Movable type helped bring books to the masses
Books came about when ancient Chinese artists laid sheets of paper over graphite-covered stone that was carved with Confucian texts.
Confucius was a Chinese philosopher who encouraged strong family bonds and respect for others. Long after he died, his philosophy was still greatly admired, and artists spread his ideas by printing them on paper or fabric and making the prints available. To make the process simpler, they substituted carved woodblocks for stone. Examples date to AD 200.
A few hundred years later, devout Korean followers of Gautama Buddha printed religious teachings on paper scrolls. Special blessings were conveyed to those who funded the scrolls and to the scroll printers. The earliest scroll book from AD 868 is inked with the printer's name, donor's name, print date and a dedication.
Chicago's Field Museum displays an example of an 1800s Tibetan Buddhist woodblock scroll.
A new chapter in the story of printing was the invention of movable type. Carved woodblocks could only be reused and inked so many times. But bronze casts of individual characters could last indefinitely. Printers could line up the bronze casts to form words, sentences and phrases. This is called movable type.
In 1377, Korean printers fashioned the first printed book, "Jikji," using movable type. This original is stored at the National Library in France.
About 80 years later, a German inventor, Johannes Gutenberg, combined two existing technologies - a wine press and movable type - to mass print books.
Letters were created using a metal alloy. The letters were arranged within a large frame to spell words and form sentences, paragraphs and book chapters. The frames were inked and paper placed inside the press. The press was tightened and evenly kneaded the paper.
Gutenberg's printing press fueled a revolution that brought books to the masses, sparking literacy and new ideas that are credited with sweeping cultural changes in Europe. Gutenberg's first title was the Bible. Scholars think between 160 and 180 Gutenberg Bibles were printed in 1455. Only 49 copies survive from the original printing, and only 23 of those are complete.
Rare books, such as the Gutenberg Bible, are tucked onto library shelves in special humidity-controlled display cases and in archives. The rare books room at Chicago's Pritzker Military Museum & Library has 3,000 titles and is open to the public.
The oldest among the library's 54,143 titles dates to 1650. Called De Bello Belgico, it describes territorial issues in the Netherlands that affected nobles in England, France and Spain. Teri Embrey, chief librarian, said the book's author was a well-known Italian Jesuit scholar.
The fourth-floor vault at the Newberry, a 100-plus-year-old independent research library also in Chicago, shelters ancient papers and books. Two, in particular, are extremely rare. The first, from the year 0, is a papyrus fragment hand etched with 14 lines from Homer's Iliad using Greek letters.
Another is a woodblock-printed single sheet Buddhist scripture from AD 770. This printed sheet fits into a specially-made wooden pagoda, also in the Newberry's vault. Japanese Empress Shotoku ordered artists to construct 1 million wooden pagodas to house charms - sheets printed with Buddhist prayers.
A pagoda, a spire that seals the peak so the scripture can nestle safely inside, the printed sheet and a protective box, are searchable in the Newberry catalog.
Check it out
Check it out
Book titles about book printing:
• "Book (Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Books)" by Karen Brookfield and Laurence Pordes
• "The Book: The Life Story of a Technology" by Nicole Howard
• "The Printing Press as an Agent of Change" by Elizabeth L. Eisenstein