Printing and Its History

Printing & Its History

By dipping the plate in ink and pressing it against the paper, it is possible to easily and quickly create several patterns on the reverse side of the plate. This work is called printing; for example, let's say you want to make a woodcut printed New Year's card. Draw a picture the size of a postcard, put it on a board, and carve it with a carving knife, leaving an area where the ink will stick. A woodblock print will be completed if you apply ink to this plate and press it against the paper. In this case, the work of making the first drawing is the manuscript, the plate is called plate making, and the work of applying ink and pressing the paper is called printing in a narrow sense.

In the case of woodblock printing, paper is placed on the block and printed by rubbing from the back side of the paper, but other printing methods use machines. This machine is called a printing press; its primary job is to press the paper firmly against the plate. Since the pressing work is the press, the printing machine is also called the press, and the industry, such as printing, publishing, newspaper, and journalism, came to be called the press. Pressing requires a sturdy machine, so a printing method that does not use pressure was also considered. There is pressure-less printing that uses electronic power. Inkjet printing also uses electronic control to make fine ink particles and spray them on paper, and on-demand printing supplies ink each time it prints. The printing speed is fast. Since these require special ink, applying appropriate pressure for printing is generally used.

In addition to this kind of plate-less printing method, photography, an old technology, is similar to printing in that it creates multiple copies of the same image. What is produced by photography is a colour film and colour prints, and the final materials such as film and photographic paper are gimmicked, and there is no "plate" used in printing. The process also differs significantly from printing in that it uses a material that changes with the light, a photosensitive material. However, from around 1950 onwards, printing technology came to be used as a general term for technologies that process information perceived by the human eye in various ways, send it to a distant place, and recreate it in the form of new images. Printing is also one of the printing engineerings, and it can be said that it is an effective means that has been practised for a long time.

 

In this way, the job of printing is to start with a manuscript (whether it be letters, pictures, or photographs) and then produce as many copies as possible, cheaply, quickly, and of good quality. Because many people see it this way, the power or influence of printing is excellent. Also, it is generally considered to be more reliable when it is printed in neat type than when it is handwritten. And since it can be preserved semi-permanently on good quality paper, it is also an excellent method for recording. The original definition of printing is to make a plate from an original, apply printing ink to it, and press it onto paper to make many copies of the same pattern (including letters). Ink can also be transferred to the printer, significantly increasing the range of printed materials. In addition, characters and images are output on paper using a printer to improve visibility. This output is also called printing for convenience, and the concept of printing has spread.

History of Printing

Pre-printing

Around 3000 B.C., people in Mesopotamia and Egypt carved letters and pictures into small cylindrical stones and rolled them onto soft clay slabs to create patterns. In the days when there was no paper, characters were inscribed on stone, China clay, metal, wood, and bamboo. Now transcribed on papyrus scrolls. In addition, sheepskin was used as material for writing. However, during the Later Han dynasty in China (around 105), Cai Lun invented paper similar to what is used today. It is said. The manufacturing method of this paper was introduced in Japan by Doncho of Goguryeo during Emperor Suiko (610) and is believed to have spread. On the other hand, Chinese paper-making methods were transferred to factories in Central Asia around 751 by soldiers of the Tang army who were captured by the Saracen army and then spread to the West around the 13th century.

The oldest thing whose era name is known worldwide is the Japanese "Hyakuman Todarani," printed in 770 (Houki 1). During the era of Emperor Shotoku, when the rebellion of Emi no Oshikatsu was suppressed, one million wooden towers (approximately 20 centimetres in height) were built, and dharani (in Sanskrit) was placed inside. It contains transcriptions of Dharani dhāra ) and was dedicated to ten significant temples throughout the country. Dharani is about 5 cm wide and 40 cm long, with four types. Since ancient times, there has been debate about whether woodblocks or copperplates should be used as the material for the plates, and there is no established theory. However, his achievements in printing hundreds of thousands of copies at the time are highly regarded. In addition, various sutra printed materials from the same period or even earlier have been found in China and Korea.

Invention of typography

On the other hand, in the West, woodblock printing of religious paintings was carried out from the 14th century to the beginning of the 15th century. In this way, the era demanded many printed materials, but the printing press was invented around 1445 by Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz, Germany. As far as printing type is concerned, there is a record that the Chinese dynasty, Hissho, made glue type in the 1040s, and the Goryeo Dynasty made copper type around 1230. There is also a theory that Gutenberg was inspired by Marco Polo's presentation of such advanced oriental affairs and compiled the art of typography. Gutenberg created type with a ternary lead alloy (lead, tin, and antimony), which is still in use today, albeit in a small amount, and created a machine that applied intense pressure to print based on grape press machines. He is said to be the founder of the art of printing because of his outstanding achievements, such as oil-based ink and the creation of excellent printed matter using his invention of the letterpress. Originally a goldsmith, he is thought to have been skilled in mechanical technology, but it is unclear what inspired him to invent the art of printing. At the time, however, demand for woodblock printing of Latin grammars was high, and there was no doubt that an efficient printing method was in demand. Since engraving woodblocks requires much labor, typography brought about a major innovation by creating individual types in advance and combining them as needed. Letterpress printing is said to be one of the three great inventions of the Renaissance, along with gunpowder and the compass.

 

Gutenberg first printed the Latin grammar book Donatus and the Bible, especially the Thirty-six Line Bible, which he started with Peter Schöffer (1430? - 1502) continued to publish the 42-line Bible, a beautiful printed matter, of which only a small number remain today. At that time, he used the handwriting typeface of the time, and it is said that the finished book was sold as a manuscript copy, with the secret that it was a printed book. Perhaps it was because he feared the opposition of the clergy with whom he was copying. In this way, Gutenberg produced printed books by inventing the printing press, but he did not make a profit, he incurred debts, and he handed over the factory to his creditor Johann Fust 

and his son-in-law Scheffer. However, they got another collaborator, and they would create works separately for more than ten years. In 1462, the factory was burned down by the fire in Mainz, and the workers scattered all over the country and opened a printing shop. In the 50 years since its invention, over 1,000 printing houses are said to have opened in Europe. Among them, Nicolas Jenson (around 1420-1480) in Italy designed the Roman typeface, which is still widely used today, and Aldus Manutius (1450 -1515) designed the italic typeface. Designed. In addition, Printemps Christopher Plantin (1514-1589) of Belgium (the Netherlands at that time), the Etienne Estienne family of France, and Caxton of England laid the foundations of typeface design and typography.

 

The invention of automatic type casting the machine

Gutenberg invented a method of making lead type, in which a molten lead alloy was poured between a matrix and a mould in which characters were engraved. This was a hand-cranked type, and the type finishing was done by hand. The method of picking up type one by one and making it into a printing plate was inefficient, and a mechanization method was considered. However, an automatic type casting machine was completed at the end of the 19th century. Around 1886, the linotype Linotype was invented in America. The inventor was Ottmar Mergenthaler (1854-1899), who gathered the required matrix for one row and poured lead into it. It is called a linotype, which means a line because it is composed of one line at a time. At the same time, Tolbert Lanston (1844-1913) invented the Monotype in America. This was called the 'monotype because the type was cast one by one and arranged automatically. The linotype had a single machine that casts a line by hitting the keys of the alphabet, while the monotype had separate machines for the keyboard and the casting part. A keyboard is used to pierce a letter code on a piece of tape. When this is run through a casting machine, lead is poured into the corresponding matrix according to the code, and each letter is produced and ejected for typesetting. These two types of automatic typesetting machines were widely used worldwide but were gradually replaced by computerized typesetting machines (CTS) starting in the 1970s.

Development of the printing press

The printing press remained unchanged for about 350 years, except for the screw on the Gutenberg machine, which changed from wood to metal. In 1800, Stanhope of England built an iron printing press. This mechanism used a very clever lever, and when the handle was pulled with a slight amount of force, it rotated the spiral bar, lowering the plate and providing intense pressure for printing. The Dutch government gave this type of machine to the 12th Tokugawa shogun, Ieyoshi, in 1850. The Bansho Shirabesho, a Western studies research institute established by the Edo Shogunate, used this machine to print "Warren (Netherlands) Military Achievement Bidan" in 1857 (Ansei 4). When the standup press was first invented, it was used to print the London Times and other publications, but it could only print 200 or 300 pages per hour.

 

At that time, Napoleon was active in Europe, and there was much news about the battlefields, and newspaper circulation was increasing, so a high-speed printing press was in demand. German Friedrich König painstakingly invented a pressing cylinder type printing press (circular pressure printing press) (1814). added. At that time, the Times was using three Stanup presses, and 12 people were working on printing 8,000 copies of a two-page newspaper overnight. Did it. Circular presses gradually became faster, and in 1892, a device was invented that automatically fed paper into the press.

 

Further progressing from König's printing press, a rotary press was invented in which the plate was made into a cylinder, and the Web was passed between it and the press cylinder. Rice field. It was challenging to put the type on the cylindrical surface of this rotary press. However, with the American Civil War (1861-1865) as a turning point, research into the practical use of the paper-type lead plate method increased the number of rotary presses. Speed ​​increased. In 1862, a rotary press capable of printing four pages per revolution was put into practical use in London. In France, Marinoni's rotary presses are famous, and this was the first rotary press imported by Japan in 1890 (Meiji 23) for printing the official gazette. After that, newspaper companies imported this type one after another, and Tokyo Kikai Seisakusho began to manufacture its high-speed rotary press by improving it. It boasted the performance of printing 150,000 copies of a four-page newspaper per hour. (around 1933). This is based on the demand for several million copies of Japanese national newspapers. There were no examples of such many daily newspapers published in other countries then and now. Since the 1970s, the printing method of newspapers in each country has shifted from letterpress to offset printing. This is related to the shift of typesetting from printing to computerized typesetting (CTS).

 

The invention of lithographic printing

The first lithograph, the lithograph, was invented in 1798 by the German Senefelder. While experimenting with making relief plates from a type of marble I had on hand, I discovered that the surface of this stone was porous and did not dry out for a long time after being wiped with water and that the dry surface was greasy. We discovered that it becomes a special substance that repels water when combined with ink. This is lithography, and in Europe, it was called poster printing or lithograph and was welcomed as a printing art. Among them, instead of lithographic stone, a zinc plate or aluminum plate with fine unevenness on the surface, so-called grained material, was used as a plate. Because it can be wrapped around a cylinder, it can be used in rotary printing, such as wrapping paper for cigarettes and used for printing.

 

American Rubel Ira Washington Rubel (1846-1908) invented the offset printing method by creating the indirect printing machine that prints on a rubber cloth and then transfers the ink to the paper instead of transferring the ink from the plate to the paper. This method makes the plates inexpensive, high-quality paper is not required, and high-speed printing is possible. Furthermore, in the 1970s, P.S. plates (lithographic plates coated with photosensitive liquid in advance by a presensitized plate manufacturer) became popular, and automatic processors became common, shortening the time required for photoengraving. The printing of all characters also became popular. Offset printing presses that use web paper are offset rotary presses (off-wheel presses) and are used for printing large-volume magazines and newspapers.

 

Development of intaglio printing

After Daguerre of France invented silver plate photography in 1837, various photographic methods were devised. In addition, the so-called photolithography method was established. Regarding the intaglio method, around 1460, Maso Finiguera (1426-1464) of Italy introduced a new approach to engraving intaglio technology; Rembrandt and others of the Netherlands created prints as artistic etchings. Karl Klietsch (or Klič) (1841-1926) of the Czech Republic applied photographic printing to create a powdered photographic intaglio. After that, gravure using a screen was also considered. It is widely used for high-speed, high-volume printing of photographs and printing on materials other than paper using solvent-based inks. Especially in Europe, it was welcomed by the printing of weekly magazines.

 

Printing in Today's World

As well as aiding set off this Renaissance, print has impacted the world by going about as a beginning stage for other innovative headways. Composing probably was brought into the world from it, and subsequently, the innovation of typewriters, P.C.s and even iPads, online journals, the Web, and email appeared.

Since 2015, we have underestimated the capacity to print. Many individuals have gotten some distance from printed materials like papers or letters, choosing electronic renditions. Simultaneously, a few of us perceive print as a staggeringly effective medium that cannot be sworn entirely off for a cell phone. Today it may be so natural to get to print that we have gotten to where we figure we do not require it. Take one minute to consider where we would be had Gutenberg's press never happened as expected.