View source for Printing

[[File:五贯宝卷.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Copperplate of 1215-1216: paper money with ten bronze movable types]]
[[File:SelectedTeachingsofBuddhistSagesandSonMasters1377.jpg|thumb|[[Jikji]], "Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Son Masters" from Korea, the earliest known book printed with movable metal type, 1377. [[Bibliothèque Nationale de France]], Paris]]
[[File:PrintMus 038.jpg|thumb|right|Replica of the Gutenberg press at the [[International Printing Museum]] in Carson, California]]
[[File:European Output of Printed Books ca. 1450–1800.png|thumb|European output of books printed by movable type from ca. 1450 to 1800 <ref>Buringh, Eltjo and van Zanden, Jan Luiten 2009. Charting the “Rise of the West”: manuscripts and printed books in Europe, a long-term perspective from the sixth through eighteenth centuries. ''The Journal of Economic History'' '''69''', 2, p417, table 2.</ref>]]
[[File:Drukarnia-zlamywak.jpg|right|thumb|The [[folding machine|folder]] of newspaper web offset printing press]]

'''Printing''' is putting words and [[image]]s on [[paper]] by [[wikt:mechanical|mechanical]] means. [[Book]]s and [[newspaper]]s are made by printing. Usually, the images are formed by [[ink]]. The ink is put on paper in [[machine]]s called [[printing press]]es.

Printing is one of the technologies which has changed the world. It is an efficient way to multiply [[writing]], so that copies may be made available to all people. Printing is therefore the continuation of writing by [[machine|mechanical]] means.

== History ==
Writing originated after people had settled in permanent dwellings. It dates from 3,300 <small>[[BC]]</small>, which is over 5000 years ago. A variety of writing systems were invented, long before paper was invented. [[Clay]], [[papyrus]], [[wood]], [[slate]] and [[parchment]] (prepared animal skins) have all been used. The invention of paper by the Chinese was a step forward.<ref>Robinson. Andrew 1995. ''The story of writing''. Thames & Hudson, London. ISBN 0-500-01665-8</ref><ref>Christin, Anne-Marie (ed) ''A history of writing''. Flammarion, Paris. ISBN 2-0801-0887-5</ref><ref>Gaur, Albertine 1992. ''A history of writing''. 3rd ed. ISBN 0-7123-0270-0</ref><ref>Diringer, David 1968. ''The alphabet: a key to the history of mankind''.</ref>

=== Early printing ===
The earliest printing known was in 8th century [[China]] and [[Korea]]. Whole pages carved on flat wooden blocks were used. Covered with a carbon-based ink, they were pressed onto sheets of paper.

The second stage was to use separate characters by [[wood carving]] or [[casting]]. This was done in 11th century China and Korea. It failed to be really successful, because of the structure of the Chinese written language, shared at the time by Korea, which had thousands of characters. So the method was not much better than copying by [[scribe]]s.<ref name=unesco>The earliest printed book with movable type was published in [[Korea]] and is known as the [[Jikji]].[http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=22954&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html Memory of the World], unesco.org, accessed November 2009</ref>

Printing was reinvented in 15th century [[Europe]]. Development was slow until [[Johannes Gutenberg]] made several improvements. In the next century print became the main means of communication between people who needed to keep precise records. With an [[alphabet]]ic system of writing, print was much more economical than copying, and permitted many times as many copies to be available. This revolution in [[information technology]] helped all aspects of life in Europe, at a time when Europe was becoming the dominant region of the world.<ref>Lefebre L & Martin H-J. 1976. ''The coming of the book: the impact of printing''. NLB, London. ISBN 978-1844676330</ref><ref>Martin H-J. 1994. ''The history and power of writing''. The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-50836-6</ref>

Along with a technology for printing words, there were various means for printing [[graphics]]. Carving on blocks of wood and [[engraving]] on [[copper]] were used up until about 1800. After that, a great many inventions arrived, including [[lithography]] and ways to print [[photograph]]s.<ref>Bland, David 1958. ''A history of book illustration: the illuminated [[manuscript]] and the printed book''. Faber & Faber, London.</ref>

[[Machine]]s to speed printing, cheaper paper, automatic [[stitch]]ing and [[bind]]ing all arrived in the 19th century during the [[industrial revolution]]. What had once been done by a few men by hand was now done by limited [[company|companies]] on huge machines. The result was much lower prices, and a much wider readership.

=== Print and social change ===
The consequences of print have been considerable. It led to the spread of knowledge, and had many side-effects. It took control out of a small class of clerks ([[scribe]]s and [[monk]]s) and put it in the hands of a newly educated readership. [[Publishing]] became a major industry. 

Many of the first books were in [[Latin]]; some in [[Greek language|Greek]]. Later, almost all books were printed in the [[wikt:vernacular|vernacular]]: the language ordinary people spoke. The [[Bible]] was one of the first books printed, and one of the first to be translated into the vernacular, against strong opposition from the church. Science was given a great boost by printing, and scientific ideas are still usually first published in print. Several scholars have thought that print even changed the way people thought.<ref>Olsen, David R. 1994. ''The world on paper: the conceptual and cognitive implications of writing and reading''. Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-57558-3</ref><ref>Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. 1979. ''The printing press as an agent of change''. 2 vols, Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-21967-1}}</ref><ref>McCluhan, Marshall 1962. ''The Gutenberg galaxy: the making of typographic man''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.</ref><ref>McCluhan, Marshall 1964. ''Understanding media: the extensions of man''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.</ref>

== Related pages ==
*[[Typography]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Other websites ==
{{Wiktionary}}
*[http://www.printinghistory.org/htm/misc/links.html American Printing History Association] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060209034733/http://www.printinghistory.org/htm/misc/links.html |date=2006-02-09 }} - numerous links to online resources and other organizations
*[http://www.gutenberg-museum.de/index.php?id=19&language=e The development of book and printing]. English website of the Gutenberg-Museum Mainz (Germany)
*[http://www.planet-typography.com/directory/histoire.html Planet Typography - history of printing] - selection of international sites dedicated to the history of printing
*[http://glossary.ippaper.com/default.asp?req=knowledge/category/1&catitemid=1 Learn about printing] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704072202/http://glossary.ippaper.com/default.asp?req=knowledge%2Fcategory%2F1&catitemid=1 |date=2007-07-04 }}—International Paper
*[http://www.bpsnet.org.uk BPSnet] - The website of the British Printing Society
*[http://www.childrenofthecode.org/Tour/c5/davinci.htm Children of the Code - Online Video: The DNA of Science, The Alphabet and Printing]

{{Book-publishing process}}

[[Category:Written communication]]
[[Category:Typography]]
[[Category:Printing| ]]
[[Category:Book terminology]]