Printing

From top to bottom, left to right: cylinder seal of a scene, block used for woodblock printing, movable type, printing press, lithograph press, offset press used for modern lithographic printing, linotype machine for hot metal typesetting, digital printer, 3D printer in action.

Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The earliest known form of printing evolved from ink rubbings made on paper or cloth from texts on stone tablets, used during the sixth century.[1][a] Printing by pressing an inked image onto paper (using woodblock printing) appeared later that century.[3] Later developments in printing technology include the movable type invented by Bi Sheng around 1040 AD[4][5] and the printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century. The technology of printing played a key role in the development of the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution and laid the material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy and the spread of learning to the masses.[6]

  1. ^ Tsien 1985, p. 8.
  2. ^ Tsien 1985, p. 146.
  3. ^ Suarez, Michael F.; Woudhuysen, H. R., eds. (2013). The Book: A Global History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 574–576. ISBN 9780191668746.
  4. ^ Needham, Joseph; Tsien, Tsuen-hsuin, eds. (2001) [1985]. Science and civilisation in China: Paper and printing. Vol. V:1 (Reprint ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 159, 201–205. ISBN 978-0-521-08690-5. At the present time, the only known authoritative account of the invention of movable type by a commoner named Pi Sheng (c. 990–1051) is the contemporary record of Shen Kua (1031–[1095]) [...] Although the process went into eclipse after its inception, it was a complete invention and fully four hundred years ahead of Gutenberg.
  5. ^ "Great Chinese Inventions". Minnesota-china.com. Archived from the original on December 3, 2010. Retrieved July 29, 2010.
  6. ^ Rees, Fran. Johannes Gutenberg: Inventor of the Printing Press Archived April 6, 2023, at the Wayback Machine


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