As presented to HU 520: The Rhetorics of a Print/Digital Culture

by Diane Keranen, dkeranen@mtu.edu

The Printing Revolution in

Early Modern Europeby

Elizabeth L. Eisenstein

1

Eisenstein first began to beconcerned about the topic ofthis book in the early 1960safter reading CarlB r i d e n b a u g h ’s presidentialaddress to the AmericanHistorical Association. Theaddress, entitled “The GreatMutation,” raised alarms aboutthe extent to which a “run-away technology” was severingall bonds with the past andportrayed contemporaryscholars as victims of a kind ofcollective amnesia (page ix).Eisenstein felt this “lamentover ‘the loss of mankind’sm e m o ry’” was merelysymptomatic and thoughtB r i d e n b a u g h ’s view lacked theability to present the alarms ofthe current cultural crisis intothe proper perspective whichhistorians ought to do.

E i s e n t s t e i n ’s experience, andthat of her collegues, lead herto consider that recall ratherthan oblivion was moreaccurately the threat and thatthe speed with which data wasbecoming available was muchfaster than we can make orderof and comprehend it.

“If there was a ‘run-away’technology which was leadingto a sense of cultural crisisamong historians, perhaps ithas more to do with anincreased rate of publicationthan with new audiovisualmedia?” (page x)

She found support for thisview from Marshal McLuhan’sThe Gutenberg Galaxy, where heprovided additional evidenceof how overload could lead toincoherence. He pronouncedhistorical modes of inquiry tobe obsolete and the age ofGutenberg at an end. (page x)

One question Eisensteinexplores is “What were someof the most import a n tconsequences of the shift fro mscript to print?” (page x).

This study undertaken tos u rvey the consequences of thef i f t e e n t h - c e n t u rycommunications shift waspublished as The Printing Pre s sas an Agent of Change in 1979 intwo-volumes. It has since beenabridged (lacking thefootnotes, citations andreferences, and addition ofillustrations) as The PrintingRevolution in Early ModernE u ro p e, first published in 1983and reprinted 11 times since.

Her study is presented intwo parts; P a rt I: The Emergenceof Print Culture in the We s tfocuses on the shift from scriptto print in Western Europe asshe tries to block out the mainfeatures of thecommunications revolution;P a rt II: Interaction with OtherD e v e l o p m e n t s deals with therelationship between thecommunications shift andother developments

conventionally associated withthe transition from medieval toearly modern times,concentrating on cultural andintellectual movements.

She expresses the concernthat it may not be wise topresent views that are still influx in a medium as fixed asprint (the preservation powersof print are an importantelement according to EE, pagexi) and she asks the reader tokeep in mind the tentative,provisional character of hers t u d y, and not to interpret it asa definitive text but as anextended essay. (page xii)

“Print culture” for thepurpose of her study refers topost-Gutenberg developmentsin the West. She makes a pointof clarifying that culturalc h a n g e in Western Europe is inno way due completely to thechanges in print and presentsthe study of print as one of themany agents of change in thecommunications network usedby learned communitiesthroughout Europe that hadspecial effects. It is these effectsof printing on the written andon the views of already literateelites and how they may berelated to other concurrentdevelopments that she isattempting to describe here.

Preface

“What were some of the

most important

consequences of the shift

from script to print?”

Part I: The Emergence of

Print Culture in the West

focuses on the shift from

script to print in Western

Europe as she tries to

block out the main

features of the

communications

revolution;

Part II: Interaction with

Other Developments

deals with the

relationship between the

communications shift

and other developments

conventionally

associated with the

transition from medieval

to early modern times,

concentrating on cultural

and intellectual

movements.

“…although the broader

historical implications of

these data are

occasionally hinted at,

t h ey are never really

spelled out”

“early print culture is

sufficiently uniform to

permit us to measure its

d i ve r s i t y. ”

Late manuscripts and

early printed books we r e

very similar in

appearance…blurring the

distinction of the shift

from script to print

making it appear

gradual, although the

shift was rapid in the

method of reproduction.

N ew features available to

p r i n t e r s … p u s h e d

publication “in a new

d i r e c t i o n — a way from

fidelity to scribal

c o n ventions and towa r d

serving the conve n i e n c e

of the reader. ”

2

An Unacknowledged R e v o l u t i o n

Reproduction of writtenmaterials began to move fromthe copyist’s desk to thep r i n t e r ’s workshop andalthough the shift from scriptto print has had a drastic effecton our culture, Eisensteinfound that there has been verylittle published study actuallyapplied to understanding theseeffects. “Insofar as flesh-and-blood historians who turn outarticles and books actually bearwitness to what happened inthe past, the effect on societyof the development ofprinting, far from appearingcataclysmic, is remarkablyinconspicuous.” (3) Printedstudies of the broaderimplications of effect ofprinting on “the evolution ofhumanity” do exist, and shecites Rudolf Hirsch (3), Febvreand Martin, and Steinberg (pg4) and states “…although theb roader historical implicationsof these data are occasionallyhinted at, they are never re a l l yspelled out” (4).

There is much written abouthow methods of bookproduction itself changed afterthe mid-fifteenth century butlittle that investigates howaccess to a greater abundanceand variety of written recordsaffected ways of learning,thinking, and perceivingamong the literate elites. (5)

She reasons that thedifficulty of clearly definingthese effects is due in part tothe near impossibility ofunderstanding pre-printingculture. Because we learn andt ry to understand the scriptculture through printedhistorical records, ourunderstanding is undoubtedlyskewed. The varied manner inwhich script reproductionsoccurred also makesgeneralizations of the cultureineffective, however, “a majordifference between the lastc e n t u ry of scribal culture andthe first century afterGutenberg” Eisenstein points

out, is that “early print cultureis sufficiently uniform top e rmit us to measure itsd i v e r s i t y. ” ( 8 - 9 )

The “unacknowledgedrevolution” then, is therevolution or perhaps theevolution of a culture. Aculture that no longer reliedon the scribe and the scribaltechnology of reproducingmanuscripts, a technology thatoften resulted in (and perh a p sencouraged) corruptedreproductions. It is therevolution of a culture thatproduced printed texts andwho was also influenced by itsown invention, the printingpress, in ways that have onlybeen hinted at althoughrecognized as an integral partof the history of ourcivilization. “The effectsproduced by printing havearoused little controversy, notbecause views on the topiccoincide, but because none hasbeen set forth in an explicitand systematic form” (4).

Defining the Initial Shift

She begins her study wheremany studies end: after thefirst dated printed pro d u c t shad been issued and theinventor’s immediatesuccessors had set to work(13). The advent of printing,as Eisenstein defines it “istaken to mean theestablishment of presses inurban centers beyond theRhineland during an interv a lthat begins in the 1460s andcoincides, very roughly, withthe era of incunabula. (13).

Late manuscripts and earlyprinted books were verysimilar in appearance.Florentine bibliophiles weresending to Rome for printedbooks as early as 1470 andsome printed editions wereactually bound with the samemagnificent covers asmanuscripts (19).

Vespasiano da Bisticci, themost celebrated Florentinemanuscript book merchant who

spurned the sale of printedbooks, in his Lives of IllustriousM e n contains a reference to thebeautifully bound manuscriptbooks in the Duke of Urbino’sl i b r a ry and snobbishly impliesthat a printed book would havebeen “ashamed” in suche l e g a n t company” (18-19). Hewas forced out of business in1478, while his chief rival, whosold printed books, stayed inbusiness until his death in 1495.Eisenstein uses Ve s p a s i a n o ’sclosing up shop as the pointwhen a genuine wholesalebook trade was launched.

Early printers tried to copymanuscripts as faithfully aspossible and fifteenth-centuryscribes copying from earlyprinted books also stayed trueto the printed form. “Thushandwork and pressworkcontinued to appear almostindistinguishable.” (21) Theseattempts at copying each otherand producing products thatwere nearly identical blurs thedistinction of the shift fro mscript to print making it appeargradual, although the shift wasrapid in the method ofre p ro d u c t i o n .

New features available top r i n t e r s (graduated types,running heads, footnotes, tablesof contents, superior figures,cross references, and others)soon began to be exploitedand within a generation thecommercial aspects of thebooksellers trade pushedp u b l i c a t i o n “in a new dire c t i o n—away from fidelity to scribalconventions and towards e rving the convenience of there a d e r. ” (pg 22)

“ Title pages became increas-ingly common, facilitating theproduction of book lists andcatalogues...hand drawnillustrations were replaced byeasily duplicated woodcuts andengravings—an innovationwhich eventually helped torevolutionize technologicalliterature by introducing‘exactly repeatable pictorialstatements’ into all kinds ofreference works.” (22) Byemploying various devices such

Part IThe Emergence of Print Culture in the West

3

as banderoles (small inscrip-tion), letter-number keys andindication lines “was importantfor technical literature becausethey expressed the relationshipbetween words and things.” (24)

The usage of woodcutsrather than hand drawnilluminations sealed the fate ofthe illuminator in the sameway that printing sealed thefate of the scribe. (24)

The advent of printing ledto the creation of a new kindof shop stru c t u re; to are g rouping which entailedcloser contacts amongdiversely skilled workers andencouraged new forms ofc ross-cultural interchange. ( 2 4 )Financing large publicationsbrought together richmerchants and local scholars.Previously divided culturalsegments began to haveregular direct contact. Theprinter bridged many worlds,he needed to obtain money,supplies and labor, developcomplex productionschedules, cope with strikes,estimate book markets, andline up learned assistants. Healso needed to be on goodterms with officials whilecultivating talented authorsand artists who might bring hisfirm profits or prestige. (25)

In places where the printersenterprise prospered his work-shop became a veritable culturalcenter that attracted local literatiand celebrated foreigners, wasboth a meeting place and amessage center for an expand-ing cosmopolitan Common-wealth of Learning. (25)

The shift from scribe toprinter represented a genuineoccupational mutation. (29)

For a while the trade inprinted books flowed withinthe narrow channels of themanuscript book market. Butsoon the stream could nolonger be contained. (29)

The drive to tap marketswent together with efforts tohold competitors at bay byoffering better products or, atleast, by printing a prospectusadvertising the firm’s “morereadable” texts, “morecomplete and better arranged”indexes, “more careful proof-reading” and editing. (29)

Promotional and advertisingtechniques contributed to newforms of personal celebrity.

Reckon masters andinstrument makers along withprofessors and preachersprofited when their famespread beyond shops andlecture halls.

Due to the fragmentaryevidence Eisenstein sees it asprudent to bypass theproblems associated with thespread of literacy until otherissues have been explored withmore care. She writes, “W h e nconsidering the i n i t i a lt r a n s f o rmations wrought byprint, at all events, changesu n d e rgone by groups who werea l ready literate ought toreceive priority over theundeniable fascinatingp roblem of how rapidly suchg roups were enlarg e d . ” ( 3 1 )

“It is probable that only av e ry small portion of the entirepopulation was affected by theinitial shift… nevertheless…afairly wide social spectrum mayhave been involved. (32) Todescribe the early readingpublic is difficult. Simplymatching genres of books withgroups of readers can not betaken for granted, “popular”works were those that appealedto diverse groups. Latin andv e r n a c u l a r-reading publics,pages and apprentices, landedg e n t ry, courtiers, shopkeepers,clerks and plebes alike were alltargets of the bookseller, aswell as tutors of the princes,church school instructors, andchaplains. Translations of Latinbiblical readings for the “poorpreachers” not schooled inLatin found the picture biblesto be good guides. Also, bookownership did not relatedirectly to actual readershipbut for display, or read not bythe target audience but byother publishers and authorswho were wide-rangingr e a d e r s .

After the advent ofp r i n t i n g …the transmission ofwritten information becamemuch more eff i c i e n t . G i f t e dstudents could acquire thesame knowledge that was oncelearned after many years at thefoot of a master. The Gothiccathedral, the “encyclopedia instone”, was threatened by theprinted book which wouldmake such “things”, crowdedwith memories, unnecessary.[The printed book] will doaway with habits of

immemorial antiquity wherebya “thing” is immediatelyinvested with an image andstored in the places ofm e m o ry. (35) As learning byreading books took on newimportance, the role played bymnemonic aids was dimin-ished. The nature of thecollective memory wastransformed. (35) Defendersof the image note Gregory theG r e a t ’s dictum that statuess e rved as “books of theilliterate.” (36)

“…it may seem plausible tosuggest that printing fostered amovement “from imagec u l t u re to word culture”. (36)The cultural metamorphosisp roduced by printing was re a l l ymuch more complicated thanany single formula can possiblye x p ress. (36) For instance,engraved images became evenm o re abundant after theestablishment of print shopst h roughout We s t e rn Euro p e .Many fundamental texts thatlost their illustrations in thecourse of being copied forcenturies by scribes onlyregained them after script wasreplaced by print. The printedimage was the savior ofWe s t e rn science. Images wereindispensible and “morevaluable than many printedw o rds” according to a Chinesemaxim. We need to thinkbeyond the simple form u l a“image to word . ”

The purpose of thisp r e l i m i n a ry discussion hasbeen simply to demonstratethat the shift from script toprint entailed a large ensembleof changes. (41) Much hadc h a n g e d !

Some Features of Print Culture

During the first centuries ofprint, old texts were duplicatedmore rapidly that new ones,and authorities conclude that“printing did not speed up theadoption of new theories.” E.E.suggests that maybe otherfeatures, such as the incre a s e doutput and dissemination ofold texts and also that whichdistinguished the new mode ofbook production from the oldone contributed to [new]t h e o r i e s . ( 4 2 )

A

BA. Script from a hand-copied Bible

B. Early printed piece

The advent of printing

led to the creation of a

n ew kind of shop

structure; to a regrouping

which entailed closer

contacts among dive r s e l y

skilled wo r kers and

encouraged new forms of

cross-cultural interchange.

…the transmission of

written info r m a t i o n

became much more

e f f i c i e n t

4

A closer look at widedissemination: increased outputand altered intake

Although the printer dupli-cated a seemingly antiquatedbacklist, m o re available booksat a lower cost provided thep u rchaser a more variedl i t e r a ry diet than had beenp rovided by the scribe. ( 4 3 )

It was no longer essential tobe a wandering scholar toconsult different books, the eraof intense cross referencingbetween one book andanother began. (43) Moreabundantly stockedbookshelves obviouslyincreased opportunities toconsult and compare differenttexts. M e rely by making morescrambled data available…printers encouraged eff o rts tounscramble these data.

Increased output alsocreated conditions that favorednew combinations of old ideasat first and then, later on, thecreation of entirely newsystems of thought (44)

Printing encouraged formsof combinatory activity such asinterchanges between artistsand scholars or practitionersand theorists in early modernscience, which were social aswell as intellectual exchanges,changing relationshipsbetween men of learning aswell as between systems ofideas. (45)

Cross-cultural interchangestimulated mental activities inc o n t r a d i c t o ry ways: magicalarts were closely associatedwith mechanical crafts andmathematical wizardry ;“technology” went to press, butso did a backlog of mysterylore; few readers coulddiscriminate between the two.A new form of enlightenmentas well as a new mystificationaccompanied the advent ofprinting. (45)

Duplication of primers, A B C

books, catechisms, calendars,and devotional literature (anew wide-angled, unfocusedscholarship together with anew single-minded piety). Atthe same time practicalguidebooks and manualsbecame more abundantmaking it easier to plan gettingahead in this world. (48)

All of these featureschanged patterns of cultural

diffusion, E.E. stresses that,m o r e o v e r, individual access todiverse texts is a diff e re n tmatter from bringing manyminds to bear on a single“ s t a n d a rdized” text. ( 5 1 )

Considering some eff e c t sp roduced by standard i z a t i o n

Early printing was not asstandard as today’s printing,countless errata (corrections)had to be issued, which, initself, demonstrated the abilityto locate textual errors withprecision. (51)

Early printed copies weresufficiently uniform forscholars in different regions tocorrespond with each otherabout the same citation andfor the same emendations anderrors to be spotted by manyeyes. (52)

One subliminalimpact…style books, whichstripped scribal “hands” ofpersonal identity, the veryconcept of a “style” underw e n ttransformation with thestandardized impressions madeby pieces of type, idiosyncrasiesof the individual had of thescribe were clear, as were thecontrasts between the woodcutand original re-drawings (53)

The process ofs t a n d a rdization also bro u g h tout more clearly all deviationsf rom classical canons re f l e c t e din diverse buildings, statues,paintings, and objects d’art ,c reating two categories ofh i s t o ry, the classical and then o n c l a s s i c a l . ( 5 3 )

Disappearance of variationsin bookhands brought about apolarization of two distincttype fonts “gothic” and“roman”, a polarization thatalso affected other aspects ofc u l t u re . A heightenedconsciousness of the threeorders in architectural prints,new treatises and old texts,uniform maps and aheightened awareness ofboundaries both in place andcustoms, a general re c o g n i t i o nof diversity, concepts ofu n i f o rmity and diversity arei n t e rd e p e n d e n t—two sides ofthe same coin—the mores t a n d a rdization, the morecompelling is the sense ofindividual self. ( 5 6 )(Increasingly precise anddetailed recording ofo b s e rvations in visible form

brought the more standardizedimage, which in turn led torecognition of the apparentdiversity of individuals. 60)

Circulation of royal portraitsand engravings of royal entriesmade it possible for a reigningdynasty to impress a personalpresence in a new way upon theconsciousness of all subjects inan “exactly repeatable” andrecognizable “image”

Standardization and theroutines of the printer ofefficient planning, methodicalattention to detail, andrational calculation in theproduction process(and themany how-to manualsproduced at the time) wasconducive to a “spirit of thesystem,” It’s much easier tofind things when they are eachdisposed in place and notscattered haphazardly.” (64)

Some effects produced byreorganizing texts and re f e re n c eguides: rationalizing, codifying,and cataloguing data

Basic changes in bookformat might well lead tochanges in thought patterns,for example, the order ofalphabetization did not existbefore printing. (64)

The competitive commercialcharacter of the printed booktrade when, to attractpurchasers while keepingcompetitors at bay, coupledwith typographicstandardization made moresystematic cataloguing andindexing highly desirable. (66)

These utilities ofcataloguing, cross-referencing,and indexing reflected newopportunities amongclergymen and clerks to realizeold scholarly goals. (68)

The desire to have“ e v e rything in its right place”(68) a dis-order pre v i o u s l yconcealed by oral pre s e n t a t i o nand piecemeal copying becamem o re visible to copy editorsand idexers and moreo ffensive to publishers whovalued systematic ro u t i n e s .(70)The Ramist doctrine,treating everything topically,owed its popularity to the factthat printing made of textbooksa profitable genre. (71)

I n c reasing familiarity withregularly numbered pages,punctuation marks, sectionb reaks, running head, indexes,

More available books at

a lower cost provided the

purchaser a more va r i e d

literary diet than had

been provided by the

scribe. Merely by making

more scrambled data

a va i l a b l e … p r i n t e r s

encouraged efforts to

unscramble these data

which resulted in new

combinations of old ideas

individual access to

d i verse texts is a

d i f ferent matter from

bringing many minds to

bear on a single

“standardized” tex t.

the more standardization,

the more compelling is

the sense of individual

s e l f, resulting in a

polarization that also

a f fected other aspects of

culture and produced a

heightened awareness of

boundaries both in place

and customs, a general

recognition of dive r s i t y …

concepts of unifo r m i t y

and diversity are

i n t e r d e p e n d e n t

5

and so forth helped to re o rd e rthe thought of all re a d e r s ,whatever their profession orcraft .( 7 3 )

The new process of datacollection: from corrupted copy tothe improved edition

The succession of LatinBibles turned out by RobertEstienne and atlases turnedout by Ortelius “suggest howthe immemorial drift of scribalculture had been not merelyarrested but actually reversed.”(73). In the hands of ignorantprinters driving to make quickprofits, data tended to getgarbled at an ever more rapidpace, but under the guidanceof technically proficient masters,the new technology alsoprovided a way of transcendingthe limits which scribalprocedures had imposed upontechnically proficient masters inthe past, under proper super-v i s i o n, f resh observ a t i o n scould at long last be duplicatedwithout being blurred orblotted over the course oftime. (74) Thus a knowledgeexplosion was set off. (75)

Some sixteenth-century editorsand publishers…created vastnetworks of correspondentsand solicited criticism of eachedition, sometimes publiclypromising to mention thenames of readers who sent innew information or whospotted errors which would beweeded out. (74) Within threeyears Ortelius acquired somany new maps that he issueda supplement of 17 mapswhich were later incorporatedin to his T h e a t ru m . In hislifetime he published 28editions of the atlas. (75)

The ability to gain this kindof feedback helps define thedifference between datacollection before and after thecommunications shift. (76)The ability to continuallyi m p rove successive editionsmade the future seem to holdm o re promise of enlighten-ment than the past ( 7 8 )

Typographical fixity is abasic pre requisite for the rapidadvancement of learning. (78)

Considering the pre s e rv a t i v epowers of print: fixity andcumulative change

Of all the new featuresintroduced by the duplicative

powers of print, preservation ispossible the most important,no manuscript could bep r e s e rved for long withoutundergoing corruption bycopyists, (to be transmittedfrom one generation to thenext information had to beconveyed by drifting texts andvanishing manuscripts) (79),p r e s e rvation could be achievedby using abundant supplies ofp a p e r, quantity counted formore than quality. ( S e eJ e ff e r s o n ’s letter to Feorge Wy t h e ,page 80) “the lost cannot berecovered; but let us save whatremains; not by vaults andlocks which fence them fromthe public eye and use, inconsigning them to the wasteof time but by such amultiplication of copies, asshall place them beyond thereach of accident.” (81)

The notion that valuabledata could be pre s e rved bestby being made public, ratherthan by being kept secret, rancounter to tradition, led toclashes with new censors, andwas central both to early modernscience and to Enlightenmentthought. (pg 81)

Once Greek type fonts hadbeen cut, neither the disruptionof civil order in Italy, theconquest of Greek lands byIslam, nor even the translationinto Latin of all major Greektexts saw knowledge of Greekwither again in the West. Thisfixity involves the wholemodern “knowledge industry ”itself. (81)

Typography arrestedlinguistic drift, enriched as wellas standardized vernaculars, a n dpaved the way for the moredeliberate purification and codi-f i c a t i o n of all major Europeanlanguages, duplication ofvernacular primers andtranslations contributed inother ways to nationalism.linguistic “roots” androotedness in one’s homelandwould be entangled. (82)

Printing contributed topermanent fragmentation ofLatin Christendon by theduplication of documentspertaining to ritual, liturgy, orcanon law, local printing firmswere not under the pope’scontrol but served nationalclergies, an Antwerp printerjoined forces with a king ofSpain to supply all Spanish

priests with a sixteenth-centuryb r e v i a ry—its text having beenslightly altered from theversion authorized by post-Tridentine Rome (83)

Fixity also made possiblemore explicit recognition ofindividual innovation andencouraged the staking ofclaims to inventions,discoveries, and creations (84)

Printing forced legaldefinition of what belonged inthe public domain (84), onlyafter printing did plagerismand copyright begin to holdsignificance for the author.

A thirteenth-centuryFranciscan, Saint Bonaventura,said that there were four waysof “making books,”(85)(curiously absent is originalcomposition):

1. s c r i p t o r, writing the work ofothers, adding and changingn o t h i n g

2. c o m p i l e r, writes the work ofothers with additions whicha re not his own

3. c o m m e n t a t o r, writes otherswork as principle, adds ownfor explanation

4. a u t h o r, self as principlework, with others forc o n f i rm a t i o n

Veneration for the wisdomof the ages retrospectively castancient sages as individualauthors. Early printers wereprimarily responsible forforcing definition of literaryproperty rights, for shapingnew concepts of authorship,for exploiting bestsellers andt rying to tap new markets. (86)

There was no was ofrecognizing unprecedentedinnovations before the adventof print. Steady advanceimplies exact determination ofe v e ry previous step...printingmade this determination“incomparably easier. ”Progressive refinement wasmade possible. (87)

N e w, improved editions ofancient texts also began toaccumulate, uncovering moreschools of ancient philosophythan had been dreamed ofbefore, scattered attacks on onea u t h o r i t y...provided ammu-nition for a wholesale assaulton all received opinion. (87)

Claims of having inheritedtheir magic mantel were putforth by new romanticistst rying to resurrect scribal artsin the age of print. Even the

[Alphabetization] was so

little the case before

printing that a Genoese

compiler of thirteenth-

century encyclopedia

could write that “ ‘amo’

comes befor ‘bibo’

because ‘a’ is the first

letter of the former and

‘b’ is the first letter of

the latter and ‘a’ comes

before ‘b’ …by the

grace of God working in

me, I have devised this

order.”

Fresh observations could

at long last be duplicated

without being blurred or

blotted over the course

of time. Thus a

k n owledge explosion wa s

set off.

The ability to continually

i m p r ove successive

editions made the future

seem to hold more

promise of

enlightenment than the

p a s t.

6

“decay-of-nature” theme, onceintimately associated with theerosion and corruption ofscribal writing, would bereworked and reoriented bygloomy modern prophets whoenvisaged a “run-awaytechnology” and felt regress,not progress, characterizedtheir age. (89)

Amplification and re i n f o rc e m e n t :the persistence of stereotypes andof sociolinguistic divisions

With ever more frequentrepetition of identicalmessages, one passingreference could lead to ahundred-fold encounter forthe well-read individual,therefore having an impressionon the mind of the reader. T h em o re reading, the more likelyone is to encounter familiarquotations, describing familiarepisodes, originating symbolsor stere o t y p e s . ( 8 9 )

The frequency with which allmessages were transmitted wasprimarily channeled by thefixing of literary linguisticfrontiers. A reinforcement wasinvolved in relearning mothertongues when learning to read,which went together with theprogressive amplification ofdiversely oriented national“memories.” (90)

Even more than the learnedLatin journals that were readby a limited segment of thepopulation, the fixing ofreligious frontiers that cutacross linguistic ones in thesixteenth century had ap o w e rful effect on thefrequency with which certainmessages were transmitted.(Catholic church Latin vsvernacular biblical translationsof Protestant regions area agood example of diversemessages within linguisticgroups.) (90)

The Expanding Republic of LettersThe rise of the reading public

The replacement ofdiscourse by silent scanning, offace-to-face contacts by moreimpersonal interactions,probably did have importantconsequences, it follows thatwe need to think lessmetaphorically and abstractly(than McLuhan’s

“typographical man”), morehistorically and concretely,about the sorts of social andpsychological effects that wereentailed and how differentgroups were affected. (92)

Although concern abouthow silent reading and “silentinstructors” “carry farther thando public lectures” wasapparent to a sixteenth-centuryprofessor of medicine, (92)silent reading and “silenti n s t ruction” has becomei n c reasingly more perv a s i v eand ever more elaboratelyinstitutionalized after the shiftf rom script to print. (93), therecourse to the spoken wordcannot be assumed to havediminished. To the contrary,priests and orators bothbenefited from the way theirpersonal charisma could beaugmented and amplified bythe printed word.

Recourse to silentpublication undoubtedlyaltered the character of somespoken words, affectedexchange between members ofparliament due to theirprinted debates, altered theway poetry and song wererecited: this literary culturecreated by typography wasconveyed to the ear. Most ruralvillagers were exclusively ahearing public up until thenineteenth century, eventhough what they heard hadbeen transformed by printingtwo centuries earlier. (93)

S e rmons had at one timebeen coupled with news aboutlocal and foreign affairs, re a lestate transactions and othermundane matters. (94) Theprinting of newspapers off e re dand alternative news sourc e ,this decentralization from thepulpit has a significantconnection with the weakeningof local community ties, it wasno longer necessary to cometogether get the news. Apeople assembled (oraltradition) vs a peopledispersed (men of letters,)changed what it mean toparticipate in public affairs,(95) links to larger collectiveunits were being forged (96),new forms of group identity,vicarious participation and amass consciousness.(97)

The power of officials andbureaucrates were extendedonce government regulations

became subject of theduplicative powers of print.Fear of expanded statesprovoked countermeasuresfrom parliaments andassemblies. Propaganda warsexacerbated the traditionaltensions between court andc o u n t ry, crown and estates.

The rise of a new class of “men of letters”

Were the new groups whoengaged in the productionand distribution of printedmaterials part of a new socialclass of intellectuals? (98)

From the “low-life ofliterature” of eighteenth-c e n t u ry France’s frustratedl i t e r a ry careerist in translatingEnlightenment doctrines intoradical political action to theprofitable clandestine booktrade and black market books,smuggling of vernacular Biblesand Galileo’s evasion of theofficials who placed him underhouse arrest, the story of the“fourth estate” remains to betold. (99)

Paradoxically enough, thesame presses which fanned theflames of religious controversyalso created a new vestedinterest in ecumenical concordand toleration (100); duringthe sixteenth century, suchprinting shops representedminiature “internationalhouses,” they pro v i d e dwandering scholars with ameeting place, message center,s a n c t u a ry, and cultural centerall in one, encouraging af o rmation of an ethos whichwas specifically associated withthe Commonwealth ofL e a rn i n g. (101)

This was the era when menof letters and learning werelikely to be familiar with printtechnology and commercialtrade routes and the simplicityof the early press made itpossible for American men ofletters to act as their ownprinters. (Mark Twain andBenjamin Franklin). (102)

The historical and socialconsciousness of men of lettersin early modern Europe waswell in advance of that of othergroups. (103)

The more reading, the

more likely one is to

encounter fa m i l i a r

quotations, describing

familiar episodes,

originating symbols or

s t e r e o t y p e s .

Silent reading and “silent

instruction” has become

increasingly more

p e r va s i ve and ever more

e l a b o r a t e l y

institutionalized after

the shift from script to

p r i n t.

Print houses prov i d e d

wandering scholars with

a meeting place,

message center,

s a n c t u a r y, and cultural

center all in one,

encouraging a fo r m a t i o n

of an ethos which wa s

specifically associated

with the Commonwe a l t h

of Learning.

7

Eisenstein provides, in PartII, a basis for some tentativeconclusions concerning theeffects of the communicationsshift upon three movementswhich seem strategic in theshaping of the modern mind.The specific relationshipbetween the advent ofprinting and fifteenth-centurycultural change involves acomplex ensemble of manyinterrelated changes. (111)

The Permanent R e n a i s s a n c eMutation of a ClassicalRevival

Do we really know in whichcentury Western culturemoved from the Middle Ages,through the Renaissance, tobecome modern? E.E. beginsto answer this question byasking, more directly, “Whatwas peculiar to thetransitional age itself?,” andbelieves that printing deservesto be put first. (113) New[printing] trades…are beingcreated…traditional skills(metalworkers andmerchants) are being directedtoward new ends.(114) Theadvent of printing… broughtabout the most radicaltransformation in theconditions of intellectual life inthe history of Westerncivilization. (115)

It is clear that the literarydiet of a given sixteenth-century reader wasqualitatively different from hisfourteenth-centurycounterpart. His staple diethad been enriched, andintellectual ferment had beenencouraged, whether heconsulted living authors ordead ones, “new” books or“old” ones. (116)

Augmented bookproduction altered patterns ofconsumption and changedthe nature of individualintake. (116)

“Something important andrevolutionary had occurred,”not adequately covered by theterm “Renaissance.” It makessense to employ the term to

the cultural movementinitiated by Italian literati andartists in the age of scribesand expanded to encompassmany regions and field ofstudy in the age of print, butit doesn’t cover the ensembleof changes which wereushered in by with the majorcommunications revolutionushered in by print. (145)

It should also be noted thatthe full flowering of highRenaissance culture, wherethe first Grub Streetsubculture thrived, owedmuch to early printers. Thenew medium had a stimulatingeffect on inventive andimaginative faculties andcontributed to a heightenedsense of individuality andpersonality which continues todistinguish Westerncivilization from othercultures even now. (146)

It took at least a century ofprinting before the multiformmaps and tangledchronologies inherited fromscribal records were sortedout, and more uniformsystems for arrangingmaterials developed. Beforethen, there was no fixedspatiotemporal referencefrom which men of learningshared.

It is not “since theRenaissance,” but since theadvent of printing andengraving, that “the antiquehas ben continually been withus.” (122)

We s t e rn Christendom D i s ru p t e dResetting the Stage for theR e f o rm a t i o n

Western Christendom wasclearly disrupted by theprinting revolution.

The notion of an“apostolate of the pen” (Thepreaching of sermons isspeaking to a few ofmankind… printing books istalking to the whole world.157) points to the high valueassigned to the written wordas a means of accomplishingthe church’s mission on earth.

It helps to explain theenthusiastic welcome given tothe press by the fifteenth-century Roman church. Notonly did the church legitimatethe art of printing, it provideda most important market forthe infant industry. For fiftyyears before the ProtestantRevolt, churchmen in mostregions welcomed aninvention which served bothpriests (liturgical lessons) andlaymen (prosperousbusinesses). (158)

The priest may haveclaimed the sacred office ofmediating between God andman, but when it came toscriptural exegesis manyeditors and publishers feltthat Greek and Hebrewscholars were better equippedfor the task. (159) It wasprinting which introduced anew drive to tap mass markets.(159)

Luther himself describedprinting as “God’s highest andextremist act of grace,whereby the business of theGospel is driven forward.”English Protestants pointedthe way to later trends… “Theart of Printing will so spreadknowledge, that the commonpeople, knowing their ownrights and liberties will not begoverned by way ofoppression…” (150)

Printing was a device whichended forever a priestlymonopoly of learning,overcame ignorance andsuperstition, pushed back theevil forces commanded byItalian popes, and in general,brought Western Europe outof the Dark Ages.

The activities of theprinters, translators, anddistributors…acted as agentsof the change. (152)

The roman Catholic policywas to uphold the medievalLatin Version of the Bible inthe attempt to withstand twodifferent threats emanatingfrom Greek and Hebrewstudies on the one hand andfrom vernacular translationson the other. (160) However,it was still threatened by lay

Part IIInteraction With Other Developments

It should also be noted

that the full flowering

of high Renaissance

culture, where the first

Grub Street subculture

thrived, owed much to

early printers. The new

medium had a

stimulating effect on

inventive and

imaginative faculties

and contributed to a

heightened sense of

individuality and

personality which

continues to distinguish

Western civilization from

other cultures even now.

The preaching of

sermons is speaking to a

few of mankind…

printing books is talking

to the whole world.

“The art of Printing will

so spread knowledge,

that the common

people, knowing their

own rights and liberties

will not be governed by

way of oppression”…and

in general, brought

Western Europe out of

the Dark Ages.

8

erudition on the part of ascholarly elite and by lay Biblereading among the public atlarge of the Greek andHebrew studies that forcedtheir way into the schools andthe expanded market ofvernacular catechisms. Latinno longer served as a sacredlanguage veiling sacredmysteries. (161)

A sixteenth-centuryvernacular-translationmovement affected manysecular trends. NicholasCulpeper, accused the collegeof Physicians of being papistbecause they resisted usingvernaculars in medical texts.(164) John Lilburn held thatthe law of the land should notbe hidden in Latin and oldFrench, but instead should bein English so that “every Free-man may reade it as well asthe lawyers.” (165)

Possibly the mostfundamental divergencebetween Catholic andProtestant cultures can befound closest to home. TheProtestant theme that“Masters in their houses oughtto be as preachers to theirfamilies that from the highestto the lowest they may obeythe will of God,” divergedfrom the Catholic’s warning“You should nott be yourowne masters…householdreligion is a seed-bed ofsubversion.” (167) but offeredno effective substitute toensure religious observanceswithin the family circle. (168)

Printers therefore tended toexpand and diversify morerapidly under Protestant thanCatholic rule. (171) theincentive to learn to read waseliminated among layCatholics and officiallyenjoined upon Protestants.(173)

Roman Catholic censorshipefforts backfired when itpublished the Index librorumprohibitorum that listed anti-Roman passages that made iteasier for Protestantpropagandists to locate them.(173) It was the profit-seekingprinter and not the Protestantdivine who were on theCatholic censored list. (177)

Eager to expand marketsand diversify production, theenterprising publisherpreferred the ProtestantRome over the Catholic one.

(177) Printers becameindependent agents, a “thirdforce,” not affiliated with anyone church or state, butclearly affiliated with theinterests of early moderncapitalism. (178)

The demand for vernacularScriptures, Psalters, andservice books among enclavesof Protestants of foreign soilalso encouraged aninterchange between printersand “communities ofstrangers.” (180) In the latesixteenth-century, for the firsttime in history of anycivilization, the conceptof…the “family of man” on atruly global scale, was beingextended to encompass all thepeoples of the world. (182)

Perhaps civil war inChristendom was notinevitable, but the advent ofprinting did, at the very least,rule out the possibility ofperpetuating the status quo.(186)

The Book of NatureTransformedPrinting and the Rise of Modern Science

Because the exploitation ofthe mass medium was morecommon amongpseudoscientists and quacksthan among L a t i n - w r i t i n gprofessional scientists, whooften withheld their work fromthe press, (187) it appearsplausible to play down theimportance of printing. (187)

The “spread of newideas,”through print deservesconsideration, textualtraditions were no more likelyto continue unchanged afterthe shift from script to printthan were scripturaltraditions. (188)

How could the “great bookof Nature” be investigatedwithout exchanginginformation by means of “thelittle books of men” (188)

In my (Eisentstein’s) view,the movement reflecteddisenchantment with thoseforms of teaching and booklearning which had beeninherited f rom the age ofs c r i b e s … i n c o n s i s t e n c i e s andanomolaies became moreapparent after printedmaterials began to beproduced, a distrust ofreceived opinion and a fresh

look at the evidencerecommended itself to allmanner of curious men. (194)

Classical authors hadwarned against trusting hand-copied books and especiallyhand-copied pictures for theexcellent reason that theydegenerated over time, (195)

In duplicating crudewoodcuts, publishers weresimply carrying on wherefifteenth-century copyists leftoff. It was not so much a newawareness of the“Inadequacies of purely verbaldescription” as it was the newmeans of implementing thisawareness that explains the“sixteenth-century revolution.”For the first time the work ofskilled draftsmen could bepreserved intact in hundredsof copies of a given book. Itwas the printing of books thatpaved the way and providedthe indispensible step for therise of modern science. (196)

The “process of feedback”was an important consequenceof printed editions. This kindof checking could not occuruntil uniform [printed data]encouraged exchange ofinformation between[discoverers] and publishers.(200)

H o w e v e r, natural barriers toknowledge were less of anobstacle than “notions of theworld” were. (201)

Manuscript maps were“secretly and well wrapped sothat no man could see it”. Tomake multiple copies wouldnot lead to improvement…”(201)

Before the outlines of acomprehensive and uniformworld picture could emerge,incongruous images had to beduplicated in sufficientquantities to be brought intocontact, compared andcontrasted. (204) Thisscholarly computation andcross-referencing was formerlyunthinkable.

The flow of informationhad been reoriented, and thishad an effect on naturalphilosophy that should not goignored. (206)

Resetting the stage for theCopernican revolution

Astronomers have to studyobservations made at differentintervals over long periods oftime. Copernicus’s failure to

A sixteenth-century

vernacular-translation

movement affected

many secular trends

Possibly the most

fundamental divergence

between Catholic and

Protestant cultures can

be found closest to

home. The Protestant

theme that “Masters in

their houses ought to be

as preachers to their

families that from the

highest to the lowest

they may obey the will

of God,” diverged from

the Catholic’s warning

“You should nott be

your owne masters…

household religion is a

seed-bed of subversion.”

(167) but offered no

effective substitute to

ensure religious

observances within the

family circle.

Perhaps civil war in

Christendom was not

inevitable, but the

advent of printing did,

at the very least, rule

out the possibility of

perpetuating the status

quo.

9

supply the kind of freshfindings that were laterproved by Tych Brahe needsto be balanced against hissustained efforts tounscramble dusty records byobservers in the past. (207)

Until half a century afterCopernicus’ death nopotentially revolutionarychanges occurred in the dataavailable to astronomers. (208)

Copernicus interpretedPtolemy, rather than performastrological study, and openedTycho’s eyes to the need forfresh data. (209)Contradictory predictionsconcerning the conjunction ofplanets encouraged him toreexamine the “writing in theskies.” (211)

The desire to find an orbitfor a purely transitory, ephemeralphenomenon marked animportant shift in thetheoretical interpretation ofcomets.” (212)

Observed details could notbe dislodged from theirappointed places until scribaltransmissions had come to anend. (212)

Tycho set out to become anastronomer by defying histutor and teaching himself.He bypassed the traditionalmaster-apprentice relationshipby taking advantage of printedmaterials. He had at hisdisposal, as few had before

him, two separate sets ofcomputations based on twodifferent theories, compiledseveral centuries apart, whichcould compare with eachother. (215)

He was the first carefulobserver who took fulladvantage of the new powersof the press—correctablesuccessive editions. (216)

After 1543 commentaries,epitomes, or addenda devotedto one master’s work had beensuperseded by a confrontationwith alternatives that forcedsome sort of choice, whichpointed to a cognitivebreakthrough ofunprecedented kind.Challenges were being issuedin the form of open lettersalerting all Europeanastronomers to observe aparticular event and rechecktheir findings against differentpredictions, (225) a practicein regions where there was afree trade in ideas.

Another look at Galileo’s trial

Three alternative planetarymodels and six sets ofconflicting tables were incirculation. The shiftingfortunes of war alteredactivities of publishers, andscience went undergroundand even abroad thanks to thehelp of the Royal Society, whowere publishers of technical

literature, and providedencouragement and groupsupport to Italian virtuosowhich they lacked at home.(243) Being condemned byItalian censors for engaging in“commerce with Protestants”was sometimes advantageousto the Commonwealth ofLearning. Often bannedmaterial, once printed, wasquite popular.

The Royal Society was awareof the special service the presswas rendering to scientificadvance. Anxious authorswere encouraged to publishand “bring out the opinion ofall the learned, and perhapswhere you have not yet seen,they will shed a fuller light.”(244)

Galileo’s Dialogue on TwoWorld Systems was such aprovocative and polemictreatise it almost seemed tocourt censorship in a way thatis quite typical of most seriousscientific work. (250-251)

New opportunities to profitfrom banned titles wereextended to Protestant firms,at the same time, new risksand uncertainties were posedfor scientific publishers inCatholic lands. (250) Thecontinuous operation ofprinting firms beyond thereach of Rome was of vitalconcern to Western Europeanscientists.

In Eisentstein’s view, the

movement reflected

disenchantment with

those forms of teaching

and book learning which

had been inherited f r o m

the age of scribes…

i n c o n s i s t e n c i e s and

anomolaies became more

apparent after printed

materials began to be

produced, a distrust of

received opinion and a

fresh look at the

evidence recommended

itself to all manner of

curious men.

After 1543

commentaries, epitomes,

or addenda devoted to

one master’s work had

been superseded by a

confrontation with

alternatives that forced

some sort of choice,

which pointed to a

cognitive breakthrough

of unprecedented kind.

1 0

Within the space of acentury and a half arevolution had occurred inthe way in which menregarded the universe.Eisenstein seeks to understand“how it all came about” byconsidering the effects of adefinite communications shiftthat occurred in the movefrom a script culture to printone that moved man from theMiddle Ages to early“modernity.” (255)

Her approach is to discussmovements (the Renaissance,the Reformation, a knowledgerevolution) and discernfeatures which were notpresent in earlier epocs whichaltered the textual traditionsupon which each movementrelied. This approach showedhow movements aimed atreturning to a golden pastwere reoriented in a mannerthat pointed them away fromtheir initial goal and led layhumanists, priests and naturalphilosophers to a division ofopinion (because of thepermanence of print, and theability to compare andcontrast texts) and ultimatelyto a reassessment of inheritedviews. (256) By placing moreemphasis on the shift fromscript to print, many diversetrends could beaccommodated withoutresorting to extendingintellectual feuds. (257) Thenovelty of being able toassemble diverse records andreference guides and of beingable to study them withouthaving to transcribe themhelped to heighten awarenessof anomalies in theseinherited views.

Changes wrought byprinting had a moreimmediate effect on cerebralactivities and on the learnedprofessions than did manyother kinds of “external”events. Previous relationsbetween masters and discipleswere altered. Students whotook advantage of technicaltexts which served as silentinstructors were less likely todefer to traditional authority

and more receptive toinnovating trends. (261)

Both Copernicus (in anattempt to preserve andemend Ptolomy’s astrologicalwork) and St. Jerome (toprotect the scripture fromfurther corruption) useduntraditional means topropell their work, which sentit in and unconventionaldirection, so that they brokenew paths in the very act ofseeking to achieve old goals.(265)

The vernacular-translationmovement not only enabledevangelists to bring theGospel to everyman but alsotapped a vast reservoir oflatent scientific talent byeliciting contributions fromreckon masters, instrumentmakers, and artist-engineers.Protestant encouragement oflay reading and self-help wasespecially favorable forinterchanges between readersand publishers—which led tothe quiet displacement ofancient authorities and toexpansive data collection of anew kind. Finally, the samecensorship policies and elitisttendencies that discouragedCatholic Bible printers (theCatholic leadership stand thatlaypersons should not seekknowledge themselves but torely on the mystery deciferingLatin church) eventuallyclosed down scientificpublication outlets in Catholiclands. (265-266)

Open the book of nature.Bring out the opinion of

the learned.One cannot treat printing as

just one among manyelements in a complex causalnexus, for thecommunications shifttransformed the nature of thecausal nexus itself.

Some final remarks

The unevenly phasedcontinuous process ofrecovery and innovation thatbegan in the second half ofthe fifteenth century areimpossible to gauge at presentand remain to be described.

My CommentsThis is a very extensive

study of her topic, and Iwould say it is valuablereading for anyone interestedin an such study of historicalcultural change relative toprint technology.

I would, however, suggestthat the student choose theoriginal work, The PrintingP ress as an Agent of Change,unless they are widely studiedin the history of culture,scripture and science. Thelack of the footnotes in thisversion leaves many valuabledetails and insights out of thepicture.

ConclusionScripture and Nature TransformedOne cannot treat

printing as just one

among many elements

in a complex causal

nexus, for the

communications shift

transformed the nature

of the causal nexus

itself.

The vernacular-

translation movement

not only enabled

evangelists to bring the

Gospel to everyman but

also tapped a vast

reservoir of latent

scientific talent by

eliciting contributions

from reckon masters,

instrument makers, and

artist-engineers.

Protestant

encouragement of lay

reading and self-help

was especially favorable

for interchanges

between readers and

publishers—which led to

the quiet displacement

of ancient authorities

and to expansive data

collection of a new kind.