Printing

2008-09-09T22:38:00.000-07:00

Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing.

Woodblock printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns that was used widely throughout East Asia. It originated in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later on paper. As a method of printing on cloth, the earliest surviving examples from China date to before 220, and from Egypt to the 4th century.

By 593 A.D., the first printing press was invented in China, and the first printed newspaper was available in Beijing in 700 A.D. It was a woodblock printing. And the Diamond Sutra, the earliest known complete woodblock printed book with illustrations was printed in China in 868 A.D. And Chinese printer Bi Sheng invented movable type in 1041 A.D. in China [1]. Sheng used clay type, which broke easily, but Wang Zhen later carved a more durable type from wood by 1298 AD, and developed a complex system of revolving tables and number-association with written Chinese characters that made typesetting and printing more efficient.
The transition from wood type to metal type occurred during the Goryeo Dynasty of Korea and is credited to Choe Yun-ui (최윤의). Records indicate that by 1234, books were being printed in Korea with movable metal type, though the earliest surviving text is from 1377. In China metal movable type was not pioneered until the work of the printer Hua Sui in 1490 AD. Movable type was widely used in China in both wooden and metal type printing, yet the European-style printing press introduced to China in relatively recent times greatly increased the efficiency and speed of printing.
East Asian printing technology may possibly have diffused into Europe through the trade routes from China through India or the Arabic world. There is no actual evidence that Gutenberg may have known of the Korean processes for movable type. However, some authors admit this possibility,[2] and argue that movable metal type had been an active enterprise in Korea since 1234 and there was communication between West and East.

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Printing