History of printing. The inventor of the first printing press. Creating the first printed book

Modern life can not be imagined without the invention that the simple German artisan Johann Gutenberg presented to the world . The printing press, the founder of which he became, changed the course of world history to such an extent, which is rightly attributed to the greatest achievements of civilization. His merit is so great that those who for many centuries before created the basis for the future discovery are undeservedly forgotten.

Print from a wooden board

The history of book printing originates in China, where in the III century the technique of so-called piece printing - an imprint on textiles, and later on paper of various drawings and short texts cut out on a wooden board - was introduced. This method was called woodcuts and from China quickly spread throughout East Asia.

It should be noted that printed engravings appeared much earlier than books. Up to now, individual samples have been made, which were already made in the first half of the third century, when representatives of the Han dynasty ruled in China. In the same period, there appeared a technique of three-color printing on silk and paper.

The first xylogical book

The researchers attributed the creation of the first printed book to the year 868 - it is this date that stands at the earliest edition, made in the technique of woodcuts. It appeared in China and was a collection of religious and philosophical texts, entitled "Diamond Sutra." During the excavation of the Köngei temple in Korea, a sample of a printed product was made, almost a century earlier, but, due to some features, it is more likely to be an amulet than a book.

In the Middle East, the piece seal, that is, as mentioned above, made from the board on which the text or picture was cut out, came into use in the middle of the IV century. Woodblock, called "tarsh" in Arabic, became widespread in Egypt and reached its heyday by the beginning of the 10th century.

This method was used mainly for printing texts of prayers and making written amulets. A characteristic feature of Egyptian woodcuts is the use for prints of not only wooden boards, but also made of tin, lead and burnt clay.

Appearance of moving type

However, no matter how sophisticated piece-printing technology was developed, its main drawback was the need for each next page to re-cut all the text. A breakthrough in this direction, thanks to which the history of printing received a significant boost, also occurred in China.

According to Shen Ko, an outstanding scientist and historian of the past centuries, the Chinese master Bi Shen, who lived between 990 and 1051, came up with the idea to make movable letters from burnt clay and place them in a special frame. This allowed you to type from them a certain text, and after printing the required number of copies scattered and re-used in other combinations. So the mobile font, which was used up to the present day, was invented.

However, this brilliant idea, which became the basis of the whole future of printing, did not receive proper development at that time. This is explained by the fact that in the Chinese language there are several thousand hieroglyphs, and the production of such a font seemed too difficult.

Meanwhile, considering all the stages of printing, it should be recognized that for the first time non-Europeans used the type letters. Known surviving to this day the only book of religious texts, made in 1377 in Korea. As the researchers established, it was printed using mobile font technology.

European inventor of the first printing press

In Christian Europe, the technique of piece printing appeared around 1300. On its basis, all sorts of religious images were made, made on fabric. They were often quite complex and multicolored. About a century later, when the paper became relatively affordable, Christian engravings began to be printed on it, and simultaneously playing cards. Paradoxically, the progress of the printed matter served both holiness and vice.

However, the full history of printing begins with the invention of a printing press. This honor belongs to the German artisan from the city of Mainz, Johann Gutenberg, who in 1440 developed a method of repeatedly applying impressions on sheets of paper, while using movable letters. Despite the fact that in subsequent centuries the primacy in this area was attributed to other inventors, serious researchers have no reason to doubt that the appearance of printing is due precisely to his name.

The inventor and his investor

The invention of Gutenberg consisted in the fact that he made from the metal letters in their inverted (mirror) form, and then, typing lines from them, he made an impression on paper with the help of a special press. Like most geniuses, Gutenberg had brilliant ideas, but there was no money to implement them.

To give life to his invention, a brilliant artisan was forced to seek help from a Mainz businessman named Johann Fust and conclude an agreement with him, by virtue of which he was obliged to finance future production, and for this he had the right to receive a certain percentage of profits.

Companion, who turned out to be a clever businessman

Despite the external primitiveness of the technical means used and the lack of qualified assistants, the inventor of the first printing press managed to produce a number of books in a short time, the most famous of which is the famous "Gutenberg Bible", stored in the museum of the city of Mainz.

But this is the way the world works, that the gift of the inventor with the skills of a cold-blooded businessman rarely coexists in one person. Very soon, Fust took advantage of the unpaid part of his profit in time and through the court cleaned the whole thing to the hands. He became the sole owner of the printing house, and this explains the fact that for a long time it was with his name that the creation of the first printed book was mistakenly associated.

Other applicants for the role of first printers

As already mentioned above, very many peoples of Western Europe have challenged Germany's honor to be considered the founders of book printing. In this regard, several names are mentioned, among which Johann Mentelin of Strasbourg is most famous, who in 1458 managed to create a printing house similar to that of Gutenberg, as well as Pfister from Bamberg and the Dutchman Lawrence Koster.

The Italians, who maintained that their compatriot Pamfilio Castaldi was the inventor of the mobile font, and that he had given his printing-press to the German businessman Johann Fust was not left out. However, no serious evidence of such a statement was presented.

The beginning of printing books in Russia

And, finally, let us dwell in more detail on the development of the history of printing in Russia. It is well known that the first printing book of the Moscow state is the "Apostle", made in 1564 in the printing house of Ivan Fedorov and Peter Mstislavets. Both of them were students of the Danish master Hans Missenheim, sent by the king at the request of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. In the afterword of the book it is stated that their printing house was founded in 1553.

According to the researchers, the history of printing in the Moscow state was developed as a result of the urgent need to correct numerous mistakes that crept into the texts of religious books that had been copied for a long time by hand. By inattention, and sometimes deliberately, copyists made distortions, which every year became more and more.

The church council, held in 1551 in Moscow and named Stoglavy (by the number of chapters in its final resolution), issued a decree, on the basis of which all handwritten books in which errors were noticed were withdrawn from use and were subject to correction. However, often this practice led only to new distortions. It is understandable that the solution to the problem could only be the widespread introduction of printed publications, repeatedly replicating the original text.

This problem was well-known abroad, and therefore, pursuing commercial interests, in many European countries, particularly in Holland and Germany, the printing of books based on their sales among the Slavic peoples was established. This created a favorable ground for the subsequent creation of a number of domestic printing houses.

Russian printing under Patriarch Job

A tangible impetus for the development of the printed matter in Russia was the establishment of a patriarchate in it. The first primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Job, who took the throne in 1589, from the first days began to make efforts to provide the state with an adequate amount of spiritual literature. During his reign, book printing was managed by a master named Nevezha, who published fourteen different editions, in their characteristic features very close to the "Apostle", which was imprinted by Ivan Fedorov.

The history of printing of a later period is associated with the names of such masters as OI Radishchevsky-Volintsev and AF Pskovitin. A lot of not only spiritual literature came out of their printing house, but also educational books, in particular, manuals on grammar and reading skills.

The subsequent development of the printed matter in Russia

A sharp decline in the development of the printing business occurred in the early 17th century and was due to events connected with the Polish-Lithuanian intervention and called the Time of Troubles. Part of the masters was forced to interrupt their occupation, and the rest died or left the borders of Russia. The mass printing was resumed only after the accession to the throne of the first sovereign from the House of Romanovs - Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich.

Peter the Great did not remain indifferent to printing. Having visited Amsterdam during his European voyage, he concluded an agreement with the Dutch merchant Jan Tessing, according to which he had the right to produce printed materials in Russian and bring it for sale to Arkhangelsk.

In addition, the sovereign was given an order for the production of a new civil font, which was included in the ubiquitous use in 1708. Three years later, in St. Petersburg, which is preparing to become the capital of Russia, the largest printing house in the country was established, which later became synodal. From here, from the banks of the Neva, printing began to go all over the country.