Print Culture and the Modern World

Printing changed the way knowledge, ideas and opinions spread across the world. This chapter traces print from its beginnings in East Asia, where China used hand printing from wooden blocks from about AD 594 and Japan produced the Diamond Sutra in AD 868. Printing spread to Europe through travellers such as Marco Polo, and in the 1430s at Strasbourg Johann Gutenberg built a press using movable metal type; his first book was the Bible. The print revolution created a new reading public, carried the ideas of Martin Luther and the Enlightenment, and was blamed by some for the French Revolution. In India, Portuguese missionaries brought the printing press to Goa in the mid-sixteenth century, and James Augustus Hickey began the Bengal Gazette in 1780. Print fuelled religious debates, social reform, women's writing, and the protests of reformers such as Jyotiba Phule against caste. It also helped spread nationalism. You will also study the colonial government's attempts at censorship, including the Vernacular Press Act of 1878, and how print helped the poor, women and workers find a public voice.

Detailed Worksheet: Print Culture and the Modern World Section A - Definitions (10 marks) 1. What was the Diamond Sutra? When and where was it printed? (2 marks) 2. What is a manuscript? Give two limitations of handwritten manuscripts. (2 marks) 3. Who was Johann Gutenberg? Name the first book he printed. (2 marks) 4. What was the Vernacular Press Act? When was it passed? (2 marks) 5. What were 'chapbooks' and the 'Bibliotheque Bleue'? (2 marks) Section B - Calculations and Applications (15 marks) 6. In the second half of the fifteenth century about 20 million copies of printed books flooded European markets. In the sixteenth century the number rose to about 200 million. Calculate the increase in number and the growth factor. What does this show about the print revolution? (3 marks) 7. Gutenberg's workshop printed about 180 copies of the Bible in about 3 years. Calculate the average number of copies printed per year. Compare this with the time a scribe would need to copy one Bible by hand, and explain why printing reduced the cost of books. (3 marks) 8. By the mid-nineteenth century, Richard M. Hoe of New York had perfected the power-driven cylindrical press, which could print 8,000 sheets per hour. Calculate the number of sheets printed in an 8-hour shift and in a 6-day week of such shifts. How did this help newspapers? (3 marks) 9. Arrange in chronological order and give the years: Martin Luther writes his Ninety-Five Theses; the Diamond Sutra is printed in Japan; James Augustus Hickey starts the Bengal Gazette; the Vernacular Press Act is passed; the Deoband Seminary is founded. (3 marks) 10. Calculate the number of years between: (i) the printing of the Diamond Sutra and Marco Polo's return to Italy in 1295, (ii) the arrival of the printing press in Goa (about 1556) and the start of the Bengal Gazette (1780). What do these intervals show about the spread of print? (3 marks) Section C - Diagrams (10 marks) 11. Draw a flowchart showing the spread of printing technology from China to Japan, Europe and India. (4 marks) 12. Draw a labelled sketch of a Gutenberg printing press showing the screw, the platen and the frame. (3 marks) 13. Draw a timeline showing important developments in print culture in India from 1556 to 1878. (3 marks) Section D - Analysis and Higher-order Thinking (15 marks) 14. 'The print revolution transformed the lives of people.' Explain how print changed the relationship between readers and information in Europe. How did it lead to the Protestant Reformation? (5 marks) 15. Explain how print culture created the conditions for the French Revolution. Do you agree that print alone caused the Revolution? Give reasons. (5 marks) 16. How did print help women, the poor and workers in nineteenth-century India? How did the colonial government try to control the press, and how did nationalist newspapers respond? (5 marks) Instructions: Time allowed 2 hours. Attempt all sections. Use dates and examples carefully. Draw sketches and flowcharts neatly with labels.