Media History from Media History from Gutenberg Gutenberg

to the Digital Age to the Digital Age

Slides based on the Bloomsbury book by Bill Kovarik

Revolutions in Revolutions in CommunicationCommunication

Chapter 1 – Printing -- #4

Web site & textbook Web site & textbook

Textbook:

1st edition – 2011 2nd edition – 2016

http://www.revolutionsincommunication.com

Technical & historical context of printing ◦ Papermaking ◦ Typesetting ◦ Development of presses

Gutenberg Incunabula Monk Power Life in a print shop

This lecture is about … This lecture is about …

Before printing: Oral culture Before printing: Oral culture People are “pre-wired” for

language and storytelling ◦ Reading & writing are learned

Sense of connection Alex Haley’s Roots – ◦ Ex. of working oral culture

Fireside chats – ◦ Ex. Of radio as promoting oral culture

Storytelling comes naturally Storytelling comes naturally

Learning to write was the “tuition” for human education – Wilbur Schramm

6th millennium BCE, earliest known Neolithic writings.

Writing developed in a progression from picture – oriented (logographic) symbols to abstract phonetic images

Before printing: Writing Before printing: Writing

Types of written language Types of written language Logographic -- In which the Egyptian hieroglyph is a

duck, and the Chinese logogram 山 stands for mountain.

Syllabaric -- In which certain symbols stand for syllables. Complex logographic systems like Chinese, or those derived from logographic systems (like Japanese), have characters that stand for syllables.

Alphabetic -- Where individual characters stand for phonemes (sounds) of the spoken language. English is based on the Latin alphabet (ABCD...) ; Russian is based on the Cyrillic script ( A B ... ). Г Д

“For does a crop grow in any field to equal this [papyrus], on which the thoughts of the wise are preserved? For previously, the sayings of the wise and the ideas of our ancestors were in danger…” Cassiodorus

Before printing: Papyrus Before printing: Papyrus

Split animal skins ◦ calf, sheep, goat

More durable than papyrus ◦ But far more

expensive Skins were soaked,

treated, split, stretched, smoothed, cut

Before printing: Parchment Before printing: Parchment

Bamboo, wood pulp paper Bamboo, wood pulp paper

Known since 100 AD in China

Linen, bamboo or other long-fiber material suspended in water

Fibers suspended in water, then “screened”

Developed in China c 105 ACE

Reached Europe around 1200 ACE

Attributed to Tso Lin

Before printing: Paper (China) Before printing: Paper (China)

Romans discarded unwieldy scrolls in favor of the “codex,” or arrangement of pages in succession.

Before printing: Linen paper Before printing: Linen paper

Handwritten news widely distributed across Roman empire “Acta Diurna” – Daily Acts

131 BCE to 400s ACE

Helped keep up loyalty to Rome News of sports (esp gladiators),proclamations from Senate, battles, omens, and human interest stories

Before printing: Acta Diurna Before printing: Acta Diurna

Romans discarded unwieldy scrolls in favor of the “codex,” or arrangement of pages in succession.

Before printing: The Roman Codex Before printing: The Roman Codex

Books were sacred Books were sacred During the “dark ages” especially, books were considered the tiny flickering candle flame of civilization

Book of Kells, 800 ACE

Monasteries laboriously created works of art as acts of reverence

Illuminated manuscripts (not incunabula )

2 - 3 pages per day

One monk takes 2 years to copy 1,282 pages in the Bible *

* Frederick Somner Merryweather, Bibliomania of the Middle Ages, (London: Merryweather, 1849).** Brian Richardson, Printing, writers and readers in Renaissance Italy (Cambridge U. Press, 1999)

In 1447, just before printing, it takes 45 scribes 22 months to copy 200 manuscripts for the Cosimo de Medici’s library. **

1 Monk Power = 2.5 pages/day, or 1/2 Bible / year

Monk powerMonk power

Wood block - China 220 ACE Wood block - China 220 ACE

Ceramic – 1041-1048 ACE Ceramic – 1041-1048 ACE

Bi Sheng is credited with invention in the Dream Pool Essays

Aachen Pilgrim’s badge Aachen Pilgrim’s badge

Gutenberg’s matrix Gutenberg’s matrix

Johannes Gutenberg’s key insight:

•Re-useable, moveable type.

•The “matrix” was a mold that formed a piece of type from hot lead, tin and antimony.

• Printing sped up book production by 1000 -2000 x

What Gutenberg actually invented was not the “press” itself – That was widely used in agriculture and for woodcuts.

As a metal smith, Gutenberg found the right combination of lead and antimony and tin for type.

Moveable type made from wood was known, but even the hardest woods don’t hold up after hundreds of impressions.

Mainz, Germany, 1453 – Johannes Gutenberg (1395 – 1468)

1 billion books by 18001 billion books by 1800

Printing Revolution Printing Revolution THE pivotal development in history,The turning point in the transition between the

Medieval and the Modern Printing comes from an build-up of

techniques, resources & demands ◦ pressing (olives, grapes) ◦ paper making (to replace animal hides) ◦ woodcuts of religious images◦ abundance of linen paper

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon Novum Organum (New Instrument,

published 1620):"Printing, gunpowder and the

compass: These three have changed the whole face and state of things throughout the world; the first in literature, the second in warfare, the third in navigation; whence have followed innumerable changes, in so much that no empire, no sect, no star seems to have exerted greater power and influence in human affairs than these mechanical discoveries.

Printing 1450s - 1790s Printing 1450s - 1790s Typical production of wooden flatbed press was 3200 impressions per 14-hr day*

A “token” (an hour’s work) was 250 pages (single sided)

Four men working 100 days set type and printed 200 volumes of the Gutenberg Bible**

So in effect, one person produced one book in two days, compared to a monk or scribe producing a book in two years.

Monk Power = 312

* Hans-Jürgen Wolf, Geschichte der Druckpressen (Frankfurt: Interprint, 1974) ** Brian Richardson, Printing, writers and readers in Renaissance Italy (Cambridge U. Press, 1999)

Bed & Bed & platen platen press press

Among many improvements to hand powered presses Treadwell, c. 1820s, was 4x faster

Monk Power = 1,280

Friedrich Friedrich Koenig’s Koenig’s Steam Steam Press Press

Six-person crew – First used at the Times of London

1814 -- 2,200 pages per hour MONK POWER = 2,000

1828 – 8,000 pages / hour MONK POWER = 7,500

HoeHoerotaryrotarypresspress(sheet fed) (sheet fed)

1844 – 20,000 pg / hour (4 cylinder)

1852– 50,000 pg / hr (10 cylinder)

Monk power = 20,000

Fourdrinier paper process Fourdrinier paper process

First by Henry Fourdrinier, 1803, Frogmore, UK

Web (continuous paper) press Web (continuous paper) press 1865 (Bullock) -- 480,000 pages / hourUses stereotype plates Monk power = 2.6 million

Not many changes in Letterpress Not many changes in Letterpress techniques from 1870s–1970s techniques from 1870s–1970s

Stereotypes invented in 1725 in Scotland Widely used to save typesetting expenses by mid-1800s Also called “cliché” from Clichy lead works near Paris

Hoe letterpress – Australia, 1950 Note heavy gearing for lead plates

Man-Roland offset printing press c. 1970s Plates are thin aluminum not heavy lead stereotypes Far lighter, cheaper, cleaner, higher quality color Works well with photo-mechanical and digital systems for type setting

Typesetting by hand Typesetting by hand

Manchester Guardian, c. 1890, approx 100 people working in typesetting; note upper & lower cases; compositors in front assemble galleys, paper galley proofs hanging from board to the right (It looks like a door).

5 to 10 wpm = 2.5 x Avg Monk Speed

Typesetting by hand (WWI era) Typesetting by hand (WWI era) Note Upper & Lower case

Drawers of fonts under the cases

Proofing press to check for errors

Chicago Defender, c. 1940, approx. Four men work with Mergenthaler’s Linotype machines setting type. The fifth man here is a compositor who assembles the work into columns of type. This was hot, dirty, and dangerous, but at 30 wpm, it was much faster and far cheaper than setting type by hand.

Photomechanical typesettingPhotomechanical typesetting“Cold” type 60 – 80 wpm

$10,000 in 1970s(1/5 cost of Linotype)

Paste-up artists replace hot type compositors

30 – 40 x Monk Speed

COMPUGRAPHIC, c. 1975

Rene Higgonet, Louis Moyroud / Vannevar Bush

Monk power / monk speed Monk power / monk speed From 2.5 pages / day ◦ To millions per day ◦ Monk Power x hundreds of millions

From 2 words / minute writing ◦ To 30 wpm Linotype ◦ To 60- 100 wpm photomechanical, digital ◦ Monk Speed x 50

Digital typesetting /Digital typesetting / desktop publishing desktop publishing

60 – 80 wpm

$4,000 1984 – 1990 plus laser printer

1/10 cost of Linotype

Digital pagination (no paste-up)

End of typesetting as a separate part of the process

APPLE MAC, c. 1985

Next: Chapter 1b Next: Chapter 1b Impacts of the printing revolution Impacts of the printing revolution