Computer technology is pervasively penetrating all areas human activity. The electronic media they have created are increasingly crowding out the position of the printed word. And yet, even in the 21st century it is difficult to imagine our life without everything that is dryly called “printed products”.
Without exaggeration, we can say that the invention of printing rightfully takes its place among the true breakthroughs of human thought, among such significant discoveries as the invention of the compass, gunpowder and paper. Being at its core a purely technical, or rather even technological, invention, printing became a catalyst for human progress that determined the development of civilizations in the second half of the past millennium.
Humanity was moving toward invention printing press long road, and the history of creation printed book was not cloudless and, for various reasons, found itself torn apart by five centuries of oblivion.
For a long time, human memory was the only means of preserving and transmitting social experience, information about events and people. The immortal poems The Iliad and The Odyssey are known to have been written down on scrolls in Athens around 510 BC. Until this time, poems had been spread orally for centuries. The invention of writing can probably be considered the first information revolution in the history of mankind, which greatly advanced the peoples who accomplished it. However, mastery of writing did not guarantee nations either global leadership or historical longevity. This is evidenced by the fate of disappeared peoples who once had their own written language (for example, the Sumerians).
Currently, there are about 8,000 alphabets and their variants in the world, adapted to different languages and dialects. The most common alphabets are those based on Latin.
Typography (translated from Greek as polygraphy) is the reproduction of a large number of copies of the same text or drawing.
The idea of a seal was embedded in the brand or mark with which cattle breeders marked their horses or cows. The principle of stamping was already known in the cuneiform cultures of the Ancient East (Sumerians, Babylon, Egypt). Symbols were applied in a spiral shape to the clay disk using stamps. In fact, this disc was the first example of printing linked text. The next stage is printing coins. Then “stone” books and books on clay tablets appeared, later papyrus scrolls, and from the 2nd century BC. – books on parchment (parchment). Then, in the era of Aristotle and Plato, manuscripts were revealed to the world.
It can be said that printing was invented twice: in the 900s AD. in the Celestial Empire (China) and then in the XV| century in Western Europe. China's book printing initially used technology in which printed form a board was used on which texts and symbols were carved. Around 725 The world's first newspaper, "Di-bao" ("Bulletin"), was published. In 770 At the behest of Empress Shotoku, a million spells were imprinted in this way and placed in miniature pagodas. Then the print appears.
Stamping is a technique for obtaining a direct impression of a relief image. The first experiments with such a unique printing method date back to a period almost coinciding with the invention of paper in China (2nd century AD). The method consists of obtaining impressions from flat stone reliefs; Lightly moistened paper is applied to the relief, rubbed in with special brushes and pressed lightly into the recesses; After that, water paint is applied to the surface of the dried paper, which has taken on the relief shapes, with a large flat brush and swabs.
Then in the Buddhist monasteries of China, approximately 618-907. The technology of woodcut printing, or woodcut engraving, appeared. The first woodcut book was called The Diamond Sutra. It was made in 868 and first discovered in 1900. in the "Cave of a Thousand Buddhas" in Donghuan (Western China). In Europe, the woodcut book, as such, appeared during the Middle Ages after the Crusades. One of the famous woodcut publications was the Poor People's Bible.
During the Renaissance in Europe, printing received a rebirth. In the 1440s, the woodcut method was improved by the German Hans Gensfleisch or Johannes Gutenberg (1394/1399 – 1468).
The invention of printing by I. Gutenberg marked the most important crucial moment in the history of book culture - the end of the medieval book and the birth of the modern book. This invention was prepared and inspired by the entire development of the culture of the late Middle Ages, which created both the technical and general cultural prerequisites for it, and determined the urgent need for a book of a new type.
It was in his printing house in the German city of Mainz that printed books, typed using metal movable letters cut in a mirror image, first saw the light of day. The book printing technology he developed turned out to be the most productive for that time. Gutenberg came to the conclusion that it was necessary to quickly cast any quantity of type - the type casting process. He thought through this process to the smallest detail and for its implementation the following were developed: a method for making a printing form by typing text in individual letters, a manual type casting device, a manual printing press for obtaining an impression from a type casting form.
The invention of the printing press led to the further development of book production technology and had a strong impact on the typology and art of the book, gaining general cultural significance - the path to the formation of mega-civilizations, such as Western European, Chinese, and Islamic, was determined. We can say with confidence that the history of world culture is inseparable from the history of the printed book.
If a handwritten book was a very expensive item, and therefore, their largest collections, as a rule, were located in monasteries and universities, then the era of I. Gutenberg turned the book into a public domain, which means it became necessary element in the process of cognition, education, formation of aesthetic taste, a means of influencing the masses and even an information weapon. Already in that distant time, kings, emperors, clergy and those in power in the modern era began to use books to promote their ideas, form a particular ideology, and strengthen their power. For example, Henry VIII and his Prime Minister Thomas Cromwell published pamphlets to establish the Church of England.
The first half of the 15th century is the time of great geographical and scientific discoveries, transition to new socio-economic and political relations, the birth of a new worldview and attitude, the birth of new cities and new states, the era of the Reformation, when the Bible was translated into German Martin Luther and published in large quantities. The ongoing changes led to a high demand for books, resulting in the need for printing. By the end of the century, more than a thousand printing houses had been founded, which had already produced about 40 thousand publications with a circulation of approximately 12 million copies. Simultaneously with the triumphal march of book printing across Europe, new form books, and with it a new book aesthetics.
The presence of a book market, the simultaneous demand for a large number of copies of at least some of the most widespread and important books, raised the question of circulation for printing houses, especially since printing technology is primarily a circulation technique, and economically advantageous due to the ability to produce a large number from one set. number of equivalent prints. In this way, another practical task that was becoming increasingly urgent was solved: careful verification of the text before its reproduction, without exposing the book to the danger of distortion during repeated rewriting. But in order for these tasks to be consciously set, it is necessary, on the one hand, the development of scientific criticism of texts, and on the other, the emergence of the very idea of circulation as a specific, predetermined form of the book, subject to technical reproduction.
In 1494 The Montenegrin printing house began its activities located in a monastery in the city of Cetinje, founded by the monk Macarius. The first book in the Old Church Slavonic language, “Okhtoich the First Glas”, was published.
In 1517-1519. In Prague, Francis Skaryna, a Belarusian pioneer printer and educator, printed the book “Psalter” in Cyrillic script in Church Slavonic.
Book printing in Rus' dates back to the 50s of the 16th century in a Moscow printing house located in the house of priest Sylvester (author of Domostroi). Here were published in Church Slavonic: three Four Gospels, two Psalms and two Triodions. A feature of Russian fonts was the use of superscripts with crossed lines, separately from other letters. This made it possible to skillfully imitate the appearance of a handwritten book page. Tin was used for casting fonts, so the letters could not withstand printing in large quantities.
In 1563 The first state printing house began its activities, known for the fact that Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Timofeev Mstislavets worked there. It was there that the first dated book, The Apostle, was published. The work on its publication lasted almost a year - from April 19, 1563 to March 1, 1564.
Modern life cannot be imagined without the invention that was given to the world by a simple German artisan. Printing, of which he became the founder, changed the course of world history to such an extent that it is rightfully classified as one of the greatest achievements of civilization. His merit is so great that those who, many centuries before, created the basis for the future discovery are undeservedly forgotten.
Print from a wooden board
The history of book printing originates in China, where back in the 3rd century the technique of so-called piece printing came into use - imprinting on textiles, and later on paper, of various designs and short texts, carved on a wooden board. This method was called woodblock printing and quickly spread from China throughout East Asia.
It should be noted that printed engravings appeared much earlier than books. Individual samples made in the first half of the 3rd century, when China was ruled by representatives of the same period, have survived to this day. The technique of three-color printing on silk and paper also appeared.
The first woodcut book
Researchers date the creation of the first printed book to 868 - this is the date on the earliest edition, made using the woodcut technique. It appeared in China and was a collection of religious and philosophical texts entitled “The Diamond Sutra”. During excavations at the Gyeongji Temple in Korea, a sample of a printed product was found that was made almost a century earlier, but due to some features, it belongs more likely to the category of amulets than books.
In the Middle East, piece printing, that is, as mentioned above, made from a board on which text or a drawing was cut out, came into use in the middle of the 4th century. Woodcut printing, called “tarsh” in Arabic, became widespread in Egypt and reached its peak by the beginning of the 10th century.
This method was used mainly for printing prayer texts and making written amulets. A characteristic feature of Egyptian woodcuts is the use of not only wooden planks, but also made from tin, lead and baked clay.
The emergence of movable type
However, no matter how the piece printing technology improved, its main drawback was the need to re-cut out all the text for each successive page. A breakthrough in this direction, thanks to which the history of printing received a significant impetus, also occurred in China.
According to the outstanding scientist and historian of past centuries Shen Ko, the Chinese master Bi Shen, who lived in the period from 990 to 1051, came up with the idea of making movable characters from baked clay and placing them in special frames. This made it possible to type a certain text from them, and after printing the required number of copies, scatter them and use them again in other combinations. This is how movable type was invented, which is used to this day.
However, this brilliant idea, which became the basis for all future book printing, did not receive proper development during that period. This is explained by the fact that in Chinese There are several thousand hieroglyphs, and making such a font seemed too difficult.
Meanwhile, considering all stages of book printing, it should be recognized that it was not Europeans who first used typesetting. The only known book of religious texts that has survived to this day was made in 1377 in Korea. As the researchers established, it was printed using movable type technology.
European inventor of the first printing press
In Christian Europe, the technique of piece printing appeared around 1300. On its basis, all kinds of religious images made on fabric were produced. They were sometimes quite complex and multi-colored. About a century later, when paper became relatively affordable, Christian engravings began to be printed on it, and at the same time, playing cards. Paradoxically, the progress of printing served both holiness and vice.
However, the full history of book printing begins with the invention of the printing press. This honor belongs to the German artisan from the city of Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg, who in 1440 developed a method of repeatedly applying impressions to sheets of paper using movable type. Despite the fact that in subsequent centuries primacy in this field was attributed to other inventors, serious researchers have no reason to doubt that the emergence of book printing is associated precisely with his name.
The inventor and his investor
Gutenberg's invention consisted in the fact that he made letters from metal in their inverted (mirror) form, and then, having typed lines from them, made an impression on paper using a special press. Like most geniuses, Gutenberg had brilliant ideas, but lacked the funds to implement them.
To give life to his invention, the brilliant artisan was forced to seek help from a Mainz businessman named Johann Fust and enter into an agreement with him, by virtue of which he was obliged to finance future production, and for this he had the right to receive a certain percentage of the profits.
A companion who turned out to be a clever businessman
Despite the external primitiveness of the used technical means and the lack of qualified assistants, the inventor of the first printing press managed to produce a number of books in a short time, the most famous of which is the famous “Gutenberg Bible”, stored in the Mainz Museum.
But the way the world works is that in one person the gift of an inventor rarely coexists with the skills of a cold-blooded businessman. Very soon, Fust took advantage of the part of the profit that was not paid to him on time and, through the court, took control of the whole business. He became the sole owner of the printing house, and this explains the fact that for a long time the creation of the first printed book was mistakenly associated with his name.
Other candidates for the role of pioneer printers
As mentioned above, many peoples of Western Europe challenged Germany for the honor of being considered the founders of printing. In this regard, several names are mentioned, among which the most famous are Johann Mentelin from Strasbourg, who in 1458 managed to create a printing house similar to the one that Gutenberg had, as well as Pfister from Bamberg and the Dutchman Laurens Coster.
The Italians did not stand aside either, claiming that their compatriot Pamfilio Castaldi is the inventor of movable type, and that it was he who transferred his printing house to the German businessman Johann Fust. However, no serious evidence for such a claim was presented.
The beginning of book printing in Russia
And finally, let us dwell in more detail on how the history of book printing developed in Rus'. It is well known that the first printed book of the Moscow state is “The Apostle,” made in 1564 in the printing house of Ivan Fedorov and both of them were students of the Danish master Hans Missenheim, sent by the king at the request of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The book's afterword states that their printing house was founded in 1553.
According to researchers, the history of book printing in the Moscow state developed as a result of the urgent need to correct numerous errors that had crept into the texts of religious books, long years copied by hand. Inadvertently, and sometimes intentionally, the scribes introduced distortions, which became more and more frequent every year.
A church council held in Moscow in 1551, called the “Stoglavogo” (based on the number of chapters in its final resolution), issued a decree on the basis of which all handwritten books in which errors were noticed were withdrawn from use and subject to correction. However, often this practice only led to new distortions. It is quite clear that the solution to the problem could only be the widespread introduction of printed publications that would repeatedly reproduce the original text.
This problem was well known abroad, and therefore, in pursuit of commercial interests, many European countries, in particular, in Holland and Germany, they started printing books based on their sale among the Slavic peoples. This created favorable conditions for the subsequent creation of a number of domestic printing houses.
Russian book printing under Patriarch Job
A tangible impetus for the development of printing in Rus' was the establishment of the patriarchate in it. The first primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Job, who took the throne in 1589, from the first days began making efforts to provide the state with an adequate amount of spiritual literature. During his reign, the printing industry was headed by a master named Nevezha, who published fourteen different publications, which in their characteristic features were very close to the “Apostle”, which was printed by Ivan Fedorov.
The history of book printing of a later period is associated with the names of such masters as O. I. Radishchevsky-Volyntsev and A. F. Pskovitin. Their printing house produced a lot of not only spiritual literature, but also educational books, in particular, manuals on studying grammar and mastering reading skills.
Subsequent development of printing in Russia
A sharp decline in the development of printing occurred at the beginning of the 17th century and was caused by events associated with the Polish-Lithuanian intervention and called the Time of Troubles. Some of the masters were forced to interrupt their work, and the rest died or left Russia. Mass book printing resumed only after the accession to the throne of the first sovereign from the House of Romanov, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich.
Peter I did not remain indifferent to printing production. Having visited Amsterdam during his European voyage, he concluded an agreement with the Dutch merchant Jan Tessing, according to which he had the right to produce printed materials in Russian and bring them for sale to Arkhangelsk.
In addition, the sovereign ordered the production of a new civil font, which came into widespread use in 1708. Three years later, in St. Petersburg, which was preparing to become the capital of Russia, the largest printing house in the country was established, which later became the synodal one. From here, from the banks of the Neva, book printing spread throughout the country.
Inventor: Johannes Gutenberg
A country: Germany
Time of invention: 1440
The idea of printing books most likely came from stamps. Already in the 7th-8th centuries, fabric with embossed decorations was produced in Europe. When printing many repeating figures, stamps were used here. Medieval scribes in the 13th century also used stamps for initials (large decorated letters placed at the beginning of a paragraph).
The reason for this is clear - if the text was written relatively quickly, then drawing large initials took a lot of time. It was very convenient for the scribe to resort to a stamp, especially since in large manuscripts the same miniatures were repeated several times.
Impressions were widely used in the manufacture playing cards and cheap paintings (in particular, with images of saints). At first these engravings were only pictures, but then they began to be accompanied by several lines of text. From engravings there was only one step left to the production of books. Apparently 
the evolution here was the same. At first, only pictures were printed from the boards, and the text was written by hand. Then we moved on to cutting on the board (in reverse view) and text explaining the drawing. Later it came to cutting out one text without illustrations.
The first books printed in this way were small in volume (we would call them brochures) and were designed for a poor buyer who did not have enough money to buy a real book. However, the circulation of such cheap editions was apparently large enough to justify the initial cost of cutting the text onto the boards.
Among the first printed books was, for example, the “Bible of the Poor,” containing several dozen pages from the Old and New Testaments with pictures. Or the "Mirror of Human Salvation" with engravings depicting the Fall of Adam and Eve, as well as some excerpts from the New Testament relating to the salvation of the soul. The third book, which was very popular, was “The Life and Passion of Christ.” Along with these soul-saving works, small educational books were in circulation: the Latin grammar of Aelius Donatus, the grammar of Alexander Gall and others.
The technique for making all these first creations of printing was as follows. I took a rectangular one 
a plate of hard wood - walnut, pear or palm - about 2 cm thick. On it, after careful grinding and checking the correctness of the plane, a picture and text similar to a handwritten one were drawn or pasted on paper.
At first, they drew with rough strokes to make the work easier, but later the technique improved, and the drawings began to come out more beautiful and elegant. Then, with sharp ends and hard knives, they cut out all those parts that were not needed. As a result of this work, a convex pattern was obtained, lying entirely on one plane, which remained to be smeared with paint (it was a mixture of soot with vegetable oil, for example, drying oil).
The paint was applied using a tampon made of leather or strong, dense material stuffed with wool. A damp sheet (so that the paint would stick better) was placed on the surface covered with paint. When the sheet had accepted the entire design from the wooden block, it was carefully removed and hung to dry. Then they painted the board again, and the process was repeated. At first they printed only on one side of the sheet. Then the technique improved and both sides were used.
The cheapness of new books created a steady demand for them, and this led to more and more artisans turning to printing. Obviously, cutting the text onto the board was a time-consuming and painstaking task. In addition, each board could be used to print only one specific book. Many craftsmen who dealt with this difficult task probably had a thought: is it possible to speed up and simplify the printing process?
Meanwhile, there was only one way to make the work easier - creating movable letters that could serve for many years to type completely different books. This idea was first brought to life by Johannes Gutenberg. He was born in Mainz and came from an old noble family of Gonzfleisch. In 1420, Johann left Mainz, began to engage in crafts and took his mother's surname - Gutenberg. Around 1440, while living in Strasbourg, Gutenberg made his first printing press. In 1448 he returned to his native Mainz and devoted himself entirely to printing. He died in 1468.
Gutenberg himself carefully concealed the essence of his invention, so the path by which he came to it can only be restored speculatively. There is news that Gutenberg's first typesetting was made of wood. They claim that at the beginning of the 16th century they saw the remains of his first wooden type. Moreover, he made a hole in the body of each letter and tied the typed lines with a rope threaded through the holes.
However, wood is not a suitable material for cutting out individual small letters. In addition, it swells and dries - and individual words turn out to be unequal in height and width. This interfered with typing. Trying to overcome this shortcoming, Gutenberg apparently began to cut letters from soft metal - lead or tin. Obviously, soon (if not immediately) the idea came that the letters could be cast - it would be both faster and easier.
Ultimately, the process of making letters took the following form: from solid metal () punches (exact models) of all the letters used were cut out in mirror form. Then, hitting them with a hammer, 
received imprints of letters on a copper plate (matrix). The number of letters that were needed was cast in this mold. Such type could be used repeatedly, and for printing a wide variety of books. The cast letters were typed into a ruler with sides (layout), which was a finished line.
Gutenberg's first books were calendars and Donatus's grammar (he published 13 such editions in total). But in 1455, he ventured into a more difficult task - he published the first printed Bible with a total volume of 1286 pages (3,400,000 printed characters). In this edition, only the main text was typed in printing ink. The capital letters and designs were drawn by hand by the artist.
The printing method discovered by Gutenberg remained virtually unchanged until the end of the 18th century. Rarely has a discovery been as opportune as the invention of the printing press. The extent to which book printing met the urgent needs of mankind was shown in the first years after the discovery of the Gutenberg secret. Hundreds of printing houses, one after another, appeared in different cities of Europe.
By 1500, up to 30 thousand were produced throughout Europe. different names books. Trying to make their publications more attractive, the masters supplied their books with illustrations - first in black and white, and then in color (Gutenberg himself printed books without illustrations), and designed them with beautiful title pages.
In 1516, the Venetian artist Hugo da Carpi perfected the method of printing color illustrations. He decomposed the picture into several tones (usually 3-4), for each tone he made a separate board and cut out on it only those places that were to be imprinted on paper with these colors. First, places of one color were printed on a sheet, then another. Hugo da Carpi himself was an excellent copyist and printed copies of many paintings in this way, mainly by Raphael.
The texts were printed as follows. First, the typesetter typed the text from lead type. The lines, as already mentioned, were special rulers - typesetting tables. They were an oblong box, open at the top and on one side. When one row of the required length was typed, the typesetter aligned the line using a cap - reducing or increasing the spaces between words by removing or inserting spacing - thin pieces of cast metal without letters that had a certain width. After the layout was filled, it was placed on a typesetting board.
When the page was finished, the board was framed so that the letters would not fall apart. The printing press was a massive structure attached by beams to the floor and ceiling. Its main part was a press with a lever, under which there was a flat table - a thaler. This thaler was designed in such a way that it could be pulled out from under the press. A set of two or several pages (up to 32) was placed on a thaler, depending on the size.
Paint was applied to all convex parts of the set. To prevent the paper from slipping off the type when printing, a special device was used - a deckle equipped with two or three points (graphics). It was attached to the front of the thaler on hinges. Before printing began, the master took several sheets of paper (10-20), carefully aligned them along the edges and strung them onto graphics.
From above these sheets were covered with a frame (rashket), which was also attached to the deckle on hinges. The rashket covered the margins of the paper and the middle of the sheet, that is, all the parts that were supposed to remain clean. After this, the deckle was lowered onto the set, so that bottom sheet pressed tightly against the set. The thaler was moved under the press and, using a lever, the pian (top board) was pressed against the deckle.
Then the press was raised, the entire apparatus with paper was pulled out, the racket was raised and the printed sheet was removed from the graphics. In order to get a better print, the paper was lightly moistened with water. Therefore, the finished sheets were dried on a rope. After drying, an impression was made on the other side of the sheet. The sheets then went to the bookbinder.
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, composing them into text on a metal plate, and attaching them to the 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” appeared in Augsburg, another weekly newspaper published by Luca Schulte. 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 the Keere edition, dated December 2, 1620, was published 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 harmful influence artistic works. He became the first thinker to substantiate the need to combine the artist's 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. The 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.
One of the greatest achievements of the Middle Ages was printing. Let's find out who invented printing and try to trace the entire history of this process.
The history of the creation of printing technology is very long. The art of printing in China appeared long before the creation of the first book. In Chinese, the same hieroglyph denotes the seal that is placed on documents and, in general, any printed text. Already in the 3rd century. BC e. Chinese officials used seals to certify the authenticity of documents. The seals were first applied not to the documents themselves, but to soft clay. Later, the same seals began to be smeared with red ink and attached to documents.
Following this, they began to make impressions of texts carved on stone slabs Oh. The impressions were taken as follows: a moistened piece of thin paper was placed on a slab with a relief inscription and pressed by light tapping into the recesses of the hieroglyphs carved in the stone. After this, a ball of yarn moistened with ink was passed along the sheet. Applying only to convex places, the ink reproduced the exact impression of the copied text. This invention dates back to the 2nd century. n. e.
Although this method of printing became widespread and lasted for about 500 years, it was very inconvenient. But a new method of printing is associated with it - lithographic printing.
Book printing itself begins with the replacement of stone slabs with wooden boards. It is not known which of the Chinese first came up with this idea. But it is this man who should be considered the inventor of printing.
However, this invention was preceded by many others. For printing, you first need paper, as well as special paint (ink). This paint appeared in the 4th or 5th century. n. e. An inventor named Wei Tang obtained it from soot produced in lamps. When printing from wooden boards, this paint made it possible to obtain clear and clean prints and almost did not wash off.
The technique of printing from boards was as follows: text was engraved on a wooden board in a mirror image; the prominent characters were smeared with ink using a special brush, and then covered with a sheet of paper, on which a whole page was printed in a direct image. The earliest record of this method of printing dates back to 836, and the oldest book printed from boards discovered is dated April 15, 868 - it was the Prajna Sutra. However, it is likely that books printed from wooden boards appeared in the first half of the 8th century. At the same time, in the then capital of China, the city of Xi'an, a government newsletter began to be published - the world's first printed newspaper.
The first books were of a religious nature and were a paper scroll several meters long. It was not very convenient to use them. Therefore, there was a search for other forms of books. In the 10th century a book appeared in the form of a strip of paper, folded like an accordion. The text in them was printed on only one side of each sheet. The oldest accordion book dates back to 949.
Following the accordion book came the “butterfly” book. In it, the sheets of paper were folded in half and glued at the fold to the spine of the book. Pages with text alternated with blank pages. Later, sheets with text still printed on one side of the sheet were folded in half and stitched at the spine on the side opposite the fold line. Books were published in this form in China until the 10th century. In the 9th century. In China, books for schools began to be printed from blackboards - these were the world's first printed textbooks. And around 900, the first printed encyclopedia was published in the same area, several pages of which have survived to this day.
The technique of printing books from wooden boards is called xylogravure, that is, wood engraving (“xylo” means “wood” in ancient Greek). Her invention was undoubtedly a big step forward towards improving the printing industry. But over time, it became clear that this method was too expensive. After printing, the printing board could be useful again only when reprinting the book. The printing of each new book began with the labor-intensive and expensive work of making new boards, which were immediately thrown away after the prints were taken.
This problem led to the appearance of collapsible type, which was invented by the Chinese Bi Sheng in 1041-1048. Bi Sheng made the typographic font from clay. Each clay letter depicted a specific hieroglyph. He burned these letters on fire. When printing, hieroglyphic letters were fixed in rows on an iron form in cells into which resin, rosin or wax were previously poured. The reinforced letters were aligned, Bi Sheng laid an evenly planed board flat on the form, and after this metal mold cooled down, the letters, glued with already hardened resin, sat in it quite firmly. Ink was applied to the form, the whole thing was covered with a sheet of paper, and the page print was ready.
Having received required quantity impressions, Bi Sheng disassembled the type, for which he again heated the mold, and when the resin melted, the type crumbled, freeing up the letters for the next text.
After Bi Sheng, they learned how to make type not only from clay, but also from tin, and then from wood.
In 1314, an educated official named Wang Zhen used to print his own book about agriculture movable wooden type invented by him. The text was applied to the printing board in the same way as was done with woodblock printing. Then the board was sawn into finished blocks - letters, which were classified according to the cells of the typesetting cash register, designed in the form of a rotating round table. Each hieroglyph was numbered, one typist called the number loudly, and the second, rotating the cash register, selected the desired character. The typed text was entered into wooden frame, and bamboo slats were inserted between the lines, compressing the hieroglyphs and lines, and also fastening the strip of typed text. After this, the strip was once again compared with the manuscript, and already then an impression was made, that is, the text was printed.
In the 15th century Koreans have greatly advanced the art of printing. They came up with a metal (bronze; font that was made by casting. The creation of a cast metal font was a direct continuation of the work of Bi Sheng, whose invention was well known in Korea. In China itself, copper type was used a little later, in 1488. At the same time At the time, the Chinese began to experiment with lead movable letters" -
And one more important innovation cannot be ignored. In 1107, the world's first paper money was printed in Sichuan province. They had three colors: green, red and indigo, and were printed from wooden boards, and then large red seals were placed on them. The Italian traveler Marco Polo said: “None of the subjects dares not accept them on pain of death. All subjects willingly accept these pieces of paper as payment, because wherever they go, they pay for everything with pieces of paper: for goods, for pearls, for precious stones, for gold and silver. You can buy everything with pieces of paper and pay for everything with them.”
The Europeans, however, did not then adopt from the Chinese paper money and for a long time they continued to use metal ones, which merchants had to carry with them in whole bags.
