCE OF A NEW READING PUBLIC

• Printing reduced the cost of books. The time and labor required to produce each book came
down, and multiple copies could be produced with greater ease.
• Books flooded the market, reaching out to an ever-growing readership.
2. EMERGENCE OF A HEARING PUBLIC
• Earlier books could be read by only a small number of people particularly the elite as the
number of literates in Europe was very low till the 20th century.
• Publishers started publishing popular ballads folk tales with beautiful pictures and illustrations.
These were the sung at village gatherings Knowledge was transferred orally. People
collectively heard a story, or saw a performance. Thus a hearing and reading public became
intermingled.

3. RELIGIOUS DEBATES AND THE FEAR OF PRINT

• Print created the possibility of wide circulation of ideas, and introduced a new world of debate
and discussion.
• Even those who disagreed with established authorities could now print and circulate their
ideas. Eg. Martin Luther was a German monk, priest professor and church reformer. In 1517 he
wrote 95 thesis and openly criticized the rituals and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. A
printed copy of his thesis was posted on the church door at Wittenberg. It challenged the
church to debate his ideas. Luther’s writings were immediately produced in large numbers and
were read widely. This led to division within the church and the beginning of the Protestant
Reformation.

ADVANTAGES OF PRINTING PRESS

It reduced the cost of the books.

The time and labor required to produce each book came down.

Readership too increased due to revolution in printing press.

Printing had made the books available to the most common people. Earlier, reading was restricted
to elites. Now, the books had reach to a wider section of people.

Printing press could produce multiple copies with ease and in fewer amounts.

THE READING MANIA

Q22.Why is it that in the 17th and 18th centuries literacy rates went up in most parts of Europe?
• Churches of different denominations set up schools in villages, carrying literacy to peasants
and artisans. By the end of the eighteenth century, in some parts of Europe literacy rates were
as high as 60 to 80 per cent.
• As literacy and schools spread in European countries, there was a virtual reading mania.
• People wanted books to read and printers produced books in ever increasing numbers.
Q. Which factors led to reading mania in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Europe. OR
What were the new forms of Popular Literature prevalent in Europe?
OR
Describe the causes for extreme enthusiasm for reading in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries in Europe.

Rise in literacy rate

Literacy rates increased during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. Churches all over Europe set up Rise of periodical press
schools in villages, carrying literacy to peasants and From the early eighteenth century, the periodical
artisans. press printed information about current affairs with
In the eighteenth century, literacy rates were as high entertainment.
as 60 to 80 per cent, in some parts of Europe. Newspapers and journals wrote about wars and trade,
As the literacy rate increased and schools spread, and developments in other places.
people wanted books to read and printers increased
their production.

New forms of popular literature

Ideas of scientists and philosophers
New forms of popular literature, such as almanacs or
The ideas of scientists and philosophers were
ritual calendars, folktales, chapbooks, Bilio the que
published with maps and scientific diagrams. It
Bleue, were printed.
attracted people.
Booksellers employed pedlars for sale of this printed
For example, the discoveries of Isaac Newton
literature. Chapbooks were sold for a penny and the
influenced large number of people. The writings of
poor could buy such books easily. Books of various
thinkers such as Thomas Paine, Voltaire and Rousseau
sizes, serving many different purposes and interests
were widely printed and read.
were published.

Q. How did ideas about science, reason and rationality find their way into popular literature in the
18th century Europe?
OR
Explain the significance of newspapers, and journals developed in the early 18th century.
1. Ans. In the 18th century the periodical press combined information about current affairs with
entertainment. Newspapers and journals carried information about wars and trade as well as
the news of development in other places.
2. Similarly, ideas of philosophers now became accessible to common people. Ancient and
medieval scientific texts were compiled and published, maps and scientific diagrams were
widely printed. When scientists like Issac Newton began to publish their discoveries, they could
influence a much wider circle of scientifically minded readers. The writings of thinkers such as
Thomas Paime, Voltaire and Rousseau were also widely printed and read. Thus their ideas of
about science, reason and rationality found their way into popular literature.

PRINT CULTURE CREATED THE CONDITIONS WITHIN WHICH FRENCH REVOLUTION

Q. “The print culture created the conditions within which the French Revolution occurred.” Give
three arguments in favour of the statement. [IMP]
It is correct to say that the print culture created the conditions within which the French Revolution
occurred.
The following arguments are given in support of this view:

POPULARISATION OF IDEAS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT THINKERS:

• It is stated that print culture popularised the writings of Rousseau, Voltaire and others.
• These thinkers were against the sacred authority of the Church and the despotic power of the
state.
• Rousseau’s ideal of ‘liberty, equality and fraternity’ became the motto of the revolutionaries.
These ideas enlightened the masses.

NEW CULTURE AND DIALOGUE AND DEBATE: With the coming of print culture, people became aware
of the power of reason. They started questioning the existing ideas and beliefs and authority of the
Church. Within this public culture, new ideas of social revolution came into being.

CRITICISM OF ROYALTY OF THEIR MORALITY: New literature criticised royalty for their lavish life style
at a time when people were suffering from hunger.
• Cartoons and caricatures showed that the monarchy was absorbed in sensual pleasures.
• The ordinary people i.e., peasants, artisans and workers, had a hard time while the nobility
enjoyed life and oppressed the poor. Such writings led to the growth of hostile sentiments
against the monarchy.
• It played a significant role by influencing the people to think in different ways and questioning
the authority of the monarchs as well as the Church.

CONCLUSION: However, it may be added that print helped the spread of ideas but people read all
types of literature. There was monarchical and Church propaganda. They were not influenced by one
idea. They accepted some and rejected other ideas. So, it can be said that the print did not directly
shape their minds but it did open up the possibility of thinking differently.

Q. What did the spread of print culture in the 19th century India mean to : (a) women
(b) the poor (c) the reformers? (2010)
Ans. (a) Women : (i) Women’s reading increased due to education at home and later, in women’s
schools.
(ii) Many journals were written for women by women. They contained everything that would interest
a woman — household hints, fashions, rituals. Novels in vernacular
languages (Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil and Marathi) highlighted the miserable conditions of women in
society. They spoke against denial of education to women, supported widow remarriage and national
movement. They serialised stories and provided entertainment to women. Many families were not
liberal but conservative. Hindus and Muslims feared that educated women would by corrupted. There
were many rebellious women who defied all prohibitions against learning.
(b) The Poor : The spread of education in the 19th century made everyone — rich or poor, man or
woman, old or young — crazy about reading. Public libraries were opened in big towns, cities and big
villages, which made reading accessible to the general public. Some millworkers of Kanpur wrote
books about the desperate conditions of the poor. Chief among them were Kashibaba, who wrote
Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal in 1938 against the caste and class distinctions. Poems of another mill-
worker, named Sudarshan Chakra, between 1935 and 1955 were published as Sachchi Kavitayen. By
the 1930s, Bangalore cotton workers also set up libraries to educate themselves. Social reformers
sponsored these libraries to restrict drinking among the workers and to bring literacy to them.

(c) The Reformers : Social reformers like Jyotiba Phule, the Maratha pioneer of ‘low caste’, wrote
about injustices of the caste system in his Gulamgiri in 1871. Issues of caste distinction began to be
written about in many printed tracts and essays.
Later in the 20th century, B.R. Ambedkar of Maharashtra and E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker in Madras,
better known as Periyar, wrote powerfully on caste and their writings were read all over India. Local
protest movements and sects also created a lot of popular journals criticising ancient scriptures and
looking forward to a new and just future.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Q. What was the impact of the Print Revolution on children, women and workers?
OR
What kind of material was printed for children and women during the nineteenth century that
made them an important category of readers?

CHILDREN

As primary education became compulsory from the late nineteenth century,

children became an important category of readers.

Production of school textbooks became critical for the publishing industry.

A children’s press, devoted to literature for children alone, was set up in France
in 1857. This press published new works as well as old fairy tales and folk tales.

The Grimm Brothers in Germany spent years compiling traditional folk tales
gathered from peasants. What they collected was edited before the stories were
published in a collection in 1812.

Anything that was considered unsuitable for children or would appear vulgar to
the elites, was not included in the published version.

Rural folk tales thus acquired a new form. In this way, print recorded old tales
but also changed them.
WOMEN

Penny magazines were especially meant for women, as were manuals teaching
proper behaviour and housekeeping.

When novels began to be written in the nineteenth century, women were seen
as important readers. Some of the best known novelists were women: Jane
Austen, the Bronte sisters, George Eliot.

Their writings became important in defining a new type of woman: a person

with will, strength of personality, determination and the power to think.

Literacy – Workers
1. Lending libraries had been in existence from the seventeenth century onwards.
2. In the nineteenth century, lending libraries in England became instruments for educating
white-collar workers, artisans and lower-middle-class people.
3. Sometimes, self-educated working class people wrote for themselves.
4. After the working day was gradually shortened from the mid-nineteenth century, workers had
some time for self-improvement and self-expression.
5. They wrote political tracts and autobiographies in large numbers.

INNOVATIONS IN PRINT TECHNOLOGY AFTER THE 18TH CENTURY

Q. Mention major contributions of Richard M. Hoe in developing printing press.
Power-driven cylindrical press by Richard M. Hoe of New York : This was capable of printing 8,000
sheets per hour. It was useful for printing newspapers.
Offset Press : This could print up to six colours at a time.
Electrically operated presses : These further accelerated printing operations.
Other developments :
• Methods of feeding paper improved.
• The quality of plates became better.
• Automatic paper reels and photo electric controls of the colour register were introduced.
• All the above innovations transformed the appearance of printed texts.

INDIA AND THE WORLD OF PRINT

Manuscripts Before the Age of Print

1. Manuscripts were copied on palm leaves or on handmade paper.
2. They would be either pressed between wooden covers or sewn together to ensure preservation.
3. Manuscripts, however, were highly expensive and fragile.
4. They had to be handled carefully, and they could not be read easily.
5. The script was written in different styles. So manuscripts were not widely used in everyday life.

Q. What were the limitations of manuscript in ancient India?

• Manuscripts, however, were highly expensive and fragile.
• They had to be handled carefully, and they could not be read easily as the script was written in
different styles. So manuscripts were not widely used in everyday life.
• Even though pre-colonial Bengal had developed an extensive network of village primary
schools, students very often did not read texts. They only learnt to write.
• Teachers dictated portions of texts from memory and students wrote them down.
• Many thus became literate without ever actually reading any kinds of texts.

RELIGIOUS REFORMS AND PUBLIC DEBATES

Role of Press in Religious Reform and Public Debates in India (IMP)

Q. How did print help connect communities and people in different parts of India? Explain with
examples. OR
“Print did not only stimulate the publication of conflicting opinions amongst communities, but it
also connected communities and people in different parts of India.” Support the statement with
examples.

INTRO: Print culture published such ideas which resulted in more participation in public discussions.

1. From the early nineteenth century different groups confronted the changes happening within
colonial society in different ways and offered a variety of new interpretations of the beliefs of
different religions. Some CRITICIZED EXISTING PRACTICES AND CAMPAIGNED FOR REFORM,
while others countered the arguments of reformers. These debates were carried out in public
and in print.

2. This was a time of INTENSE CONTROVERSIES between social and religious reformers and the
Hindu orthodoxy
• over matters like widow immolation, monotheism, Brahmanical priesthood and idolatry.
• To reach wider audience, the ideas were printed in everyday, spoken language of ordinary
people. Rammohan Roy published the Sambad Kaumudi in 1821.
• The Hindu orthodoxy commissioned the Samachar Chandrika to oppose his opinion.
• Two Persian newspapers were published, Jam-i-Jahan Nama and Shamsul Akhbar.Gujarati
newspaper, the Bombay Samachar, made its appearance.

3. In north India, the ULAMAS WERE DEEPLY ANXIOUS ABOUT THE COLLAPSE OF MUSLIM
DYNASTIES. They feared that colonial rulers would encourage conversion, change the Muslim
 personal laws. To counter this, they used cheap lithographic presses, published Persian and
Urdu translations of Holy Scriptures, and printed religious newspapers and tracts. The
Deoband Seminary published thousands upon thousands of fatwas telling Muslim readers
how to conduct themselves in their everyday lives and explaining the meanings of Islamic
doctrines.

4. Hindus published Holy Scriptures like the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas in vernacular languages.
Naval Kishore Press at Lucknow and the Shri Venkateshwar Press in Bombay published
numerous religious texts in vernaculars.

CONCLUSION: Thus, religious texts reached a large number of people and encouraged them to take
part in discussions, debates and controversies. It is, therefore, rightly said that print encouraged the
publication of conflicting opinions among communities.

NEW FORMS OF PUBLICATIONS

1. The novel which had developed in Europe reflected people’s lives, emotions and relationships. It
soon acquired distinctively Indian forms and styles. For readers, it opened up new worlds of
experience, and gave a vivid sense of the diversity of human lives.
2. Lyrics, short stories, essays about social and political matters entered the world of reading. It
emphasized on human lives and intimate feelings, about the political and social rules that shaped
such things.
3. By the end of the nineteenth century, a new visual culture was taking shape. Visual images were
reproduced in multiple copies. Painters like Raja Ravi Varma produced images for mass circulation.
Cheap prints and pedlars could be bought by the poor to decorate the walls of homes or place of
work. These prints began shaping popular ideas about modernity and tradition, religion and politics
and society and culture.
4. By the 1870s, caricatures and cartoons were being published in journals and newspapers,
commenting on social and political issues. Some caricatures ridiculed the educated Indians’
fascination with Western tastes and clothes, while others expressed the fear of social change.

WOMEN AND PRINT IN INDIA

1. Conservative Hindus believed that a literate girl would be widowed and Muslims feared that
educated women would be corrupted by reading Urdu romances.

2. Liberal husbands and fathers began educating their womenfolk at home, and sent them to schools
when women’s schools were set up in the cities and towns.

3. Rashsundari Debi, a young married girl in a very orthodox household, learnt to read in the secrecy
of her kitchen. Later, she wrote her autobiography Amar Jiban which was published in 1876.
4. Kailashbashini Debi wrote books highlighting the experiences of women – about how women were
imprisoned at home, kept in ignorance, forced to do hard domestic labour and treated unjustly by the
very people they served.

5. In the1880s, in present-day Maharashtra, Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai wrote with
passionate anger about the miserable lives of upper-caste Hindu women, especially widows.

6. In the early twentieth century, journals, written for and sometimes edited by women, became
extremely popular. They discussed issues like women’s education, widowhood, widow remarriage and
the national movement.

7. In Punjab folk literature was widely printed from the early twentieth century. Ram Chaddha
published the fast-selling Istri DharmVichar to teach women how to be obedient wives.

8. In Bengal, Battala was devoted to the printing of popular books. Cheap editions of religious tracts
and scriptures as well as literature that were considered obscene and scandalous could be bought.
Peddlars tok the Battala publications to homes, enabling women to read them in their leisure time.

PRINT AND THE POOR PEOPLE IN INDIA

Q. What was the impact of the print on the poor people?

1. Very cheap small books were brought to markets in nineteenth-century Madras towns and sold
at crossroads, allowing poor people travelling to markets to buy them.
2. Public libraries were set up from the early twentieth century, expanding the access to books.
3. These libraries were located mostly in cities and towns, and at times in prosperous villages. For
rich local patrons, setting up a library was a way of acquiring prestige.

Q. How did print discuss the issues of social reform?

From the late nineteenth century, issues of caste discrimination began to be written about in many
printed tracts and essays.

1. Jyotiba Phule, the Maratha pioneer of ‘low caste’ protest movements, wrote about the
injustices of the caste system in his Gulamgiri (1871).
2. 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.
3. Local protest movements and sects also created a lot of popular journals and tracts criticising
ancient scriptures and envisioning a new and just future.

Q. What was the impact of print on workers in the factories?

Workers in factories were too overworked and lacked the education to write much about their
experiences.
 1. Kashibaba, a Kanpur millworker, wrote and published Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal in 1938 to
show the links between caste and class exploitation.
2. The poems of another Kanpur millworker, who wrote under the name of Sudarshan Chakr
between 1935 and 1955, were brought together and published in a collection called Sacchi
Kavitayan.
3. By the 1930s, Bangalore cotton millworkers set up libraries to educate themselves, following
the example of Bombay workers.
4. These were sponsored by social reformers who tried to restrict excessive drinking among
them, to bring literacy and, sometimes, to propagate the message of nationalism.

BATALA PUBLICATIONS

• In Bengal, an entire area in central Calcutta — The Battala — was devoted to the printing of
popular books.
• Cheap editions of religious tracts and scriptures, as well as literature that was considered
obscene and scandalous was available in Battala.
• By the late nineteenth century, a lot of these books were being profusely illustrated with
woodcuts and coloured lithographs.
• Pedlars took the Battala publications to homes, enabling women to read them in their leisure
time.

PRINT AND CENSORSHIP

1. Before 1798, the colonial state under the East India Company was not too concerned with
censorship. Strangely, its early measures to control printed matter were directed against
Englishmen in India who were critical of Company misrule and hated the actions of particular
Company officers.
2. The Company was worried that such criticisms might be used by its critics in England to attack
its trade monopoly in India.
3. By the 1820s, the Calcutta Supreme Court passed certain regulations to control press freedom
and the Company began encouraging publication of newspapers that would celebrate British
rule.
4. In 1835, faced with urgent petitions by editors of English and vernacular newspapers,
Governor-General Bentinck agreed to revise press laws. Thomas Macaulay, a liberal colonial
official, formulated new rules that restored the earlier freedoms.

CONTRIBUTION OF PRINT CULTURE IN THE GROWTH OF NATIONALISM

Q. What was the contribution of print culture in the growth of nationalism in India?

(1) GROWTH OF NATIONALIST NEWSPAPERS: Nationalist newspapers grew in numbers in all parts
of India. They reported on colonial misrule and encouraged nationalist activities. Government’s
attempts to censor nationalist criticism provoked militant protest.
 (2) For example, when Punjab revolutionaries were deported in 1907, Bal Gangadhar Tilak wrote
with great sympathy about them in his Kesari. He was arrested and this provoked widespread
nationalist protests. The vernacular press brought cases of misrule to the notice of the masses.

After the Revolt of 1857

Q. What prompted the British government to curb the freedom of the Indian press and what steps
did it take to achieve this aim? OR How did the British attempt to check the growing nationalism?
After the revolt of 1857, the attitude to freedom of the press changed. Enraged Englishmen
demanded a clamp down on the ‘native’ press. As vernacular newspapers became assertively
nationalist, the colonial government began debating measures of stringent control.

STEPS TKEN BY THE BRITISH

• In 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. No appeal could be made to any court of law.
• From now on the government kept regular track of the vernacular newspapers published in
different provinces. When a report was judged as seditious, the newspaper was warned, and if
the warning was ignored, the press was liable to be seized and the printing machinery
confiscated.
• If proofs of the paper were submitted to a government censor, then the newspaper was
exempt from the Act. The Act made the vernacular press submissive. They began to echo the
ideas of the British Press rather than voice their own views. The Vernacular Press Act was
repealed in 1872 by Lord Ripon.

SHORT QUESTIONS
1. What was a Kayo?
Ans. Kayo means pictures of floating world or depiction of ordinary human experience especially
urban ones.

2. Which authority possessed the right of printing in ancient China?

Ans. The imperial state in ancient China possessed the right of printing.

3. What was the use of woodblocks in 15th century in Europe?

Ans. Wood blocks were used to print the playing cards, textile, images or patterns.

4. Name the Chinese traditional book-which folded and stitched at the side?
Ans. ‘Accordion Book’

5. Give the ancient name of Tokyo.

Ans. ‘Diamond Sutra’.
6. What was the name of oldest printed book of Japan?
Ans. The ancient name of Tokyo was ‘Edo’.

7. Mention any one feature of the oldest Japanese book.

Ans. The oldest Japanese book contained six sheets of texts and woodcut.

8. Who introduced print-culture to Japan?

Ans. Buddhist missionaries from China introduced print-culture

9. What was the name of oldest printed book of Japan M?

Ans. The oldest Japanese book, printed in A.D. 868, is the Buddhist Diamond Sutra.

10. Which city of China became the new huh of print-culture?

Ans. Shanghai

11. What is meant by ‘Calligraphy’?

Ans. Calligraphy means the art of beautiful and stylish writing.

12. Which method of hand-printing was developed in China?

Ans. Calligraphy

13. Which place (city) had the breakthrough of first printing press?
Ans. Strasbourg.

14. By whom was the art of woodblock printing introduced in Europe?

Ans. Marco Polo.

15. How can we say that, Gutenberg’s press was too slow as compared to present press
technology? Give one example.
Ans. Gutenberg’s press was operated manually while today’s press technology 2 is automatic.

16. Name the person who brought the knowledge of printing to Europe.
Ans. Marco Polo

17. Who invented printing press and when?

Ans. Johann Gutenberg invented press in 1430s.

18. Who developed the first printing press in 1430s?

Ans. Johann Gutenberg

19. Why were Martin Luther’s Theses a challenge to Church in Europe?

Ans. This is because; Martin Luther’s Theses criticized many of the practices and rituals of the Roman
Catholic Church.
20. Why was transition from hearing public to reading public difficult in Europe?
Ans. As books could be read only by the literate and the rate of literacy in Europe was rye low,
therefore, transition was difficult.

21. Who was Martin Luther?

Ans. Martin Luther was a religious reformer.

22.”Printing is the ultimate gift of C.c. -A and the greatest one.” Who said these words?
Ans. Martin Luther said these words.

23. Name the Italian who reinterpreted the message of Bible?

Ans. Menocchio reinterpreted the message of Bible.

24. What were Chapbooks?

Ans. A term used to describe pocket size books that are sold by travelling peddlers called chapmen.

25. How did Louise Sebastian Mercier interpret the printing press?
Ans. He declared that “The printing Press is the most powerful engine of progress and public opinion
is the force that will sweep despotism away.”

26. How Biliotheque Blue was different from Chapbooks?

Ans. In England, penny chapbooks were published and sold for a penny while in France, low priced
small books were printed on poor quality papers and bound in cheap blue cover and were called
‘Biliotheque Blue’.

27. Mention any one characteristic feature of an offset press.

Ans. The offset press could print up to six colors at a time.

28. Which brothers of Germany contributed in compiling the text for children?
Ans. Grimm Brothers

29. How did publishers sustain market during the Great Depression? Give one measure.
Ans. To sustain market during Great Depression, publishers brought out cheap paperback edition.

30. Name two best known women novelists of Europe who re-defined the picture of women in
society.
Ans. Jane Austen and Bronte sisters, George Eliot.

31. Who compiled folk-tales in Germany ?

Ans. The Grimm Brothers.
 SHORT QUESTION- ANSWERS (IMPORTANT)

2. Write a short note on Kayo.

Ans. (1) Iloilo’ is an art form used for depicting ordinary human experience especially urban ones.
(2) These prints travelled to contemporary US and Europe. It influenced artists like Mamet, Monet
and Van Gogh.
(3) Publishers like Tutee Juzaburo identified subjects and commissioned artists who drew the theme
in outline. Then, a skilled woodblock carver pasted the drawing on a woodblock and carved a printing
block to reproduce the painter’s lines.
(4) In the process, the original drawing would be destroyed and only prints would survive.
(5) Kitagawa Tamara born in 1753 was widely known for his contributions to this art.

3. Explain the five effects of print revolution.

Ans. The main impacts of print revolution are as under:
(1) Printing reduced the cost of books. The time and labor required to produce each book came down,
and multiple copies could be produced with greater ease.
(2) Print created the possibility of wide circulation of ideas, and introduced a new world of debate
and discussion.
(3) Print brought about a new intellectual atmosphere and helped spread the new ideas that led to
the reformation.
(4) Print and popular religious literature stimulated many distinctive individual interpretations of faith
even among little educated working people.
(5) Print culture created the conditions within which French Revolution occurred. The writings of the
enlightened thinkers provided a critical commentary on tradition, superstition and despotism.

4. What is vellum? What was its use in Europe?

Ans. Vellum refers to a parchment made from calf skin. This animal based vellum in its time, was the
most valued kind of writing surface available.
(2) In Europe, luxury editions were handwritten on very expensive vellum meant for aristocratic
circles and rich monastic libraries which scoffed at printed books as cheap vulgarities.
(3) It was prepared for writing or printing to produce single pages scrolls or books.

Q. Describe the strategies developed by the printers and publishers in the nineteenth century to sell
their products.
 Paperback editions
Periodicals serialised During the Great
Shilling series
novels Dust cover or the book Depression in the
In the 1920s in England, jacket
Nineteenth century 1930s, publishers
popular works were
periodicals serialised It was also innovated brought out cheap
sold in cheap series,
important novels. This and used in the 20th paperback editions in
called the Shilling
became popular among century. order to sustain buying
Series.
the people. and to avoid a decline in
book purchases.

10. Who was Menocchio? Why was he executed?

Ans. (1) Menocchio was a miller in Italy.
(2) He reinterpreted the message of Bible.
(3) He formulated a view of God and Creation that enraged the Roman Catholic Church.
(4) Menocchio was hauled two times and ultimately executed.

11. Why did the Roman Church begin to maintain an Index of Prohibited books from 1558?
Ans. (1) Menocchio, a miller in Italy reinterpreted the message of Bible and formulated a view of God
and Creation and enraged the Roman Catholic Church.
(2) When the Roman Church began its inquisition to repress heretical ideas, Menocchio was hauled
up twice and ultimately executed.
(3) The Roman Church troubled by such effects of popular readings and questioning of faith, imposed
severe controls over publishers and booksellers and began to maintain an Index of Prohibited Books
from 1558.

12. Evaluate the role played by the print culture in bringing about the French Revolution.
OR
”Print played a vital role in the French Revolution.” Analyze the statement.
Ans. Role of print in the French Revolution:

Arguments for: (i) Print popularized the ideas of the thinkers like Voltaire, Jean Jacques Rousseau, etc.
By reading their works, people started thinking and questioning.
(ii) Print created a new culture of dialogue and debate. All values, norms and institutions were re-
evaluated and discussed. People became aware of the power of reason.
(iii) By 1780s, there was a large volume of literature that criticized the royalty.

Arguments against: (i) Some scholars argue that people did not read only one kind of literature. If
they had access to the ideas of Voltaire and Rousseau, they were also aware of the monarchial and
Church propaganda.
(ii) People were not completely influenced by what they read; they accepted some and rejected a
few. They interpreted things in their own way. Thus, print did not directly shape their minds.

13. Write a short note on James Augustus Hickey.

Ans. (1) James Augustus Hickey began to edit the Bengal Gazette from 1780.
(2) It was a weekly magazine that described itself as ‘a commercial paper open to all, but influenced
by none.’
(3) It was private English enterprise proud of its independence from colonial influence that began
English printing in India.
(4) Hickey published a lot of advertisements including those that related to the import and sale of
slaves.
(5) He also published a lot of gossip about the company’s senior officials in India.