Most people take printed materials for granted, it's hard for us to imagine modern life if the printing press had not been invented. We would not have the opportunity to read books, newspapers, magazines. Posters, leaflets, brochures would not exist and would not come to us by mail. Typography allows you to exchange a huge amount of information in as soon as possible. In fact, the printing press is one of the most important inventions for modern man. He made a huge contribution to the development of society. How was the printing press invented and how did it influence the development of culture?

Life before the printing press

Before printing was invented, all written materials and images were written and copied by hand. Were doing this certain people, who were allocated places for scribes at monasteries. This room in monasteries was called a scriptorium. There the writer could work in silence, first marking the page and then transferring onto paper the data from the book being copied. Later, decorative elements began to be applied to the pages of books. In the Middle Ages, books, as a rule, were only the property of monasteries, educational institutions or very rich people. Most of the books were religious in nature. Some families kept copies of the Bible, but this was very rare, and the family was considered lucky.

Around the end of the 1430s, a German named Johannes Gutenberg managed to find good way making money. At that time, there was a trend of wearing small mirrors on clothes and hats when visiting sacred places. The mirrors themselves had no meaning for him of great importance, but they gave him an idea of ​​how large volumes of printed matter could be created. During the 1300s and 1400s, society gained a basic form of printing. For it, images or letters were used, painted on wooden blocks, which were dipped into paint and then transferred to paper. Gutenberg already had experience with printing, so he realized that by using cut blocks for it, he could make the process faster. He strove to reproduce large texts in large volumes. Instead of wooden blocks, he decided to use metal ones. The design he invented was called the "Movable Printing Press" because the metal letters could move to form different combinations to print words and phrases. Using this device, Gutenberg created the first printed book, which was the Bible. Today, the Bible printed by Gutenberg is of historical value.

The printing press had a device that arranged groups of blocks in the right order so that the letters formed words and sentences, constantly moving. The blocks were dipped in ink and paper was placed on them. When the paper was moved, letters appeared on it. These printing presses were manually operated. Later, by the 19th century, other inventors created steam-powered printing machines that did not require operator control. Today's printing presses are electronic, automated, and capable of printing much faster than any of their previous counterparts.

Gutenberg's invention caused a stir in society. Representatives of the upper social strata were not happy. For them, books written by hand were a sign of luxury and grandeur; they believed that books should not be subject to mass production. In this regard, printed books became primarily widespread among the lower strata of the population. Later, printing houses began to open, giving the world new professions. Printed texts have become a new way to distribute information to huge numbers of people quickly and cheaply. Scientists, who could disseminate their works, and politicians, who could interest voters through printed materials, benefited from this. The most important achievement that was achieved with the invention of the printing press was the opportunity to receive an education that many people previously could not obtain. The invention marked the beginning of new ideas and developments. Another contribution that the invention made was the spread among people printed materials and books in all languages.

Typography- the process of creating printed materials. The term is usually used in a historical context.

China is considered the country where printing was invented. There in 1040-1048. a blacksmith named Pi Shen used a unique typesetting process, carving hieroglyphs into blocks of clay, firing them, writing them into text on a metal plate, and attaching them to that plate with resin. However, clay letters wore out quickly and did not give a clear imprint. This method has not found widespread use, since Chinese writing is complex and consists of many characters. In 1392, the Koreans achieved great success by using copper type to reproduce texts. In 1403, Emperor Tai Tsung, in order to improve public education, ordered the printing of Korean books using such characters.

The history of European book printing dates back to the 15th century, when the prototypes of printed publications appeared. These first books, mostly primitive illustrations with small textual explanations for the illiterate consumer - “Bible of the Poor” (“Biblia pauperum”), “Mirror of Human Salvation” (“Speculum humanae salvationis”) or “The Art of Dying” (“Ars moriendi”) , were prints from solid boards (woodcuts).

Woodcut books were in wide circulation, but had an indirect relation to book printing itself, since printing from boards could not provide a large number of copies, and the wooden form quickly wore out. However, it is worth noting that books were published using woodcut printing until 1530.

Guttenberg and his followers

The invention of printing, i.e. printing from a set consisting of individual letters belongs to the German typographer from Mainz - Johann Gutenberg. He spent a significant part of his life in Strasbourg, where he was engaged in polishing semi-precious stones and mirrors. In 1448, Gutenberg appeared in Mainz, where, borrowing 150 guilders, he continued to work on casting type and constructing a printing press. The year of the first printed edition remains a matter of debate - dates are given from 1445 to 1447. The first editions, attributed to Johannes Gutenberg, were small calendar leaflets and textbooks.

The year of birth of European newspaper periodicals is considered to be 1609 (although some researchers call 1605). Its place of origin was Germany. The newspaper, which began with the words "Relation: Aller Furnemmen", was printed in January 1609 in the city of Strasbourg, and contained news from Cologne, Antwerp, Rome, Venice, Vienna and Prague. The editor-publisher of this weekly was the typographer Johann Carolus, who had previously been involved in compiling handwritten news sheets.

Also in 1609, Avisa Relation oder Zeitung, another weekly newspaper published by Luca Schulte, appeared in Augsburg. The Italian word “avviso”, which found its way into the German press, indicates a genetic connection between the first German weekly newspapers and their Venetian prototypes. The format of German publications and the form of news presentation also resemble Venetian avvisi.

The first printed newspapers did not have a clearly defined name. The place of publication and the name of the editor-publisher were usually not indicated. The location of the news material depended not on the degree of importance of the event being described, but on the day the information was received. The news itself was practically not commented on and presented without any headings; political events were interspersed with not always reliable sensations.

Beginning in 1609, weekly printed periodicals began to spread rapidly throughout Europe: in 1610, the printed weekly Ordinari Wohenzeitung began to be published in Basel; in 1615, Frankfurt am Main and Vienna joined Basel. In 1616, the newspaper appeared in Hamburg, in 1617 - in Berlin, in 1618 - in Amsterdam, in 1620 - in Antwerp, Magdeburg, Nuremberg, Rostock, Braunschweig, Cologne.

As for Cologne, in this city, starting from 1588, Michel von Aitzing published twice a year a selection of political and military events for six months under the name "Relatio Historica" ​​("Historical Bulletin") and sold his publication in the fall and spring in Frankfurt book fairs. In 1594, another publication appeared in Cologne, covering events over the past six months. “Mercurius Gallo Belgicus” (“Gallo-Belgian Mercury”) was published in Latin and was known far beyond the borders of Germany.

By 1630, weekly newspapers appeared in 30 European cities. The rapid spread of printed periodicals, and in the period from 1609 to 1700. In Germany alone, experts recorded the circulation of about 200 newspapers, which was explained by the increased level of printing, the growth of cities and the increased demand for various information from the urban population, the main consumer of this type of printed products.

However, the process of the appearance of the first newspapers in a number of countries was hindered by strict censorship procedures that regulated the appearance of printed materials. The widespread introduction of the institution of preliminary censorship, which appeared almost immediately after the invention of printing, became the state’s reaction to the uncontrolled spread of ideas, opinions and information.

It was the effect of censorship restrictions that led to the fact that the first printed newspapers in England and France appeared relatively late. Under conditions of severe censorship pressure, the role of a kind of “catalyst” for the emergence of English and French newspapers was played by Holland, which in the 17th century was the most liberal country in Europe.

A well-established printing business and skillful use of the advantages of “ideological liberalism” allowed Holland to make considerable profits from the sale of printed products to neighboring countries (England, France), where they were in great demand.

In September 1620, Caspar van Hilten (publisher and editor of the first Dutch newspaper "Courante uyt Italien, Duytsland, etc." - "News from Italy, Germany, etc.") began translating his own publication into French and distributing it to territory of France under the name "Courant d"Italic & d"Almaigne, etc." Apparently, van Hilten's venture was a commercial success.

In December of the same 1620, the Dutch engraver and cartographer Pieter van de Keere, who lived for several years in London, began publishing in Amsterdam on English language a newspaper that presented an almost literal translation of the Dutch "couranto". The first issue of Keere, dated December 2, 1620, came out without a title and began quite remarkably: “The new typings out of Italic are not yet com” - “Fresh news from Italy has not yet been received.”

From the second issue this publication has the title “Corrant out of Italic, Germany, etc.” The news contained in the newspaper printed in Amsterdam could hardly be called fresh, but it gave readers an idea of ​​the events taking place in Europe.

8. The emergence and development of the institution of censorship in Western Europe.

Censorship(lat. censura) - control by the authorities over the content and dissemination of information, printed materials, musical and stage works, works of fine art, films and photographs, radio and television broadcasts, websites and portals, in some cases also private correspondence, in order to limit or prevent dissemination of ideas and information considered undesirable by this government.

Censorship also refers to the bodies of secular or spiritual authorities that exercise such control.

According to Doctor of Historical Sciences T. M. Goryaeva [Note. 1], censorship arose at the moment when a group of people with power and property began to impose their will on others. The word “censorship” itself originated from ancestry. census, which meant in ancient Rome the periodic assessment of property to divide people into classes. The second meaning was associated with the division according to the right to enjoy the privileges of citizenship. Thus, according to Goryaeva, the ancient censor monitored the reliability of the political orientation of citizens.

Censorship became an attribute of state and religious power in the era of antiquity. The Brief Jewish Encyclopedia cites as an example the destruction of the scroll of Jeremiah's prophecies (608 - 598 BC) by the Jewish king Joachim. The Encyclopedia Britannica notes that in Athens (480 - 410 BC) the books of the philosopher Protagoras on the Gods were burned. Plato proposed introducing a set of prohibitions to protect people from the harmful influence of works of art. He became the first thinker to substantiate the need to combine artist self-censorship with preliminary public censorship. Subsequently, censorship and repression of free thought became an integral part of the policies of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. In 213 BC. e. Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang ordered the burning of all books except medical, agricultural and scientific ones to protect the empire from the perceived dangers of poetry, history and philosophy.

The first censorship lists date back to unacceptable apocryphal books, a list of which was compiled in 494 AD. e. under the Roman bishop (pope) Gelasius I. Preliminary censorship of books was first introduced in 1471 by Pope Sixtus IV. This was followed by similar decisions of Pope Innocent VIII (1487) and the Lateran Council (1512).

Later, under Pope Paul IV in 1557, the Index liborum prohibitorum was issued for the inquisitorial tribunals. This list was only canceled in 1966. And in 1571, Pope Pius V established the Congrecatio Indicis, according to which no Catholic, under pain of excommunication, could read or keep books that were not included in the list specified by the pope. Not only banned books, but also their authors were often burned at the stakes of religious censorship. The period of the Church Reformation was also characterized by intolerance of dissent. European society of that time was infected with aggressive xenophobia, and the authorities supported church censorship with administrative, judicial and forceful measures.

Subsequently, critics of censorship appeared, for example Pierre Abelard, Erasmus of Rotterdam and Michel Montaigne, who began to express doubts about its usefulness and expediency. Supporters of a strict form of censorship were Bernard of Clairvaux, Martin Luther and Tommaso Campanella. During the Enlightenment, philosophers and politicians proclaimed the ideas of freedom of speech, press and assembly. British philosopher Thomas Hobbes believed that if a church prohibition is not confirmed by state law, it is nothing more than advice. The poet John Milton, speaking in the English Parliament on June 16, 1643, for the first time specifically examined the features of censorship as a public institution. His critical treatise "Areopagitica" brought closer the abolition of preliminary censorship in England, which occurred in 1695.

9. The origin and development of political journalism and its role in public life.

PUBLISHING(from the word public, public) - that area of ​​​​literature that deals with political, social issues with the aim of promoting certain views among a wide circle of readers, creating, shaping public opinion, and initiating certain political campaigns. The origin of journalism dates back, of course, to the era when mass readers first appeared, as well as the means to reproduce literary works in large quantities, i.e. to the beginning of the capitalist period in Europe, with the influx of new ideas corresponding to new social relations, with the development of urban life and trade, with the advent of a number of discoveries and inventions, and first of all - printing. Journalism is the child of the young, emerging bourgeoisie and is developing in Europe along with the development of bourgeois relations. Therefore, the birthplace of journalism is Italy, where, along with the first banks, the first newspapers appeared and where, during the Renaissance, the first literary form of journalism arose - pamphlet, i.e. a small pamphlet of brightly propaganda content, dealing with some topical, pressing issue or attacking particularly politically hated individuals and groups.

The end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of modern times, the era of the collapse of feudalism, with its subsistence economy, economic and spiritual stagnation, is a deeply revolutionary era. And like all subsequent revolutionary eras, it creates extensive journalistic literature and, first of all, pamphlets. In addition to a number of Italian humanists who opposed the Catholic Church, especially

German humanists became famous at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries Erasmus of Rotterdam with his "Praise of Folly" and Reuchlin- with his “Letters of Dark People,” which ridiculed the ignorant monks, the most hated and reactionary social group of that time. Great social movement, known as the Reformation, which stirred up huge masses of the lower strata of the population, first created journalism for the people, popular, rough in form, but often caustic and witty. Poisonous pamphlets of a polemical nature were exchanged between the leaders of the moderate reformation - Luther with the apostle of heretical communism and the leader of the peasant uprising of 1525 - Foma Muntzer, who in his brochures and appeals cursed both the clergy and the authorities.

The pamphlet developed especially during the era of the first English revolution of the 17th century. The great English poet Milton wrote a pamphlet for the first time in history in defense of freedom of the press. At the same time, the famous pamphlet “Killing - no murder” appeared, justifying the execution of the king. A number of pamphlets were written by the democrat Lilborn and the communists - the “true Levellers”. Since then, the pamphlet has become a favorite spiritual weapon of the English opposition parties and provided examples of high propaganda skills, especially during major political campaigns, such as the fight for electoral reform and the repeal of the Corn Laws in the first half of the 19th century, the fight for the liberation of Ireland or Chartism. The pamphlet (along with political newspapers) also achieved remarkable development during the era of the Great French Revolution, which opened with the pamphlet of Abbot Sieyès “What is the Third Estate”, reached its apogee in the newspapers of Marat and ended with Babeuf’s “Tribune of the People”. During the restoration era, the French Shchedrin became famous for his satirical pamphlets against the returning nobles and the royal administration - Paul Louis Courier. The pamphlets of socialists of the 30s and 40s are also remarkable. After that pamphlet everything

is increasingly being replaced in France by newspaper journalism.

In Germany, before the revolution of 1848, poets became famous as publicists Heine and critic Berne. But then he undoubtedly took first place Karl Marx, who in his pamphlets and newspaper articles knew how to combine brilliant literary talent, wit and caustic, killing sarcasm with deep and clear theoretical analysis. That is why his pamphlets are both propaganda and deeply scientific works. The first such work was the “Manifesto of the Communist Party” by Marx and Engels. Then Marx’s articles in the Neue Rheinische Gazeta, “The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” where, with devastating satire and mockery of the hero of the 1851 coup, a class explanation of the very possibility of this coup is given, and finally, “ Civil War in France,” the manifesto of the First International, issued immediately after the pacification of the Paris Commune.

Lassalle, who wrote his speeches and distributed them in the form of pamphlets, was also a great master of the scientific propaganda pamphlet in Germany.

Books existed long before the invention of printing. But before they were written by hand and then rewritten several times, making the required number of copies. This technology was extremely imperfect and took a lot of effort and time. In addition, when rewriting books, errors and distortions almost always crept in. Handwritten ones were very expensive, and therefore could not be found widely.

The first books made by printing appeared, apparently, in China and Korea as early as the 9th century BC. new era. For these purposes, special printed ones were used. The text that needed to be reproduced on paper was drawn in a mirror image and then cut out on the surface of a flat piece of wood with a sharp tool. The resulting relief image was smeared with paint and pressed tightly to the sheet. The result was a print that repeated the original text.

This method, however, was not widely used in China, since each time it took a long time to cut out the entire required text on a printed board. Some craftsmen tried even then to make a form from movable ones, but the number of hieroglyphs in Chinese writing was so great that this method was very labor-intensive and did not justify itself.

The invention of printing by Johannes Gutenberg

In more modern form printing originated in Europe in the first half of the 15th century. It was during these times that there was an urgent need for cheap and accessible books. Handwritten publications could no longer satisfy the developing society. The printing method that came from the East was ineffective and quite labor-intensive. An invention was needed that could allow books to be printed in huge quantities.

The German master Johannes Gutenberg, who lived in the mid-15th century, is rightfully considered the inventor of the original method of printing. Today it is very difficult to determine with high accuracy in what year he first printed the first text using the movable typesetting letters he invented. It is believed that the first printing machine came out of Gutenberg's press in 1450.

The method of printing books developed and implemented by Gutenberg was very ingenious and practical. At first, he made a matrix from soft metal, in which he squeezed out indentations that looked like letters. Lead was poured into this mold, ultimately obtaining the required number of letters. These lead signs were sorted and placed in special typesetting cash registers.

A printing press was designed to make books. In essence, it was a manually driven press that had two planes. A frame with a font was placed on one plane, and blank sheets of paper were applied to the other plane. The assembled matrix was coated with a special coloring composition, the basis of which was soot and linseed oil. Performance printing press was very high at that time - up to a hundred pages per hour.

The printing method invented by Gutenberg gradually spread throughout Europe. Thanks to the printing press, it became possible to reproduce books in a relatively large quantities. Now the book has ceased to be a luxury item, accessible only to a select few, but has become widespread among the masses.

In Europe, he invented typography from typesetting. This meant that letters, numbers and punctuation marks were cast from metal and could be used repeatedly. And although a similar system was known to the Chinese around 1400 BC, it did not take root there due to the presence of several hundred written characters. And the method was forgotten. Around 1450, Johannes Gutenberg began printing texts in Germany in a new way. At first these were calendars or dictionaries, and in In 1452 he printed the first Bible. It later became known throughout the world as the Gutenberg Bible.

How did the first printing press work?
Separate printed characters, letters, were attached to hard metal in a mirror image. The typesetter put them into words and sentences until the page was ready. Printing ink was applied to these symbols. Using a lever, the page was pressed firmly against the paper placed underneath it. On the printed page, the letters were in in the right order. After printing the letters in in a certain order were folded and stored in the typesetting cash register. This way the typesetter could quickly find them again. Today, a book is usually designed on a computer: the text is typed and sent directly from the computer to print.

Why was the invention of printing important?
Thanks to the new printing method, it has become possible to a short time printed a lot of texts, so suddenly many people had access to books. They were able to learn to read and develop spiritually. Church leaders no longer determined who could gain access to knowledge. Opinions were disseminated through books, newspapers or leaflets. And they were discussed. This freedom of thought was completely new for those times. Many rulers were afraid of her and ordered books to be burned. And even today this happens with some dictators: they arrest writers and journalists and ban their books.

All books printed before January 1, 1501 are called INCUNABULAMI. This word is translated as “cradle”, that is, the infancy of book printing.

Few incunabula have survived to this day. They are preserved in museums and largest libraries peace. The incunabula are beautiful, their fonts are elegant and clear, the text and illustrations are placed very harmoniously on the pages.

Their example shows that a book is a work of art.

One of the largest collections of incunabula in the world, about 6 thousand books, is stored in the Russian National Library in the city of St. Petersburg. The collection is located in a special room, the so-called “Faust’s office,” recreating the atmosphere of a Western European monastery library of the 15th century.

Did you know that...
In ancient Rus' did they write on birch bark? This is the name of the outer part of birch bark, consisting of thin translucent layers that are easily separated from each other.
The first typewriter was made in the USA in 1867?
Is the number of books published all over the world growing year by year? True, this only applies to developed countries.

Check yourself.

1. In Germany, in the city of Strasbourg, in the central square there is a monument to Johannes Gutenberg. For what merits did grateful descendants perpetuate the memory of this German master?
2. Why are printed books from the 15th century called incunabula?
3. What new elements appeared in printed books in the 15th century?
4. Explain the meaning the following concepts using reference books.
Big will help you encyclopedic Dictionary(any edition)
letter
compositing (typing)
font
printing house
engraving
Red line

Watch the cartoon about Johann Guttenberg:
http://video.mail.ru/mail/glazunova-l/4260/4336.html

In the fifteenth century AD, there lived a craftsman named Johann in Strasbourg. Johann was born in Mainz, but his family was expelled from this city for political reasons after 1420. For unknown reasons, the artisan changed his father's patrician surname, Gensfleisch, to his mother's - Gutenberg.

In 1434 in Strasbourg, Johannes Gutenberg was awarded the title of master.

He went down in history thanks to the invention of printing using movable metal type. That is, typefaces made from metal movable bars on which letters were cut out in a mirror image. From such bars, lines were typed onto boards, which subsequently transferred special paint to paper. This invention is considered to be the technical basis of printing.

Typesetting boards with movable letters (wooden on the left, metal on the right)

The first book printed using set type that has survived to this day was published in 1456. This is a large format 42-line Latin Mazarin Bible, also called the Gutenberg Bible. Moreover, the master himself only prepared a set of boards for this book, and the Bible was published by Johann Fust, together with Peter Schaeffer. The book was printed on a press that Gutenberg was forced to give to Fust for debts.

The honor of the invention of printing has been disputed by historians of almost all Western European nations. The Italians defended their position most convincingly. They believe that movable letters were invented by Pamphilio Castaldi, and, without betraying this invention special significance, ceded it to Johann Fust, who established the first printing house. However, no evidence of this fact has reached our days.

So at present, Johannes Gutenberg is considered to be the inventor of printing using movable type and the founder of printing, although the first typefaces appeared 400 years before his birth. The Chinese Bi Sheng came up with the idea of ​​making them from baked clay. However, such an invention did not really take root in China due to the huge number of complex hieroglyphs that made up their writing. The production of such letters was very labor-intensive, and the Chinese continued to use woodcuts (printing from wooden impressions in which inscriptions were cut out) until the beginning of the 20th century.

The printing method invented by Gutenberg existed almost unchanged until the nineteenth century. And, although such methods as woodcut and screen printing were invented long before him, it was book printing using movable metal types that is considered to be the technical basis of printing.

Typography in Rus'

He brought the art of printing to Russia in the thirties of the sixteenth century. Ivan Fedorov - deacon of the Moscow Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of Gostunsky. Ivan received his education at the University of Krakow, which he graduated in 1532.

The first accurately dated Russian printed edition was published by him and his assistant, Pyotr Mstislavets, in 1564 in Moscow. This work was called "Apostle". The second edition, "The Book of Hours", was published a year later. And this turned out to be the last book printed in Fedorov’s Moscow printing house.

The scribes, not happy with the advent of printing, staged mass persecutions of printers. During one of the riots, Federov's printing house burned to the ground. After this story, Ivan and Pyotr Mstislavets fled from Moscow to Principality of Lithuania. In Lithuania, they were received with great hospitality by Hetman Khodkevich, who founded a printing house on his estate Zabludov. There, in Zabludov, Fedorov worked until the seventies, after which, without Mstislavets, he moved to Lvov, where he continued printing in the printing house he founded.

The famous Ostrog Bible, the first complete Bible in the Slavic language in the history of printing, was published by the pioneer printer in the city of Ostrog (where he lived for three years before returning to Lviv) on behalf of Prince Konstantin Ostrogsky in the late seventies of the Goths of the sixteenth century.

By the way, history remembers Ivan Fedorov not only as the first Russian printer. Having a diverse education, he was good at casting guns and became the inventor of a multi-barreled mortar with interchangeable parts.