Weblog
A Brief History of the Printing Industry
Many scholars refer to the printing press as the single most important invention of the Middle Ages. The printed word is the basis for all quick and efficient communication between human beings. Print development gave way to an explosion of cultural and societal power and freedom; as ideas and thoughts were recorded and passed on. In fact, there is much argument suggesting pivotal turning points in history would not have occurred without the ability to mass-produce words in print. What follows is a general time line detailing the development of print and how this ingenuous invention changed the way people see the world.
7th century – 13th century: Prior to the creation of the printing press, manuscripts were transcribed by hand, mostly for the purpose of religious worship.
13th century – 15th century: In this time period, manuscripts became secularized. The focus was no longer on piety, but rather on passing along knowledge of the observable world.
- Unfortunately access to books was not readily available at this time. In order to balance out the demand, universities implemented stationers which housed books. Students could come to these stationers to copy books by hand, or pay book copiers to copy books for them. (A stark difference from the easy online custom printing access we enjoy today.)
- Although many before him were making discoveries with movable type, Gutenberg was the first to make type from an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony, which produced the most durable high-quality print.
15th century – 16th century: The first printed books were created. These were very traditional works, such as the Bible and other prayer books, as well as religious calendars.
- 1501: By this time, there were 1,00 printing shops in Europe, which produced 35,000 book titles and 20 million book copies.
1796: Lithography was invented by Bavarian author Aloys Senefelder. This was a method for printing on a smooth surface using a chemical process to create an image.
1818: Senefelder introduced colored lithography, known as chromolithography, the first method for making true full color fine art printing.
1907: Samuel Simon took out patents on his concepts for screen-printing, which had its origins in stenciling, most notably derived from the Japanese.
1960s: Xerox introduced Xerographic office photocopying, which gradually replaced copies made by Verifax, Photostat, carbon paper, mimeograph machines, and other duplicating machines over succeeding 20 years.
1969: The laser printer was invented at Xerox by researcher Gary Starkweather. The idea was based on a modified xerographic copier, and became a multibillion-dollar business for Xerox.
1970: Creation of the Dot Matrix printer, a computer printer with a print head that runs back and forth on the page and prints by impact.
1979: Thermal inkjet printing (or giclee printing) was invented in HP Laboratories.
1993: Digital C Printing came about. This was the first reproduction of digital images on a physical surface (common or photographic paper, film, cloth, plastic, etc.)
Life Magazine referred to the printing press as, “the greatest invention in the last 1000 years.” The creation of movable type had an extreme impact on the social, political, and scientific evolution of Europe. Gutenberg’s movable type printing press provided the foundation for the printed word, and remained as the principal means of printing until the late 20th century. While, today we are accustomed to receiving quick full color digital c printing, and other online custom printing services, with the click of a button, we have traveled quite a distance to get here.
Filed under: Uncategorized, Education, Technology, Digital C Print on January 30th, 2008