WHY THE PRINTING INDUSTRY DEVELOPED

People have always needed to communicate with other people. By learning to write and communicate graphically, our ancestors overcame a major limitation in spoken communication - the need for direct contact between people.

However, there were important problems to overcome before our ancestors could make maximum use of the graphic communication process. For example, materials for writing and printing had to be invented and developed. Then ways had to be found to reproduce many copies of a message. Because of their need to communicate efficiency, our ancestors learned how to solve each problem. As they did, the printing industry grew.

HOW PRINTING DEVELOPED

Our ancestors developed a variety of techniques for reproducing many copies of a graphic message. Printing is the terms that describes these techniques.

In its earliest form, printing was done from hand-carved wooden blocks. The complete message was cut in reverse into the block. Then the block was inked and pressed against the material to be printed. This is called relief printing.

A major limitation of wood block printing is that each new message requires carving a new block of wood, and carving is a slow and tedious process. This limitation was overcome with the invention of movable type.

Movable type consists of individual letters of the alphabet that can be assembled to produce a printed message, disassembled and then assembled again to form a new message. Movable type characters made from hardened clay were used in China as early as 1041 A.D. By the middle of the thirteenth century, Koreans were casting type in bronze.

In 1439 Johann Gutenberg became the first European to print from movable type. It is not know weather he invented the process on his own or if he was aware of the developments that had occurred in the Orient. Not only did Gutenberg print from movable type, but, even more important, he developed a practical means of casting type. The famous Gutenberg Bible is one of the earliest books printed from movable type in the West.

Early printing was done on hand-operated wooden presses. The printing of 250 sheets of paper in Gutenberg's time was considered a full day's work. By the middle of the seventeenth century, 2000 sheets a day could be printed. Today high-speed presses can print more than ten thousands of sheets in a single hour.

The first printing press in America was set up in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1639. Steven Daye, the first American printer, operated this press. His first book, the Whole Booke of Psalmes was printed in 1640.Typesetting, printing and binding of the 1700 copies of this 300-page book almost a full year to complete.

The most famous American printer was Benjamin Franklin. Franklin established his own printing business in Philadelphia in 1728.

His most notable publications included the Pennsylvania Gazeete, a leading colonial newspaper, and poor Richard's Almanack, issued in 1732.

Developments in the last 100 years have revolutionized the printing industry. Printing has changed from an art to a science, from a craft to a technology. But the development of printing is not over yet. New materials, machines, and methods are constantly being invented in order to satisfy man's need to communicate.

HOW PAPER DEVELOPED

Ts'ai Lun, a Chinese court official, is credited with the invention of paper. He did this nearly 1900 years ago in the year 105 A.D.

Before the invention of paper, people wrote on a variety of materials. For example, animal skins called parchment and vellum were used by the ancient Greeks. And papyrus, a writing surface made by pounding a woven mat of papyrus reed into a thin, hard sheet was used by the ancient Egyptians. The world paper, in fact, is derived from word papyrus.

In the tenth century A.D. techniques for making paper by hand were introduced to the Western world. North African Moors discovered papermaking trading with the East. In conquering Spain, the Moors brought papermaking to the West.

The first paper mill in America was established in 1690 by William Rittenhouse. It was located near Philadelphia. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, hundreds of paper mills had sprung up throughout the country. However, it was not until the middle of the nineteenth century, when papermaking machines were put into general use, that the urgent demand for inexpensive paper could be met. Today, an average of well over 400 pounds of paper per man, woman, and child is used each year in the industrial developed countries.

HOW INK DEVELOPED

Printing ink was also invented in China. Wei Dan is credited with developing an ink for block printing about 400 A.D. He made ink from plant substances mixed with colored earth and soot.

By the time of Gutenberg, inks were being made by mixing varnish with lampblack. The varnish was made by boiling linseed oil. These inks were used, with little modification, until the end of the eighteenth century.

During the nineteenth century, advances were made in the use of driers to speed the drying of ink. Various new pigments for producing colored inks were also developed.