The global spread of the printing press with movable type began with the invention of the mechanical printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany (circa 1439), and ended with the adoption of modern printing technology in all major regions of the world by the end of the 19th century.
Spread of the Gutenberg printing press
Germany
Gutenberg's first major print work was the 42-line bible in Latin (B42), printed probably between 1452 and 1454 in the German city of Mainz. After Gutenberg lost a lawsuit against his investor Johann Fust, Fust put Gutenberg's employee Peter Schöffer in charge of the print shop. Thereupon Gutenberg established a new one with the financial backing of another money lender. With Gutenberg's monopoly soon shattered, and the secrecy of the new technology compromised, printing spread throughout Germany and beyond, diffused first by emigrating German printers, but soon also by foreign apprentices.
Europe
In rapid succession, printing presses were set up in middle and western Europe. Major towns, in particular, functioned as centers of diffusion (Cologne 1466, Rome 1467, Venice 1469, Paris 1470, Cracow 1473, London 1477). In 1481, barely 30 years after the publication of the B42, the small Netherlands already featured printing shops in 21 cities and towns, while Italy and Germany each had shops in about 40 towns at that time. According to one estimate, "by 1500 1000 printing presses were in operation throughout Western Europe and had produced 8 million books."[1] Germany and Italy were considered the two main centres of printing in terms of quantity and quality.
Rest of the world
The near-simultaneous discovery of sea routes to the West (Christopher Columbus, 1492) and East (Vasco da Gama, 1498) and the subsequent establishment of trade links greatly facilitated the global spread of Gutenberg-style printing. Traders, colonists, but, perhaps most, missionaries exported printing presses to the new European oversea domains, setting up new print shops and distributing printing material. In the Americas, the first extra-European print shop was founded in Mexico City in 1544 (1539?), and soon after Jesuits started operating the first printing press in India (Goa, 1556).
For a long time however, printing presses remained mainly the business of Europeans working from within the confines of their colonies. Religious reasons seemed to be among the reasons for the slow adoption of the printing press by indigenous peoples. Thus, printing remained prohibited in the Ottoman empire between 1483 and 1727, initially even on penalty of death. In India, reports are that Jesuits "presented a polyglot Bible to the Emperor Akbar in 1580 but did not succeed in arousing much curiosity."[2] But also practical reasons seem to have played a role. The English East India Company, for example, brought a printer to Surat in 1675, but was not able to cast type in Indian scripts, so the venture failed.[2] A notable exception was the adoption by the Cherokee Indian Elias Boudinot who published the tribe's first newspaper Cherokee Phoenix partly in his native language, using the Cherokee alphabet recently invented by his compatriot Sequoyah.
The earliest printed books in the Middle east were six volumes printed in Hebrew in Safed, by Eliezer ben Isaac Ashkenazi between 1577 and 1587. In 1610, the first printing press in the Levant was produced in the Valley of Deir Mar Antonios Qozhaya in Ehden. The advent of the printing press invigorated the literary and intellectual renaissance in Lebanon.
In 1733, printing using Arabic letters was first launched in Deir Mar Youhanna El Sayegh in Khonchara, Mount Lebanon.
In 1834, a printing press founded by the American Protestant mission in Beirut became instrumental in disseminating information of this craft, and soon contributed to the launching of family-owned publishing houses.
Around the 1970s, several printing presses emerged in Lebanon, such as Joseph D. Raidy Printing Press, today known as Raidy Printing Group s.a.l.
In 2008, the first "printing city" in the Middle East is established in Fyadieh, next to Hazmieh.[3]
In the 19th century, the arrival of the Gutenberg-style press to the shores of Tahiti (1818), Hawaii (1821) and other Pacific islands, marked the end of a global diffusion process which had begun almost 400 years earlier. At the same time, the 'old style' press (as the Gutenberg model came to be termed in the 19th century), was already in the process of being displaced by industrial machines like the steam powered press (1812) and the rotary press (1833).
In 1605, Johann Carolus publishes the German Relation aller Fuernemmen und gedenckwuerdigen Historien (Collection of all distinguished and commemorable news), recognized by the World Association of Newspapers as the first newspaper.[5]
Johann was granted a privilege for 5 years for movable type printing by the Senate, but died soon after.[11] In 1501, Ottaviano Petrucci produced the first book of sheet music printed from movable type.
Probably in 1477, claimed to have the first engraved illustrations,[12] although the 1476 Boccaccio edition by Colard Mansion in Bruges already had copper engravings[13]
In the 15th century, printing presses were established in 77 Italian cities and towns. At the end of the following century, 151 locations in Italy had seen at one time printing activities, of which 130 (86%) were north of Rome.[14] During these two centuries a total of 2894 printers were active in Italy, with only 216 of them located in southern Italy. Ca. 60% of the Italian printing shops were situated in six cities (Venice, Rome, Milan, Naples, Bologna and Florence), with the concentration of printers in Venice being particularly high (ca. 30%).[15]
A glagolic printing press was established in Senj in 1494, which was one of the earliest printing press houses in southeast Europe. Two incunabues “The Glagolic Missal” and “Spovid općena” were printed at that time.
The town becoming a stronghold of Calvinism in Hungary during the Reformation, the press was particularly active in service of the Calvinist cause.[17]
In the 16th century, a total of 20 print shops were active in 30 different places in Hungary, as some of them were moving several times due to political instability.[17]
The oldest printed work in Poland is the Latin Calendarium cracoviense (Cracovian Calendar), a single-sheet astronomical almanac for the year 1474. Although Straube continued to published in Cracow until 1477, printing became permanently established in Cracow, and Poland, only after 1503.[20] In 1491, the first book in Cyrillic script was published by Schweipolt Fiol from Franconia.[21] In 1513, Florian Ungler printed Hortulus Animae, the first book in the Polish language.
The first dated prints in England are an indulgence dating to the 13 December 1476 (date written in by hand), and the 'Dicts or Sayings', completed on 18 November 1477. Between 1472 and 1476, Caxton had already published several English works on the continent (see Bruges above).[22]
Von Ghemen published in Copenhagen from 1493 to 1495 and from 1505 to 1510. In the meantime, he was active in the Dutch town of Leiden. For 200 years, official policy confined printing in Denmark largely to Copenhagen.[23]
The country's first printed book was the Hebrew Pentateuch, published by the Jew Samuel Gacon in southern Portugal, after having fled from the Spanish Inquisition.[24]
According to the German scholar Horch the Sacramental is the first book printed in Portuguese, and not Ludolphus de Saxonia's Livro de Vita Christi of 1495 as previously assumed.[25]
Đurađ IV Crnojević (1490-96), ruler of Montenegro, is most famous for using the printing press brought to Cetinje by his father Ivan I Crnojević to print the first books in southeastern Europe, in 1493. The Crnojević printing press marked the beginning of the printed word among the southern Slavs. The press operated from 1493 through 1496, turning out religious books of which five have been preserved: Oktoih prvoglasnik, Oktoih petoglasnik, Psaltir, Molitvenik and Četvorojevanđelje (the first Bible in Serbian language). Đurađ managed the printing of the books, wrote prefaces and afterwords, and developed sophisticated tables of Psalms with the lunar calendar. The books from the Crnojević press were printed in two colors, red and black, and were richly ornamented. They served as models for many of the subsequent books printed in Cyrillic. The end of the 15th century and of Djuradj's rule mark the end of the Crnojević dynasty.
By 1500, the cut-off point for incunabula, 236 towns in Europe had presses, and it is estimated that twenty million books had been printed for a European population of perhaps seventy million.[6]
Scotland
Date
City
Printer
Comment
1507[26] (the earliest surviving item is dated 4 April, 1508)
William Elphinstone, the Bishop of Aberdeen, was anxious to get a breviary published (see Aberdeen Breviary), and petitioned King James IV to have a printing press set up. Myllar had previously been involved with printing in France, where Scots authors had traditionally had their books printed (see Auld Alliance). The earliest works were mainly small books (approximately 15 cm), but at least one book was printed in folio format, Blind Hary’sWallace.[27]
Macarie is brought into Wallachia by the prince Radu cel Mare. The first printed book in Romania is made in 1508, Liturghierul. Octoihul is also printed in 1510, and Evangheliarul is printed in 1512[30]
Mostly religious books are printed, among them being Molitvelnic.[31] Interestingly, books printed in Wallachia were also reprinted for use in Moldavia, which at the time did not have its own press.
Until the reign of Peter the Great printing in Russia remained confined to the print office established by Fedorov in Moscow. In the 18th century, annual printing output gradually rose from 147 titles in 1724 to 435 (1787), but remained constrained by state censorship and widespread illiteracy.[36]
Due to religious qualms, Sultan Bayezid II and successors prohibited printing in Arabic script in the Ottoman empire from 1483 on penalty of death, but printing in other scripts was done by Jews as well as the Greek and Armenian communities (1515 Saloniki, 1554 Bursa (Adrianople), 1552 Belgrade, 1658 Smyrna). In 1727, Sultan Achmed III gave his permission for the establishment of the first legal print house for printing Arabic script.
The earliest books in Finnish language were printed in Germany and Sweden. The first print shop was established at the first university of Finland, The Royal Academy of Turku. In 1758 the printer J.C. Frenckell bought a share of the print shop. The Frenckell family was in business until 2008.
Established by the archbishop Juan de Zumárraga, using Juan Cromberger from Seville, the first book printed was Breve y Mas Compendiosa Doctrina Christina.[39] Between 1539 and 1600 presses produced 300 editions, and in the following century 2,007 editions were printed.[40] In the 16th century, more than 31% of locally produced imprints were in native Indian languages, mostly religious texts and grammars or vocabularies of Amerindian languages. In the 17th century, this rate dropped to 3% of total output.[41]
On 29 June 1855, Protestant missionary Kleinschmidt published 300 copies of Luther's catechism in the Nama language which represent the first printed works in that tongue. Political unrest seems to have prevented further printing activities. The press was reported as being functional as late as 1868, but whether printing was resumed is unknown.[49]
The first printing press was imported from Japan for publishing Korea's first Korean-language newspaper Hansong Sunbo. After the press was destroyed by conservatists, Inoue returned with a new one from Japan, reviving the paper as a weekly under the name Hansong Chubo. Presses were also established in Seoul in 1885, 1888 and 1891 by Western missionaries.[50] However, the earliest printing press was apparently introduced by the Japanese in the treaty port of Pusan in 1881 to publish Korea's first newspaper, the bilingual Chosen shinpo.[51]
^E. L. Eisenstein: The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe, Cambridge, 1993 pp.13–17, quoted in: Angus Maddison: Growth and Interaction in the World Economy: The Roots of Modernity, Washington 2005, p.17f.
^ abAngus Maddison: Growth and Interaction in the World Economy: The Roots of Modernity, Washington 2005, p.65
^Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4th edition, 1888–1890, entry 'Buchdruckerkunst (Ausbreitung der Erfindung)'. All data not otherwise marked comes from this source.
^ abcdefghGedeon Borsa, "Druckorte in Italien vor 1601", Gutenberg-Jahrbuch, Vol. 1976 (1976), pp.311-314 (313)
^Helmut Schippel: Die Anfänge des Erfinderschutzes in Venedig, in: Uta Lindgren (Hrsg.): Europäische Technik im Mittelalter. 800 bis 1400. Tradition und Innovation, 4th ed., Berlin 2001, p.540f. ISBN 3-7861-1748-9
^David Landau & Peter Parshall, The Renaissance Print, Yale, p241, 1996, ISBN 0300068832
^Gedeon Bursa, "Die volkssprachigen Drucke im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert in Ungarn", Gutenberg-Jahrbuch, Vol. 62 (1987), pp.104-108 (106)
^ abGudrun Kvaran, "Die Anfänge der Buchdruckerkunst in Island und die isländische Bibel von 1584", Gutenberg-Jahrbuch, Vol. 72 (1997), pp.140-147 (140)
^ abKlaus Appel, "Die Anfänge des Buchdrucks in Russland in der literaturfähigen Nationalsprache", Gutenberg-Jahrbuch, Vol. 62 (1987), pp.95-103 (95)
^Klaus Appel, "Die Anfänge des Buchdrucks in Russland in der literaturfähigen Nationalsprache", Gutenberg-Jahrbuch, Vol. 62 (1987), pp.95-103 (97)
^Klaus Appel, "Die Anfänge des Buchdrucks in Russland in der literaturfähigen Nationalsprache", Gutenberg-Jahrbuch, Vol. 62 (1987), pp.95-103 (96ff.)
^ abcdefghijklmHensley C. Woodbridge & Lawrence S. Thompson, "Printing in Colonial Spanish America", Troy, N.Y., Whitson Publishing Company, 1976, quoted in: Hortensia Calvo, "The Politics of Print: The Historiography of the Book in Early Spanish America", Book History, Vol. 6, 2003, pp. 277-305 (278)
^Magdalena Chocano Mena, “Colonial Printing and Metropolitan Books: Printed Texts and the Shaping of Scholarly Culture in New Spain: 1539–1700”, Colonial Latin American Historical Review 6, No. 1 (1997): 71–72, quoted in: Hortensia Calvo, "The Politics of Print: The Historiography of the Book in Early Spanish America", Book History, Vol. 6, 2003, pp. 277-305 (296)
^Magdalena Chocano Mena, “Colonial Printing and Metropolitan Books: Printed Texts and the Shaping of Scholarly Culture in New Spain: 1539–1700”, Colonial Latin American Historical Review 6, No. 1 (1997): 73&76, quoted in: Hortensia Calvo, "The Politics of Print: The Historiography of the Book in Early Spanish America", Book History, Vol. 6, 2003, pp. 277-305 (279)
^Pedro Guibovich, “The Printing Press in Colonial Peru: Production Process and Literary Categories in Lima, 1584–1699”, Colonial Latin American Review 10, No. 2 (2001): 173, quoted in: Hortensia Calvo, "The Politics of Print: The Historiography of the Book in Early Spanish America", Book History, Vol. 6, 2003, pp. 277-305 (296)
^John Man, The Gutenberg revolution, London, 2002, Header Book Publishing
^Ferdinand Geldner, Die Deutschen Inkunabeldrucker, Vol. 2, Stuttgart, 1070
^, "South Africa in Print", Book Exhibition Committee van Riebeeck Festival, Cape Town, (1952), facing p.157 p.160
^, "Early Cape Printing 1796-1802", South African Library Reprint Series, No. 1, South African Library, Cape Town, (1971)
^SH Steinberg, "Five Hundred Years of Printing", Pengiun Books, Middlesex, (1955) 2nd ed. 1961, p.214
^ abWalter Moritz, "Die Anfänge des Buchdrucks in Südwestafrika/Namibia", Gutenberg-Jahrbuch, Vol. 1979 (1979), pp.269-276 Cite error: The named reference "Walter Moritz" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
^ abMelvin McGovern, "Early Western Presses in Korea", Korea Journal, 1967, pp.21-23
^Albert A. Altman, "Korea's First Newspaper: The Japanese Chosen shinpo", The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 43, No. 4. (Aug., 1984), pp. 685-696
Further reading
On the effects of Gutenberg's printing
Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, Cambridge University Press, September 1980, Paperback, 832 pages, ISBN 0-521-29955-1
Marshall McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man (1962) Univ. of Toronto Press (1st ed.); reissued by Routledge & Kegan Paul ISBN 0-7100-1818-5.
Febvre, Lucien & Martin, Henri-Jean. (1990) The Coming of the Book: the impact of printing 1450–1800. Verso, London & New York. ISBN 0-86091-797-5
