History of Printing

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History of Printing

2ND CENTURY

By the end of the century, the Chinese have the three elements necessary for printing: 1) paper, 2) ink and 3) relief bearing texts carved into marble.

1041

Chinese alchemist Bì Sheng to conceives of movable type made of clay and glue hardened by baking.

1313

Chinese magistrate Wáng Zhen has a craftsman carve over 60,000 characters on movable wooden blocks so that a treatise on Chinese technology, science and agriculture can be published.

1400

The technique of printing with wooden blocks spreads from the Far East along caravan routes to Europe. Until this point, books have been constructed entirely by hand and are predominantly religious texts.

1450

Johannes Gutenberg adapts the screw printing press from wine presses used in the Rhine Valley since the days of the Roman Empire. He reaches a state of technical efficiency using oil-based inks and punch-stamped typeface molds.

1500

Printing provides the first mass medium vehicle for advertising and printed handbills begin to replace town criers. New information is put into books, creating important consequences for European life and society.

1600

The screw press is improved with the introduction of springs that rapidly lift the platen and can now produce up to 250 impressions per hour. Newspapers begin to appear.

1799

Austrian Alois Senefelder invents lithographic printing. By the 19th century, lithography becomes the preferred method for producing quality illustrations for books and magazines in both color and monochrome.

1805

The third Earl of Stanhope replaces the wooden screw press, virtually unchanged since Gutenberg’s time, with an iron-framed lever press. He also introduces stereotyping, making the saving of pages of type for reprinting a commercial proposition.

1820

Frederich Koenig’s steam printing machine with rollers is adapted by The Times, London and raises press output from 300 to 1,100 copies/hour.

1840

American Richard March Hoe develops a revolving perfecting press that can turn out 20,000 impressions an hour. Hoe also develops the first version of a rotary press in 1846.

1854

James Gordon Bennet at the New York Herald develops a print method using a metal plate impression of type, rather than the type itself.

1859

French lithographer Firmin Gillot develops a method for etching metal plates. By the end of the century, photolithography becomes a new branch of the journalistic profession.

1885

Linotype and Monotype machines are developed. Linotypes are a major advance and provide the ability to automatically justify lines and mechanically distribute type. Before this, a proficient compositor could set only 40–50 lines of type in an hour.

1890

At the Paris Exposition, Hippolyte Marinoni demonstrates a rotary press that turns a roll of paper back on its path, enabling successive sheets of paper to be printed on both sides and then cut and folded into piles of completed newspapers at great speed.

1900 – 1970

Manufacturers add more speed and quality to the production capacity of their presses. After 1900, electricity replaces steam and enables a variety of electrical devices and innovations to be installed.

1980 – 2000

Computers allow vast advances in both professional and home printing. Color matching, ink jets and laser printing are all developed within a short span of time.

Today

The online resource PaperRep is introduced. It compiles tools to help production efficiency as well as information on the print and paper industry into a convenient online library.