The History of Paper and its Relevancy in The Modern World
The Early History of Book Publishing in Relation to Paper Printing
Early Modern Europe and The History of Book Publishing
Image is of Augestine canon regulars and was retrieved from “Canons Regular's Spirituality.” Canons Regular of St. Augustine of the Congregation of the Most Holy Savior at the Lateran, https://chanoines-du-latran.com/canons-regulars-spirituality/.
It is in 1441 that Wilhelm von Velde of Frankenthal, a canon regular of the Augestinian church is quoted for having said “An astonishing number of books was made in our lifetime, and new ones are being added every day. Not only are they produced by teacher’s dictation and by hand-writing as in the past, but also by printing, which is an astonish-ing new art. Printing has begun in our times and is getting quicker every day,” (Costas). The boom in book printing was probably boosted by the invention of the printing press in 1436. The printer was invented by Johann Gutenberg, “He developed and refined a mechanical way to mass-produce books. Before Gutenberg, few books were printed, mostly by hand,” (“Gutenberg Invents Printing Press c. 1450”) by monasteries. This was able to quicken the printing process, making book production a significantly faster process.
Much of the book publishing in early Europe was for religious and educational purposes. As mentioned in the history, many of the early publishers were monasteries who were publishing biblical or religious materials, but there was also a desire for textbooks and teaching materials. “Perugia, for example, had a particularly lively market for learned books that lasted from the early days of printing right into the seventeenth cen-tury,” (Costas).
One of the more popular textbook writers during the mid to late fourteen hundreds was Francesco Maturanzio, who was published across Europe, “He also had a local reputation that ensured that his Latin textbooks would be reprinted at Perugia for three centuries,” (Costas).
While education was of growing importance, literacy was a symbol of wealth. “Local labourers were totally illiterate in the 1590s and only 4 per cent literate by the 1640s,” (Costas) which meant that while book publishing is considered to have been high at the time, the ownership of books only benefitted a fraction of the population.
By the mid sixteen hundreds the demand for printed books increased as educational curricula entered a new age of learning and put a focus on the study of Latin and Greek literature. The earliest purchase of a book for a school was not recorded until 1627-1628 when a dictionary was bought for the Free School for one pound (Costas).
The History of Modern Book Publishing (1544-Present)
The image is of multiple Chapbooks and was retrieved from “What Are Chapbooks and Why You Should Read Them.” Daily Times, 12 July 2019, https://dailytimes.com.pk/428483/what-are-chapbooks-and-why-you-should-read-them.
Book printing continued to spread across Europe, and in to the Americas with the first print shop in the Americas opening in Mexico City in 1544. Additionally, while a printing press was on route from Portugal to Abyssinia, the ship was halted in India and instead of continuing its journey, the printing press set up shop there (“History of Book Printing”) creating a printing industry in India.
Following this, North America adopted Gutenberg-esque printing practices when a Cherokee Indigenous person by the name of Elias Boudinot, published a newspaper for their tribe, the Cherokee Phoenix, in 1828 (“History of Book Printing”).
While language textbooks were commonplace in early Europe, the first language textbook in Japan was printed in 1873 (“Collection”).
By the 19th century, the printing press had travelled to several pacific islands including Tahiti, and Hawaii. By this time, however, they were already becoming outdated with the introduction of steam powdered and rotary press, “The introduction of steam printing presses, followed by new steam paper mills, constituted the two most major innovations. Together, they caused the price of book production to fall and the rate of book production to increase considerably,” (“History of Book Printing”).
Book production hit a decline during world wars one and two, due to a lack of paper, but quickly picked up following both of them. In the 1930s Allen Lane of Penguin in Great Britain had wanted to publish a line of paperback books with good typography, which lead to the uptick of paperback books published in the 1950s, (“Lenman, and Marsden”).
Eventually innovations were made allowing the individual person to write and print themselves including typewriters, computers, at-home printers. With the ability to create and print, new forms of books started to rise including zines and chapbooks. Chapbooks are small books, often created by printing out, and then folding/binding regular print paper. “They give voice to writers who need it and are an outlet for readers who seek something off the beaten path,” (“What Are Chapbooks and Why You Should Read Them”). The last particular quote feels incredibly important in to context of public history, as it allows for a people of various backgrounds to create ‘history’ without being gatekept.