Johannes Gutenberg invented the first printing press in Maines, Germany sometime between 1440 and 1450. His invention increased Europe's book count from the thousands to the millions.
Despite the success of the printing press, Johannes Gutenberg lost all of his assets to his business partner, Johann Furst, in 1455. Furst continued the business with his employee, Peter Schöffer, who later became his son-in-law. Despite the fact that the printing press was invented in Maines, Germany, the city never flourished in the book trade. Anton Koberger lived in Nürnberg and operated internationally. At the height of his career, he owned 24 printing presses. His success in the book trade lead to him being the first business man to become a member of his town council. Printing quickly spread to other countries including Sweden, Denmark, and Russia. Printing did not actually take hold in Russia until 1552 because the first printer to move there was murdered before he was able to set up shop. The printing press made its way to Italy in 1462-63 through a Benedictine monastery near Rome. Konrad Sweynheim and Arnold Pannartz, two German printers, moved to Rome in 1467. The church there highly encouraged the printing of inexpensive books. Before long the larger cities in Italy had become centers for printing and publishing. In 1500 Venice had approximately 150 presses. Nicolas Jenson, a typographer in Venice, perfected the Roman typeface in the year 1470. Aldus Manuthius began printing in 1490 and later invented both the pocket edition and the publisher's logo. In 1470, the rector and librarian of Sorbonne, in Paris, France, invited three German printers to set up shop at the university. The scholars chose which books to print and set the typeset, usually the Roman typeface. When the Renaissance came to France in 1500, France became the leader of book production in Europe. It was also during this time frame that France consolidated the Aldine book type, books printed in a compact and inexpensive manner. The reign of Frances I, 1515-47, became known as the Golden Age of French typography. Francis I had a personal interest in the printing of books and was a friend and patron of Robert Estienne, a prominent name in the French world of typography. In 1530, Francis I ordered Estienne to donate a copy of every book that he printed to the royal library. In this way, he also founded the very first copyright library. The first press established in Spain was at Valencia in 1473. England was slow to embrace the printing press, the first one did not reach England until 1476. By 1500 there was a total of five printers in England, all stationed in London and all were foreigners. Richard III restricted how much trade foreigners were allowed to do in England, with the exception of the book trade. He wanted to encourage the development of books in England. In 1485, one year after Richard III restricted foreigners' trading, Henry VII appointed Peter Actors, a foreigner from Savoy, as the royal stationer and allowed him to import books. The lack of restrictions on the book trade made England a profitable area for printers. The free trade ended, however, and native stationers were protected by Henry VIII, who in 1523, 1529, and 1534, enacted regulations on foreign craftsmen and stopped the free importation of books. Until 1535, roughly one third of those in the book trade were natives to England. William Caxton introduced printing in England. He was taught the art of printing in Cologne in 1471-72 before setting up a press in Bruges in 1474. Edward IV encouraged him to return to England where he received royal patronage under Richard III and Henry VII. Caxton was not a very good printer, however, the fact that he printed in English rather than Latin, thereby helping to shape the language, made him a valuable printer in England. Before his death, William Caxton printed roughly 90 books, 74 of which were printed in the English language. After his death, Caxton's press was carried on by his assistant, Wynkyn de Worde of Alsace. Unlike Caxton, Worde printed a wide variety of religious books, school books, and collections of popular folk tales, instead of expensive books for the rich. He preferred to print smaller volumes that the common people could afford. Like Caxton, he also published primarily in English. Richard Pynson was also a prominent name in England's printing. Pynson was from Normandy and began his career as a printer in 1492. In 1508 he became the King's printer, and in 1509, he became the first to use Roman type in England. In 1522 he published the first English book on arithmetic. BIBLIOGRAPHY: "history of publishing".Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica Online. Encyclopdia Britannica Inc., 2017. Web. 21 May. 2017 <https://www.britannica.com/topic/publishing>.
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Most of us have learned about the creation of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg when we were in school. However, is that really the beginning of published works? Johannes Gutenberg didn't invent the printing press until 1440-50, so how were books and other works published before the printing press?
Before the invention of writing, information and stories were shared through word-of-mouth or oral telling. You might associate the concept with the children's game of "telephone" or plain old gossiping. However, this was once the best was to communicate. Some people's primary jobs were to orally communicate with others, they were known as bards and criers. A bard was a story teller while a crier, usually working for and under the protection of the king, would shout out the news for all to hear. The earliest known written works consisted of cuneiform characters, wedge shaped characters, carved onto clay tablets roughly five inches in length. These were used by the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Hittites. A scribe would use a stylus to carve characters into the clay while it was still wet. Once the characters were formed and the tablet complete, it would be baked in a kiln, a large oven used for baking clay, or left out in the sun to dry. Once Aramaic language, and the alphebet, grew in popularity during the 6th century B. C., the papyrus roll became a more popular option. The papyrus roll originated in Ancient Egypt and resembled paper. The papyrus is a reedy plant that grows in the Nile Valley. Strips of papyrus pith were pulled from the plant and laid out at right angles from each other before being glued together. The roll closely resembled paper, was cream colored, and was used with ink and either a reed pen or a brush. Due to the fragile nature on the papyrus roll, many scrolls were destroyed over time, however, some were preserved in dryer climates. The Chinese were the third to produce an extensive amount of written works. It is believed that the Chinese were producing books as early as 1300 B. C. Their books were constructed of wood and bamboo strips, bound together using cords. The Greeks also used the papyrus roll and passed their knowledge and techniques to the Romans. Alexander the Great played a pivotal role in establishing books in the Greek culture. He also played a monumental role in the developement of the first libraries, including the Library of Alexandria. Unfortunately, the majority of Greek texts presumed to have been in the Library of Alexandria were destroyed. School texts survived best due to their wide disbursement throughout the land. The Romans built libraries similar to those of the Greeks, but they kept manscripts written in both Greek and Latin. They progressed beyond libraries by developing the book trade and inventing bookshops. Book ownership quickly spread throughout the upper classes of society. Having a private library became a badge of social standing. The bigger your collection, the higher your station. The Romans needed a way to produce a vast amount of books quickly in order to meet the rise in demand. They utilized slave labor in order to produce multiple copies at a time. It also helped to lower the costs so that families of a more moderate income were able to purchase books. Slave copiests would have a book dictated to them; this allowed publishers to turn out up to 30 copies at a time. The publishers also had the choice of what to publish. By being able to choose, they were able to pay authors, choose size and format, and set sales prices to turn a profit. After the papyrus roll came the Codex, during the Christian era. The Codex construction more closely resembled our modern books and quickly replaced the papyrus roll. A codex consisted of leaves that were folded and bound together on one side. This allowed readers to more easily locate their spot and allowed both sides of the leaf to be written on. This also allowed for longer works to be published. For instance, when using the papyrus roll, the book of Matthew from the New Testament took an entire roll, while the codex could hold the first four books of the New Testament. As the codex grew in popularity, a search for better materials began. This is when vellum and parchment entered the scene. Vellum is ultimately a finer version of parchment. Parchment is a form of leather, a greatly refined form of leather, made from cattle, goat, or sheep skin; vellum was usually made from calf skin. The skin would be stretched tight using a frame and scraped to remove any hair or flesh still attached to the skin. When the skin was ready, it would be whitened using chalk and smoothed using a pumice stone. Now it was ready to be cut into large sheets. Vellum and parchment were more flexible and durable than papyrus and could be cut into larger sheets. Unlike papyrus, it could also be written on both sides. Despite its advantages, the codex and the papyrus roll co-existed for approximately 400 years. The fall of the roman Empire in the 5th century brought with it great consequences for the world of books. Marauders and barbarians became a common part of life and they threatened the very existence of the written word. Thankfully, a refuge rose up in the form of monasteries. Monasteries quickly gained charge of books. They both created and housed books in their own libraries. Due to the large amount of books being stored there, it became impossible to copy the books once the sun went down because of the increased risk of fires. This fact slowed the production of books considerably. The medieval books, like the ones stored in the various monasteries, were in codex form and utilized either vellum or parchment. However, by the 5th century, paper was also a common medium. Medieval books were reknowned for their beautiful, intricate illustrations which were also considered to have perfect coloring. The medieval books were also the original model for our current books. During the 12th century, universities arose in the larger cities and helped to increase the production of books by hiring stationers to help meet the rise in demand. They also regulated the content, size, and price of the books that they printed. Humanistic and vernacular books also rose in demand, increasing an interest in classical literature amoung the common people. Vernacular literature is any book written in the language of the common peoples. These stories arose during the medieval era, mostly by word of mouth and anonymous authors. By the 14th and 15th centuries, the vernacular books became much more common, many of the anonymous authors finally making it into print, and new authors writing for the first time. With the rise of vernacular literature, the education level of the lower classes also rose. Books soon became known as a tradeable item and paper began to replace vellum. BIBLIOGRAPHY: "history of publishing".Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica Online. Encyclopdia Britannica Inc., 2017. Web. 21 May. 2017 <https://www.britannica.com/topic/publishing>. |
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