A Quick History of Early Print Technology

Whether we realize it or not, technological innovations in printing over the past 1,200 years have had a profound effect on how we approach marketing, advertising, art and graphic design today. Take a few moments to learn more in this first post of a three-part series on print technology.

Our history begins with China’s use of plant-fiber paper (replacing silk, bamboo slips and wooden tablets) and later, the first dated example of block printing — found in the Buddhist scripture “The Diamond Sutra” (888 AD). By 1041, a Chinese citizen by the name of Bi Sheng invented movable clay type. Although a precursor to the modern printing press, movable clay type was not adopted on a large scale since the shear number of Chinese characters made the technique impractical.

By way of early globalization, China’s print technology spread to Western Europe via the Arab trade routes. In 1423, Europeans had begun to use wood block printing (xylography) in book production.

Without a doubt, one of the most influential events in the Western world during the second millennium was Johannes Gutenber’s invention of the movable type printing press (1440). Interestingly, although Gutenberg gets credit,  the same invention is thought to have also been in development in Holland and Prague.

With financing from Johann Fust, the Gutenberg Bible was the first major book printed on this ground-breaking press. A single copy of the bible had 1,272 pages (four pages per folio-sheet) and required 318 sheets of paper. Vellum, sheets of lamb or calf skin widely used in printing, was abandoned for paper because vellum proved too expensive for mass production.

Two pages of the “Giant Bible of Mainz” (1452-1453), thought of as the model for the Gutenberg Bible, are pictured here.

The movable type printing press was not Gutenberg’s only contribution to print technology however. Gutenberg had to develop an oil-based ink to replace the traditional water-based ink so that it would stick to the metal types. Also, each sheet of the Gutenberg Bible contained a watermark left by the papermold and viewable when held up to a light source.

Fifteen years after his great innovation, Johannes Gutenberg was essentially bankrupt. Investor Johann Faust took control of the print business and two years later, in 1457, produced the first known color printing — a collection of Psalms for devotional use called a Psalter.

By 1476, William Caxton had set up England’s first commercial printing press, which he used to promote popular literature of the day such as “The Canterbury Tales.” It was also during 1476 that copper engravings were first used in place of wood for print illustration.

Over in the New World, the first printing press was set up in 1638 by the Dayes family. Two years later the family produced 1,700 copies of the first book to be printed in the colonies, titled the “Bay Psalm Book” (Cambridge, Massachusetts).

Gutenberg’s print technology continued virtually unchanged until the 19th century. In the early 1800s, innovations in science and technology lead to the use of iron instead of wood for building presses, a steam-powered press and the development of continuous rolls of paper.

Each invention moved the efficiency of printing forward, quickly leading to “penny printing.” In 1833, newspaperman Benjamin Day capitalized on the new, more cost-effective printing techniques, allowing him to drop the price of the “New York Sun” to a penny per copy (undercutting the competition by four to five cents). The era of inexpensive mass-produced print had arrived.

Next: Innovations in Print Technology in the 20th Century.