It is impossible to imagine modern life without the invention that the simple German artisan Johann Gutenberg presented to the world . Printing, the founder of which he became, to such an extent changed the course of world history, which is rightly attributed to the greatest achievements of civilization. His merit is so great that those who, many centuries before, created the basis for a future discovery, are undeservedly forgotten.
Imprint from a wooden board
The history of printing originates in China, where as early as the 3rd century the so-called unit printing technique came into use - an impression on textiles, and later on paper, various drawings and short texts cut on a wooden board. This method was called woodcut and from China quickly spread throughout East Asia.
It should be noted that print engravings appeared much earlier than books. Separate samples survived to the present day, made in the first half of the III century, when representatives of the Han dynasty ruled in China . In the same period, a three-color printing technique appeared on silk and paper.
First Woodcut Book
Researchers attribute the creation of the first printed book to the year 868 - this is the date that stands on the earliest edition, made in the technique of woodcut. It appeared in China and was a collection of religious and philosophical texts entitled The Diamond Sutra. During the excavation of the Gyeonggi Temple in Korea, a sample of the printed product was found, made almost a century earlier, but, due to some features, it is more likely to be classified as amulets than books.
In the Middle East, unit printing, that is, as mentioned above, made from a board on which a text or drawing was cut, came into use in the middle of the 4th century. Woodcut, called “tarsh” in Arabic, became widespread in Egypt and reached its peak by the beginning of the 10th century.
This method was mainly used for printing prayer texts and making written amulets. A characteristic feature of Egyptian xylography is the use of not only wooden planks for prints, but also made of tin, lead and burnt clay.
The emergence of a movable font
However, no matter how sophisticated the technology of unit printing, its main drawback was the need for each next page to re-cut the entire text. A breakthrough in this direction, thanks to which the history of typography received a significant impetus, also occurred in China.
According to the prominent scientist and historian of past centuries, Shen Ko, the Chinese master Bi Shen, who lived between 990 and 1051, the idea came out of making movable letters from burnt clay and putting them in special frames. This made it possible to type a certain text from them, and after printing the necessary number of copies, scatter and reuse it in other combinations. So the mobile font was invented, used until today.
However, this brilliant idea, which became the basis of all future printing, did not receive proper development at that time. This is explained by the fact that in the Chinese language there are several thousand characters, and the manufacture of such a font seemed too difficult.
Meanwhile, considering all stages of printing, it should be recognized that it was not Europeans who first used typesetting letters. The only book of religious texts that has been preserved to this day, made in Korea in 1377, is known. As the researchers found, it was printed using movable font technology.
European inventor of the first printing press
In Christian Europe, the technique of box printing appeared around 1300. On its basis all kinds of religious images were made, made on fabric. They were sometimes quite complex and multi-colored. About a century later, when paper became relatively affordable, Christian prints began to be printed on it, and in parallel with this, playing cards. Paradoxical as it may seem, the progress of printing has served both holiness and vice.
However, the full history of printing begins with the invention of the printing press. This honor belongs to the German artisan from the city of Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg, who developed in 1440 a method for repeatedly applying prints on sheets of paper using movable letters. Despite the fact that in the following centuries the championship in this area was attributed to other inventors, serious researchers have no reason to doubt that the appearance of printing was associated with his name.
Inventor and his investor
Gutenberg’s invention was that he made letters in metal in their inverted (mirror) form, and then, having typed lines from them, he made a print on paper using a special press. Like most geniuses, Gutenberg had brilliant ideas, but there was no money to implement them.
To give life to his invention, a brilliant artisan was forced to seek help from a Mainz dealer named Johann Fust and conclude an agreement with him, by virtue of which he was obliged to finance future production, and for this he had the right to receive a certain percentage of profit.
Companion
Despite the outward primitiveness of the technical means used and the lack of qualified assistants, the inventor of the first printing press managed to produce a number of books in a short time, the most famous of which is the famous Gutenberg Bible, which is stored in the Museum of the city of Mainz.
But the world is so arranged that in one person the gift of an inventor with the skills of a cold-blooded businessman rarely coexists. Very soon, Fust took advantage of the part of the profit that was not paid to him on time and through the court took over the whole case. He became the sole owner of the printing house, and this explains the fact that for a long time it was with his name that the creation of the first printed book was mistakenly associated.
Other applicants for the role of pioneers
As mentioned above, many Western European nations have disputed the honor of Germany being considered the founders of book printing. In this regard, several names are mentioned, among which the most famous are Johann Mentelin from Strasbourg, who managed in 1458 to create a printing house similar to that of Gutenberg, as well as Pfister from Bamberg and the Dutchman Lawrence Koster.
The Italians did not stand aside, claiming that their compatriot Pamfilio Castaldi was the inventor of the movable font, and that it was he who had transferred his printing house to the German merchant Johann Fust. However, no serious evidence has been submitted of such a statement.
The beginning of book printing in Russia
And finally, let us dwell in more detail on how the history of printing in Russia developed. It is well known that the first printed book of the Moscow state is The Apostle, made in 1564 by the printing houses of Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets. Both of them were students of the Danish master Hans Missenheim, sent by the king at the request of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The afterword of the book states that their printing house was founded in 1553.
According to the researchers, the history of printing in the Moscow state was developed as a result of the urgent need to correct numerous errors that crept into the texts of religious books, many years copied by hand. Out of carelessness, and sometimes even intentionally, the scribes introduced distortions, which became more and more every year.
Held in 1551 in Moscow, the church cathedral, called “Stoglavy” (by the number of chapters in its final resolution), issued a decree based on which all handwritten books in which errors were noticed were withdrawn from use and were subject to correction. However, often this practice led only to new distortions. It is understandable that the solution to the problem could only be the widespread introduction of print media that repeatedly replicate the original text.
They were well aware of this problem abroad, and therefore, pursuing commercial interests, in many European countries, in particular, in Holland and Germany, they arranged the printing of books based on their sales among the Slavic peoples. This created favorable soil for the subsequent creation of a number of domestic printing houses.
Russian typography under the patriarch Job
A tangible impetus for the development of printing in Russia was the establishment of a patriarchate in it. The first Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Job, who took the throne in 1589, from the first days began to make efforts to provide the state with an adequate amount of spiritual literature. During his reign, printing was run by a master by the name of Nevezha, who published fourteen different editions, whose characteristics are very close to the “Apostle”, which was printed by Ivan Fedorov.
The history of printing of a later period is associated with the names of such masters as O. I. Radishchevsky-Volyntsev and A. F. Pskovitin. A lot of not only spiritual literature, but also educational books came out of their printing house, in particular, manuals on studying grammar and mastering reading skills.
Subsequent development of printing in Russia
A sharp decline in the development of printing business occurred at the beginning of the XVII century and was due to events related to the Polish-Lithuanian intervention and called the Time of Troubles. Some of the masters were forced to interrupt their occupation, while the rest died or left the borders of Russia. Mass printing was resumed only after the accession to the throne of the first sovereign from the Romanov dynasty - Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich.
Peter I did not remain indifferent to the printing industry. Having visited Amsterdam during his European voyage, he concluded a contract with the Dutch merchant Jan Tessing, according to which he had the right to produce printed materials in Russian and bring it for sale to Arkhangelsk.
In addition, the sovereign gave an order for the production of a new civilian font, which became widespread in 1708. Three years later, in St. Petersburg, preparing to become the capital of Russia, the largest printing house in the country was established, which later became synodal. From here, from the banks of the Neva, typography strode across the country.