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1. USING MOVABLE TYPE FOR PRINTING IN EUROPE LED TO INCREASED FULL
2. USING MOVABLE TYPE FOR PRINTING IN EUROPE LED TO INCREASED PORTABLE

Like paper, block printing spread throughout the world, first to Japan and Korea, then onward to the West. Certainly it helped spur the publishing of more books-it has been suggested that over the next eight centuries the Chinese produced more printed books than all the rest of the world's cultures combined. The edition consisted of 130 volumes and is credited by some scholars with helping to dramatically increase the spread of literacy in China. The most notable of these was accomplished over twoĭecades (932-53) when Feng Tao (881-954), a government minister, oversaw the block-printed duplication of a huge set of books containing the teachings of Confucius. Within a century block printing had advanced to the point where major editions of vital Chinese historical, religious, philosophical, and literary works were undertaken. (Block printing had become important in Japan about a century earlier, and remains an important art form there to this day.) By 868 block printing led to the creation of the first known book to be produced by printing-the Diamond Sutra, a 16-ft (4.9-m) long scroll containing Buddhist teachings. While restricted to a few dozen words at most, these copies were produced rapidly and in large volume-something that would have been impossible to accomplish if copied by hand.įrom relatively simple seals and stamps containing a few words and phrases, Chinese printers next made the leap to carving more extensive bodies of text on larger blocks of wood. Among the most important uses of those seals was their application for mass-producing hundreds of copies of religious and philosophical comments and insights. Of particular consequence to the development of printing was paper's ability to accept inked imprints, reproducing the symbols carved on stamps and seals. By the middle of the eighth century, papermaking had found its way to Arab nations, and from there proceeded over the next five centuries into the West. The lightness of paper, as well as its adaptability for multiple purposes, helped it become common almost immediately throughout China, replacing the bulky, heavy bamboo strips and expensive silks on which written words had previously been recorded. Paper itself had been invented in China by Ts'ai Lun (50?-118?), a member of the ruling order, who developed papers from materials that included hemp, tree bark, and scraps of cloth.

USING MOVABLE TYPE FOR PRINTING IN EUROPE LED TO INCREASED PORTABLE

650, had begun using ink, a medium obviously more portable than clay and which, when combined with paper, one of China's greatest early inventions, provided the foundation for the emergence of printing. (and are in still in use today.) Unlike the Mesopotamians, who pressed their stamps and seals into damp clay, the Chinese, by at least a.d. Carved seals or stamps made their appearance in China as early as 300 b.c. BackgroundĪs with other early civilizations, notably the Mesopotamians, the Chinese had long used carved materials to stamp official documents and correspondence.

USING MOVABLE TYPE FOR PRINTING IN EUROPE LED TO INCREASED FULL

1041 block printing had given way to the earliest known system of movable type, a full four centuries before Johannes Gutenberg (1398?-1468) invented the printing press in Western Europe. 700, introduced innovations to carved seals, which in turn led to block printing, whereby an entire page of text is carved on a block. The challenge, particularly in civilizations with large, complex systems of writing, was to develop a method for quickly and efficiently arranging those symbols, using the arrangement to create printed material, then re-arranging the symbols for further use. Only when written works could be duplicated in quantities and speeds exceeding those achievable through laborious handwritten copies did writing become a medium for the widespread dissemination of knowledge-the more copies of material available, the more people who have access to them, the more likely the spread of literacy.

While written language is unquestionably one of the most important of all human achievements, the ability to reproduce written materials quickly and efficiently ranks not far behind. The Invention of Block Printing and Early Forms of Movable Type Overview