Grade x History
chapter 7 Print culture and the modern world
Q1 What was the book making procedure before the age of print?
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The art of writing and illustrating by hand was important in the age before print.
Q2 What was the earliest kind of print technology ? Where did it develop?
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A system of hand printing was the earliest form of print technology.
The earliest kind of print technology developed in China.
Q3 Explain how books in china were printed through block printing.
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Books in china were printed by rubbing paper also invented there against the inked
surface of wood block.
As both sides of the thin, porous sheet could not be printed, the traditional Chinese
‘accordion book’ was folded and stitched at the sides.
Q4 What necessitated the wood block printing in China?
OR
Why did woodblock printing start in China?
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China possessed a huge bureaucratic system which recruited its personnel through
civil service examinations
Text books for this examination were printed in vast numbers under the sponsorship
of the imperial state .
Q5 Name the factors that led to the diversification of printing in China.
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By 17th century print was no longer used just by scholar officials. Merchants used
prints in their everyday life as they collected trade information .
Reading increasingly became a leisure activity.
The new readership preferred fictional narratives, poetry autobiographies,
anthologies masterpieces and romantic plays.
Rich women began to read and many woman began publishing their poetry and
plays.
Wives of scholor officials were published their works.
Courtesans wrote about their lives.
This new reading culture was accompanied by a new technology.
Western printing technique and mechanical presses were imported in the late19th
century as western powers established their outposts in china.
Shanghai became the hub of the new print culture catering to western style schools.
From hand printing there was now a gradual shift to mechanical printing.
Q6 How and when was printing introduced in Japan?
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Buddhist missionaries from china introduced hand printing technology into Japan
around AD 768-770.
Q8 Mention some new printing practices ( 2 materials) used in Japan.
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Pictures were printed on textiles, playing cards, and paper money.
In the Medieval Japan , poets and prose writers were regularly published and books
were cheap and abundant
Printing of visual materials led to interesting publishing practices.
Illustrated collections of paintings depicted an elegant urban culture, involving
artists, courtesans, and tea house gatherings.
Libraries and bookstores were packed with hand printed material of various typesbooks on women, musical instruments, calculations, tea ceremony, flower
arrangements , proper etiquette , cooking and famous places.
Q9 Why was print diversified in the 17th century?
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Main reason was urbanisation.
Everyone wanted books on different subjects.
Started publishing their own.
Q10 What is meant by the silk route?
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Silk route was a collection of routes that linked Europe to china and India. It Was
called silk route because mainly silk was transported.
Q11 Which was the first European country to learn wood block printing?
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Italy
Q12 Name the explorer who brought the knowledge of wood block printing from China to
Europe when?
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Marco polo in 1295
Q13 How were books published in Europe before invention of wood block printing ?
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Books were hand written on very expensive vellum a parchment made from the skin
of animals.
Q14 Who preferred hand written manuscripts?
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The aristocratic circle and rich monastic libraries preferred handwritten manuscripts
on expensive vellum.
Q15 Why was handwritten manuscripts limited in circulation?
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OR
Why did woodblock printing become more important?
Hand written manuscripts could not satisfy the ever increasing demand for books
Copying was expensive, laborious and time consuming business.
Manuscripts were fragile, awkward to handle , and could not be carried around of
read easily.
Their circulation therefore remained limited.
With the growing demand for books, wood block printing gradually became more
and more popular.
Q16 Name the invention that was a breakthrough in new prints technology when and where
did it occur?
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The breakthrough occurs at Strasbourg, Germany where Johann Gutenberg
developed the first known printing press in 1430s.
Q17 When did Gutenberg perfect the printing system and which was the first book he
printed?
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By 1448 Gutenberg perfected the system.
The first book he printed was Bible.
About 180 copies were printed and it took three years to produce them.
Q18. Write a short note on Gutenberg.
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Gutenberg was the son of a merchant and grew up on a large agricultural estate.
From his childhood he had see wine and olive presses.
He learnt the act of polishing stones became a master goldsmith and also acquired
the expertise to create lead moulds used for making trinkets.
Drawing on this knowledge Gutenberg adapted existing technology to design his
innovation.
The Olive press provided the model for the printing press and moulds were used for
casting the metal types for letters of the alphabet.
By 1448 Gutenberg perfected the system.
Q19. Write a short note on Gutenberg’s printing.
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The long handle was attached to the screw.
This handle was used to turn the screw and press down the platen over. The printing
block that was placed on top of a sheet of damp paper.
Gutenberg developed metal type for each of 26 characters of the Roman alphabets.
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He devised a way of moving them around so as to compose different words of the
text.
This came to be known as moveable type printing machine.
This remained the basic print technology over the 300 hundred years.
Q20 Why was the first printed book ‘Bible unique’?
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They were not just the product of new technology.
No copies were same . every page of each copy was different.
The text was printed in new Gutenberg press with metal type but border were
carefully designed, painted and illuminated by hand by artists.
Elites preferred the lack of uniformity in their books, what they possessed then could
be claimed as unique.
Q21 What did the first book look like after Bible?
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Printed books at first closely resembled the written manuscripts in appearance and
layouts
The metal letters imitated the ornamental handwritten styles.
Borders were illuminated by hand with foliage and other patterns and illustrations
were painted. In the books printed for the rich, space for decoration was kept blank
on the printed page.
Each purchaser could choose the designs and decide in the printing school that
would the illustrations.
Q22 What was the print revolution?
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It was not just a development, a new way of producing books.
It transformed the lives of people.
It changed their relationship to information and knowledge.
It changed the understanding with institutions and authorities.
Q23 How did printing lead to large number of books in the markets?
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Printing reduced the cost of books.
The time and labour required to produced each book came down .
Multiple copies could be produced with greater ease.
So books flooded the market, reaching out to an ever growing readership.
Q24. How could publishers persuade the common people to welcome the printed books?
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The rates of literacy in most European countries were very low till the 20 th century.
Ballads were recited and folk tales narrated were for people who lived in an oral
culture
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So printers began publishing popular ballad and folk tales and such bookswould be
profusely illustrated with pictures .
Those who could read , bought the books and read it out to others.
Q26.How did oral culture enter print and print material orally transmitted ?
OR
How did the hearing public and reading public became intermingled?
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Gutenberg’s printing machine brought above a print revolution
Due to the low rate of literacy before 20th century publishers started publishing the
oral culture (story, ballads etc)
Those who could read brought the books and read them to those who could not
read.
Thus the intermingling of hearing and reading public.
Q27 Why did the people fear print ?
Or
What were the anxieties and fears behind the criticism of new literature?
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It was feared that if there was no control over what was printed and read then
rebellious and irreligious thoughts might spread.
Descending ideas could be easily and wildly spread by print.
Print stimulated many distinctive individual interpretations and faith even among
little educated working people.
In the 16th century Menocchio , a miller in Italy reinterpreted the message of the
Bible and formulated a view of god and creation that enraged the Roman Catholic
Church
Q 28 ‘Criticism of the new printed literature ‘ Explain the implication of this by giving an
example.
OR
‘Printing is the ultimate gift of God and the greatest one’ Who said to whom?
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In 1517 religious reformer Martin Luther wrote Ninety Five theses criticising many of
the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic church.
A printed copy was posted on a church door on Wittenberg. It challenged the church
to debate his ideas.
Luther’s writings were immediately reproduced vast numbers and read widely.
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This led to a division within the church and to the beginning of protestant
reformation by Martin Luther.
Deeply grateful to print , Luther said ‘printing is the ultimate gift of God and the
greatest one.
29 Why did the Roman church impose several control over publishers?
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Print and popular religious literature stimulated many distinctive individual
interpretations of faith even among little educated working people.
This led to the division within the church and to the beginning of protestant
reformation.
In the 16th century ,Menocchio , a Miller in Italy, reinterpreted the message of the
Bible and formulated a view of God and creation that enraged the Roman catholic
church.
When the Roman church began its inquisition to repress heretical ideas , Menocchio
was hauled up twice and ultimately executed. The Roman church troubled by such
effects of popular readings and questionings of faith, imposed severe controls over
publishers and booksellers and began to maintain an index of prohibited Book from
1558.
30 What were the new forms of literature published to satisfy the new reading mania?
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There were Almanacs or ritual calendars along with ballads and folktales.
Other forms of reading matter largely for entertainment, began to reach ordinary
readers as well.
In England Penny chapbooks were carried by petty pedlars known as chapmen and
sold for a penny so that even the poor could buy them .
In France were the ‘Biliotheque Bleue’ which were small books and low priced ,on
poor quality paper and bound in cheap blue covers.
The periodical press developed from the early 18th century combining information
about current affairs with entertainment.
Newspapers and journals carried information about wars and trade as well as news
of development in other places.
The ideas of scientist and Philosophers now became more accessible to the common
people.
The writing of Issac Newton were published and they could influence a much circle
of scientifically minded readers.
31 What is meant by chap books ?
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Chap books are pocket size books that are sold by travelling pedlars called Chapman.
32 What is Almanac?
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Almanac is an annual publication giving astronomical data , information about the
movement of the Sun and moon , timings of full tides and eclipses and much else.
That was of importance of everyday life of people.
Q33 ‘Tremble, therefore, tyrants of the world ‘who said these words and why?
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Louis Sebastien Mercier a novelist in 18th century France said these words.
He believed that books could change the world , liberate society from despotism and
tyranny, and herald a time when reason and intellect would rule.
He believed that the printing press is the most powerful engine of progress and
public opinion is the force that will sweep deposition away.
Convice of the power of print in bringing enlighntment and destroying the basis of
despotism Mercier proclaimed ‘Tremble therefore, tyrants of the world ; Tremble
before the virtual writer.’
Q34 How was print responsible for the French revolution?
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Or
Why do some historians think that print culture created the basis of the French
revolution?
It popularised the ideas of enlightenment thinkers.
Due to this , people attacked the sacred authority of the church and the despotic
power of the state thus eroding the legitimacy of a social order based on tradition
It gave new eyes to the people .
Print created a new culture of dialogue and debate .
Making public aware of the power of reason and recognised the need to question
existing ideas and beliefs.
Print opened up literature that opened up literature that mocked the royalty and
criticised their morality.
Print helped the spread of ideas.
If they read the ideas of Voltaire and Rousseau. They were also exposed to
Monarchical and church propaganda.
They accepted some ideas and rejected .
They interpreted things their own ways .
Print did not directly shape their minds but it did open up the possibility of Thinking
different.
Q35 Name three revolutionary thinkers of France.
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Mercier
Voltaire
Thomas Raine
Q36 With the print revolution name the two professions that developed with it.
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Publishing
Editing
Q37 Name the press that first published Children’s books.
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The Grimm Brothers was the first press that first published children’s books.
Q38 Name the Magazine for women that first became popular.
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Penny Magazine for women.
Q39 Name some of the best known women novelist\ writers.
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Jane Austen
The Bronte sisters
George Eliot
Q40 What new characteristics of women were described by the women writers through the
print culture?
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Writings of women novelists became important in defining a new type of women.
A person with will , strength of personality , determination and the power to think.
Q41 How were the lending libraries were useful to workers?
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Lending libraries in England became instruments for educating white collar workers,
artisans and lower middle class people.
Q42 What was the effect of print culture on the workers of England ?
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After the working day was gradually shortened from the Mid 18 th century workers
had some time for self improvement and self expression.
They wrote political tracts and autobiographies in large numbers.
Q43 What were the innovations made in print machine from the mid 18 th century ?
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The press came out to be metal.
By the mid 19th century, Richard M. Hoe of New York had perfected the power
driven cylindrical press.
This was capable of printing 8000 sheets for hour.
This press was particularly useful for printing news papers.
In the late 19th century the offset press was developed which could print up to six
colours at a time.
From the 20th century electrically operated presses accelerated printing operations
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A series of other development followed
 Methods of feeding paper improved.
 The quality of plates became better.
 Automatic paper reels and photoelectric controls of the colour register were
introduced.
Accumulation of several individual Mechanical improvement transformed the
appearance of printed texts.
Q44 Name the strategies that printers and publishers used to sell their products.
 19th centuries periodicals serialised important novels which gave birth to a particular
way of writing novels.
 Popular workers were sold in cheap series, calls the shilling series.
 The Dust cover or the book jacket is also 20th century innovation.
 During the Great depression in 1930’s publishers brought out cheap paper back
editions to attract more and more.
Q45 What are Manuscripts ?
 Manuscripts are well decorated and preserved hand written documents.
Q46 Describe the Manuscripts before the age of print in India.
 India had a very rich and old tradition of handwritten Manuscripts.
 Manuscripts were written in Sanskrit ,Arabian ,Persian as well as various vernacular
languages .
 They could be either pressed between wooden covers or sown together to ensure
preservation.
 Manuscripts continued to be produced till well after the introduction of Print, down
to the late 19th century.
Q47 Why were manuscripts not widely used in India?
 Manuscripts highly expensive and fragile. They had to be handled carefully.
 They could not be read easily as the script was written in different styles.
Q48 When was the first printing press established? Who established it and where?
 The printing press first came to Goa with Portuguese missionary in the mid 18 th
century.
Q49 Name the languages in which the missionaries printed books in India.
 Jesuit priests learnt Konkani and printed several tracts
 By 1764 about 50 books had been printed in Konkani and Kanara language
 Catholic priests printed the first Tamil book in 1579 at Cochin.
 In 1713 the first Malayalam book was printed by them.
 By 1710 , Dutch protestant missionary had printed 32 Tamil texts , many of them
translations of older book.
Q50 Name the first English magazine in India.
 Bengal Gazette , by James Augustus Hickey , a weekly magazine that describe itself
as a commercial paper open to all but influenced by none was the first English
magazine in India.
Q51 Who was James Augustus Hickey and what did he publish?
 Hickey was editor of the first English weekly magazine called Bengal Gazette.
 Hickey published a lot of advertisements including those that related to the impact
sale of slaves.
 He also published a lot of gossips about the company’s senior officials in India.
 Governor general Warren Hastings persecutes Hickey and encouraged the
publications of officially sanctioned newspapers.
Q52 What were the relationship between the religious reforms and printing press in India?
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Printing started criticising existing practices and campaigned for reforms
Others countered the arguments of reformers.
These debates were carried out in Public and in print.
Printed tracts and newspapers not only spread the new ideas , but they shaped the
nature of the debate.
A wider public could now participate in these public discussions and express their
views.
New ideas emerged through these clashes of opinions
Q53 Name the subjects of public debate between religious reformers and Hindu orthodoxy.
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The subjects of public debate between religious reformers and Hindu orthodoxy are
Widow immolation
Monotheism
Brahmanical priesthood
Idolatry
Q54 Name the publications brought out for debate by religious reformers and Hindu
orthodoxy
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Rammohaun Roy published the Sambad Kaumudi, from 1821.
The Hindu orthodoxy commissioned the samachar Chandrika to oppose his opinion.
Q55 Name the newspaper published in 1822
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Jam –i- Jahan Nama
Shamsul Akhbar
Gujarati News paper
Q56 Discuss the subjects published and printed by Muslims in India with the coming of the
printing press.
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The Ulama of Islam were deeply anxious about the collapse of Muslim dynasties
They feared that colonial rulers would encouraged conversion.
To counter this they published Persian and Urdu translations of holy scriptures and
printed religious news papers and tracts.
The Deoband Seminary founded in 1867,published thousands of Fatwa telling
Muslim readers how to conduct themselves in their everyday lives and explaining the
meanings of Islamic Doctrine
Q57 Name the Hindu religious text published with the coming of the printing press.
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The first printed edition of the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas, a16th century text came
out from Calcutta in 1810.
The Naval Kishor press at Lucknow and shri venkateshwar press in Bombay published
numerous religious text in Vernacular
This could be read easily by the faithful at any place and time.
Q58 What was the contribution of press to the society of India?
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Religious text therefore reached a very wide circle of people, encouraging
discussions debates and controversies within and among different religions.
Print did not only the stimulate the publications of conflicting opinions amongst
communities and people in different parts of India.
Thus creating pan Indian Identities.
Newspaper conveyed news from one place to another.
Q59 Name the first painter who printed images for the large circulation in 19 th century India.
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Raja Ravi Verma
Q60 Bring out the differences between the outlook of the liberals and conservatives
regarding women and educating.
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Liberal husbands and fathers began educating their womenfolk at home and sent
them to schools when women schools were set up . in the cities and towns after mid
19th century
Conservative Hindus believed that a literate girl would widowed
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Many journals began carrying writings by women and explained why woman should
be educated
Muslims feared that educated women should be corrupted by reading Urdu
romances
Q61 Name the first autobiography published in Bengal.
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Rashsundari Debi wrote her autobiography Amar Jiban which was published in 1876
It was the first full length autobiography published in the Bengali language.
Q62 Name three Indian women authors who wrote books highlighting the miserable
conditions of women form the 1860’s
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Kailashbhasini devi
Tara bai shinde
Pandita Ramabai
Q63 Name the publishers who published books in Punjab teaching women how to be
obedient women.
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Ram chadda published the fast selling ISTRI DHARAM VICHAR to teach women how
to be obedient wives.
The khalsa tract society published cheap booklets on a similar subjects.
Q64 Name the writers who wrote about the caste system.
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Jyotiba Phule the Maratha Pioneer of low caste protest movement wrote about
injustices of caste system in his Gulamgiri 1871
In the 20th century B.R Ambedkar in Maharashtra.
E.V.Ramaswamy Naicker in Madras better known as Periyar wrote powerfully on
caste and their writings were read by people all over India.
Q65 What did revolution in print bring in the lives of workers?
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Another millworker who wrote under the name of Sudarshan chakra between 1935
and 1955 and published in a collection called sacchi Kavitayan.
Kashibaba a Kanpur mill worker wrote and published ‘chote aur bade ka sawal’in
1938 to show the link between caste and exploitation.
By 1830’s Banglore cotton millworkers set up libraries to educate themselves.
Following the examples of Bombay workers.
These were sponsored by social reformers who tried to restrict excessive drinking
among them to bring literacy and sometime to propagate the message of
nationalism
Q66 What were the factors that led women to became authors in India?
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The coming up of print made it easier for women publish what they wanted to
express
There were so many novels in the market women could read them in leisure time .
These would give them ideas and inspire them to published their own books and
express themselves eg Raj sundari debi and other social reformers.
There was a spread of liberal attitude towards women. Liberal fathers and husbands
helped too. Journals were written by them and published too.
They explained the reason and necessity to send them to school.
Women and their experiences gave them ideas about life and wrote about them and
put them in front of others eg Tara bai shinde.
Q67 How did the social reformers contribute in educating the poor?
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By 1930’s Bangalore cotton millworkers set up workers to educate themselves.
These were sponsored by social reformers who tried to restrict excessive dring
among them to bring literacy and sometimes to propagate nationalism.
Q68 What were the effects of spread of print culture on poor people in 19 th century India?
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Very cheap small books were brought to markets in 19th century Madras towns and
sold at cross roads allowing poor people travelling markets to buy them.
Public libraries were set up from the early 20th century expanding to access to books.
These libraries were located mostly in cities. towns and at times in prosperous
villages.
Rich local patrons acquired prestige by setting up libraries.
Q69 Writh a short note on print and censorship in India.
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Before 1798 censorship was directed against Englishmen who were critical of
company misrule as the company was worried that such criticism might be used by
its critics in England to attack its trade monopoly in India.
By 1820’s the Calcutta supreme court passed certain regulations to control press
freedom and company began encouraging publications of newspapers that would
celebrate British rule.
In 1835 faced with urgent petitions by editors of English and vernacular newspapers,
Governor general Bentinck agreed to revise press laws. Thomas Macaulay a liberal
colonial officer formulated new rules that restored the earlier freedoms.
After the revolt of 1857 the attitude towards freedom of the press changed .
Enraged englismen demanded a clamp down on the ‘native ‘press.As vernacular
newspapers became assertively nationalist. The colonial government began debating
measures of stringent control.
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In 1878 the vernacular press act was passed modelled on the Irish press laws. It
provided the government with extensive rights to censor reports and vernacular
press.
When a report was judge as seditious the news paper was warned and if the warning
was ignored the press was liable to be seized and the printing machinery confiscated
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Q70 Name the newspapers that Balgangadhar Tilak published. Why was he imprisoned?
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When Punjab revolutionaries were deported in 1907, Balgangadhar Tilak wrote
about them in his newspaper Kesari which led to hi s imprisonment in
1908provoking in them wide spread protest all over India.