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Questions and Answers
Questions and Answers
Which material was primarily used for printing books in China from AD 594 onwards?
Which material was primarily used for printing books in China from AD 594 onwards?
- Animal parchment
- Rubbed paper (correct)
- Bamboo strips
- Silk fabric
The traditional Chinese 'accordion book' was designed to be printed on both sides of the thin, porous paper.
The traditional Chinese 'accordion book' was designed to be printed on both sides of the thin, porous paper.
False (B)
What is calligraphy, as defined in the context of early print culture?
What is calligraphy, as defined in the context of early print culture?
Calligraphy is the art of beautiful and stylised writing.
Who was the main producer of printed material in imperial China for a very long time?
Who was the main producer of printed material in imperial China for a very long time?
As urban culture bloomed in China by the seventeenth century, print usage diversified beyond scholar-officials to include merchants who used it to collect ______ information.
As urban culture bloomed in China by the seventeenth century, print usage diversified beyond scholar-officials to include merchants who used it to collect ______ information.
What type of literature became popular in China as reading increasingly became a leisure activity in the seventeenth century?
What type of literature became popular in China as reading increasingly became a leisure activity in the seventeenth century?
Western printing techniques and mechanical presses were introduced to China through missionaries in the early medieval period.
Western printing techniques and mechanical presses were introduced to China through missionaries in the early medieval period.
When and how was hand-printing technology introduced to Japan?
When and how was hand-printing technology introduced to Japan?
The oldest Japanese book, the Buddhist Diamond Sutra, printed in AD 868, contained six sheets of text and ______ illustrations.
The oldest Japanese book, the Buddhist Diamond Sutra, printed in AD 868, contained six sheets of text and ______ illustrations.
What art form, meaning 'pictures of the floating world,' was Kitagawa Utamaro known for in Edo, Japan?
What art form, meaning 'pictures of the floating world,' was Kitagawa Utamaro known for in Edo, Japan?
In the process of creating ukiyo prints, the original drawing was preserved and could be used for multiple reproductions.
In the process of creating ukiyo prints, the original drawing was preserved and could be used for multiple reproductions.
What innovation did Marco Polo bring back to Italy in 1295 that significantly impacted European book production?
What innovation did Marco Polo bring back to Italy in 1295 that significantly impacted European book production?
In Europe, luxury editions of books were still handwritten on expensive ______, made from animal skin.
In Europe, luxury editions of books were still handwritten on expensive ______, made from animal skin.
Match the following individuals/terms with their descriptions:
Match the following individuals/terms with their descriptions:
What was the primary reason that handwritten manuscripts could not satisfy the increasing demand for books in Europe?
What was the primary reason that handwritten manuscripts could not satisfy the increasing demand for books in Europe?
Johann Gutenberg developed the first-known printing press in Europe in the 1430s at Nuremberg, Germany.
Johann Gutenberg developed the first-known printing press in Europe in the 1430s at Nuremberg, Germany.
What existing technologies did Gutenberg adapt to design his printing press?
What existing technologies did Gutenberg adapt to design his printing press?
The first book printed by Gutenberg was the ______.
The first book printed by Gutenberg was the ______.
What characterized the appearance of early printed books in Europe, especially for the wealthy buyers?
What characterized the appearance of early printed books in Europe, especially for the wealthy buyers?
The print revolution initially resulted in a decline in the overall volume of books produced in Europe.
The print revolution initially resulted in a decline in the overall volume of books produced in Europe.
How did the printing press transform the relationship between people, information, and knowledge?
How did the printing press transform the relationship between people, information, and knowledge?
Before the print age, common people largely experienced knowledge through an ______ culture, hearing sacred texts, ballads, and folk tales recited.
Before the print age, common people largely experienced knowledge through an ______ culture, hearing sacred texts, ballads, and folk tales recited.
What was a 'chapbook' in England during the print revolution?
What was a 'chapbook' in England during the print revolution?
Louise-Sebastien Mercier believed that the printing press would strengthen despotism by controlling public opinion.
Louise-Sebastien Mercier believed that the printing press would strengthen despotism by controlling public opinion.
Match the following New Words with their appropriate definitions:
Match the following New Words with their appropriate definitions:
What was a significant consequence of Enlightenment thinkers' ideas being popularized through print?
What was a significant consequence of Enlightenment thinkers' ideas being popularized through print?
Why did the Roman Catholic Church begin maintaining an Index of Prohibited Books from 1558?
Why did the Roman Catholic Church begin maintaining an Index of Prohibited Books from 1558?
The power-driven cylindrical press, perfected by Richard M. Hoe, was capable of printing ______ sheets per hour and was particularly useful for newspapers.
The power-driven cylindrical press, perfected by Richard M. Hoe, was capable of printing ______ sheets per hour and was particularly useful for newspapers.
With the onset of the Great Depression in the 1930s, publishers primarily focused on producing expensive luxury editions to sustain buying.
With the onset of the Great Depression in the 1930s, publishers primarily focused on producing expensive luxury editions to sustain buying.
Match the following historical figures/texts from India with their significance in print culture:
Match the following historical figures/texts from India with their significance in print culture:
Questions and Answers
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Flashcards
Flashcards
Print Technology Origins
Print Technology Origins
The earliest form of print technology, involving hand printing, was developed in China, Japan, and Korea.
Chinese Woodblock Printing
Chinese Woodblock Printing
From AD 594, books in China were printed by rubbing paper against inked woodblocks. As both sides couldn't be printed, the traditional 'accordion book' was folded and stitched.
Calligraphy
Calligraphy
The art of beautiful and stylized writing, which skilled craftsmen could duplicate with remarkable accuracy in early Chinese printing.
Imperial State's Role in Print (China)
Imperial State's Role in Print (China)
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Diversification of Print Use (China)
Diversification of Print Use (China)
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Print in Japan
Print in Japan
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Diamond Sutra
Diamond Sutra
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Ukiyo
Ukiyo
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How Woodblock Prints were made (Japan)
How Woodblock Prints were made (Japan)
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Marco Polo's Role in Europe
Marco Polo's Role in Europe
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Vellum
Vellum
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Demand for Books (Europe)
Demand for Books (Europe)
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Early Woodblock Use (Europe)
Early Woodblock Use (Europe)
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Johann Gutenberg
Johann Gutenberg
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Gutenberg Bible
Gutenberg Bible
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Illuminated Printed Books
Illuminated Printed Books
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Growth of Printing Presses (Europe)
Growth of Printing Presses (Europe)
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Platen
Platen
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Compositor
Compositor
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Galley
Galley
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Print Revolution
Print Revolution
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New Reading Public
New Reading Public
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Oral Culture & Print
Oral Culture & Print
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Ballad
Ballad
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Taverns
Taverns
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Print & Religious Debates (Europe)
Print & Religious Debates (Europe)
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Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
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Fear of Print
Fear of Print
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Inquisition
Inquisition
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Heretical Beliefs
Heretical Beliefs
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Study Notes
Study Notes
The Genesis of Print
- Print technology first emerged in China, Japan, and Korea, utilizing a system of hand printing.
- In China, books were produced from AD 594 by rubbing paper against inked woodblocks.
- The thin, porous paper allowed printing on only one side, leading to the development of the "accordion book" which was folded and stitched.
- Chinese calligraphy, the art of beautiful writing, was meticulously duplicated by skilled craftsmen.
Print's Role in Imperial China and Beyond
- The imperial state in China was the primary provider of printed materials, supporting its vast bureaucratic system by printing textbooks for civil service examinations.
- Demand for printed materials escalated from the sixteenth century due to an increase in examination candidates.
- By the seventeenth century, print's utility expanded beyond scholar-officials as urban culture flourished, with merchants using it for trade information and leisure reading becoming popular.
- A new readership developed, favoring fictional narratives, poetry, autobiographies, literary anthologies, and romantic plays.
- Wealthy women actively engaged with print, reading and publishing their own poetry and plays, including works by scholars' wives and courtesans.
- Western printing techniques, including mechanical presses, were introduced to China in the late nineteenth century through Western outposts, with Shanghai becoming a central hub for Western-style print culture.
Early Printing in Japan
- Chinese Buddhist missionaries brought hand-printing technology to Japan around AD 768-770.
- The oldest known Japanese book, the Buddhist Diamond Sutra, printed in AD 868, features six sheets of text and woodcut illustrations.
- Print was also used for visual materials such as playing cards, paper money, and pictures on textiles.
- In medieval Japan, books were affordable and accessible, leading to regular publication of poets and prose writers.
- Edo (Tokyo) became a vibrant urban center in the late eighteenth century, where illustrated art collections depicted refined urban life, featuring artists, courtesans, and teahouse gatherings.
- Libraries and bookstores offered a diverse range of hand-printed materials, including books on women, musical instruments, calculations, tea ceremonies, flower arrangements, etiquette, cooking, and notable places.
Kitagawa Utamaro and Ukiyo Art
- Kitagawa Utamaro, born in Edo in 1753, was renowned for his contribution to ukiyo (pictures of the floating world), an art form depicting everyday human experiences, particularly urban ones.
- These Japanese prints gained international recognition, influencing European artists like Manet, Monet, and Van Gogh.
- Publishers such as Tsutaya Juzaburo commissioned artists to draw themes in outline, which would then be transferred by skilled woodblock carvers onto woodblocks for printing.
- The original drawings were destroyed during this process, with only the prints surviving.
The Arrival of Print in Europe
- Silk and spices from China, along with Chinese paper, reached Europe via the silk route starting in the eleventh century, enabling manuscript production by scribes.
- Marco Polo introduced woodblock printing technology to Italy in 1295 after his explorations in China, leading to the spread of this print method across Europe.
- Initially, luxury editions for aristocrats and monastic libraries were still handwritten on expensive vellum (parchment made from animal skin), as printed books were considered less refined.
- However, merchants and university students embraced the more affordable printed copies.
- The demand for books spurred booksellers across Europe to export titles and establish book fairs.
- Handwritten manuscript production also scaled up, with workshops employing over 50 scribes to meet the rising demand.
Challenges of Manuscript Production
- Copying manuscripts was an expensive, labor-intensive, and time-consuming process.
- Manuscripts were delicate, difficult to handle, and not easily transferable or readable, which limited their distribution.
- The growing demand for books eventually made woodblock printing more widespread.
- By the early fifteenth century, woodblocks were extensively used in Europe to print textiles, playing cards, and religious images with concise texts.
Gutenberg's Printing Press
- The urgent need for faster and cheaper text reproduction led to the invention of a new print technology.
- Johann Gutenberg developed the first-known printing press in the 1430s in Strasbourg, Germany.
- Gutenberg's invention drew upon his knowledge from his background in polishing stones, goldsmithing, and creating lead molds for trinkets.
- He adapted the design of olive presses for the printing press and used molds to cast metal types for alphabet letters.
- By 1448, Gutenberg perfected his system, producing the first printed book, the Bible.
- Approximately 180 copies of the Bible were printed in three years, considered rapid production for that era.
The Evolution of Printed Books
- Early printed books mimicked handwritten manuscripts in appearance and layout, featuring metal letters that imitated ornamental script.
- Borders were hand-illuminated with foliage and other patterns, and illustrations were hand-painted.
- For wealthy patrons, printed pages included blank spaces for custom decorations chosen by the purchaser and executed by a painting school, ensuring each copy was unique.
- Gutenberg printed text in black, leaving gaps for color to be added by hand to emphasize holy words and enhance visual appeal.
- Between 1450 and 1550, printing presses rapidly proliferated across Europe, with German printers traveling to establish new presses.
- Book production boomed, with 20 million copies flooding European markets by the late fifteenth century, surging to about 200 million copies in the sixteenth century.
- This transition from hand printing to mechanical printing marked the beginning of the print revolution.
The Print Revolution's Impact
- The print revolution fundamentally transformed human lives, influencing their access to information, knowledge, and their views on social institutions and authorities.
- It gave rise to a new reading public by making books more affordable and easier to produce in large quantities.
- Previously, reading was largely limited to elites, while common people engaged with an oral culture, listening to sacred texts, ballads, and folk tales.
- Print facilitated a shift from a "hearing public" to a "reading public" as books became widely accessible.
- However, publishers faced the challenge of low literacy rates in Europe until the twentieth century, so they produced popular ballads and folk tales, richly illustrated, to be read aloud in public gatherings and taverns.
- This integration of oral and print cultures blurred their boundaries and created an intermingled hearing and reading public.
Print and Religious Debates
- Print enabled widespread circulation of ideas, fostering new avenues for debate and discussion, allowing individuals to challenge established authorities.
- The easier access to printed materials and wider distribution of books did provoke apprehension among some, including religious authorities, monarchs, writers, and artists, who feared the spread of "rebellious and irreligious thoughts."
- They worried that uncontrolled print could undermine the authority of traditional literature and lead to societal instability.
- In 1517, Martin Luther initiated the Protestant Reformation by posting his Ninety Five Theses, challenging Roman Catholic Church practices. Print swiftly disseminated his ideas, leading to a significant division within the Church.
- Luther's translation of the New Testament sold 5,000 copies in weeks, with a second edition following, underscoring the power of print.
- Luther credited printing as "the ultimate gift of God and the greatest one," and many scholars believe print fostered an intellectual atmosphere that fueled the Reformation.
Print and Dissent
- Print and popular religious literature encouraged diverse interpretations of faith, even among less-educated individuals.
- Menocchio, an Italian miller in the sixteenth century, reinterpreted the Bible, leading to a view of God and Creation that incensed the Roman Catholic Church.
- The Church's Inquisition persecuted Menocchio, resulting in his execution, due to fears about popular readings and challenges to faith.
- Beginning in 1558, the Roman Catholic Church imposed strict controls on publishers and booksellers, establishing an Index of Prohibited Books to suppress what they deemed heretical or seditious.
- Erasmus, a Latin scholar, raised concerns in his 1508 Adages about the overwhelming volume of "new books," fearing that a "glut" of trivial, ignorant, or seditious works would detract from valuable scholarship.
The Reading Mania
- Literacy rates surged across Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, reaching 60-80% in some areas by the late eighteenth century, largely due to village schools established by various religious denominations.
- This rise in literacy sparked a "reading mania" as people eagerly sought books, prompting printers to increase production.
- Novel forms of popular literature emerged, targeting new audiences, disseminated by pedlars who sold small, low-priced books in villages.
- Almanacs (annual publications with astronomical data and everyday information) and ritual calendars were common.
- In England, penny chapbooks, affordable pocket-sized books, were sold by chapmen (travelling pedlars) for a penny.
- In France, Bibliotheque Bleue comprised low-priced, small books printed on poor quality paper with cheap blue covers, along with romances and "histories" (stories about the past) of various sizes.
- Newspapers and journals became mediums for current affairs, wars, trade, and local developments, appealing to a wide readership by combining information with entertainment.
- The ideas of scientists and philosophers, such as Isaac Newton, Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Jean Jacques Rousseau, became more accessible through printed texts, including compilations of ancient and medieval scientific texts with maps and diagrams, spreading concepts of science, reason, and rationality.
Print Culture and the French Revolution
- Many historians contend that print culture laid the groundwork for the French Revolution.
- Print popularized Enlightenment ideas, challenging tradition, superstition, and despotism, advocating for reason and rationality, and eroding the authority of the Church and the state.
- It fostered a new culture of dialogue and debate, encouraging critical re-evaluation of societal values and beliefs, which spurred ideas of social revolution.
- By the 1780s, an influx of literature mocked royalty and criticized their morality, raising questions about the existing social order.
- Cartoons and caricatures depicted the monarchy as hedonistic while the common people suffered, fostering anti-monarchy sentiments that circulated underground.
- While print undeniably spread ideas, people were exposed to both revolutionary and monarchical/Church propaganda, interpreting content individually, thus opening up possibilities for diverse thinking rather than directly shaping their minds.
Further Innovations in Printing
- By the late eighteenth century, presses transitioned to metal construction, leading to multiple innovations in printing technology throughout the nineteenth century.
- Richard M. Hoe of New York perfected the power-driven cylindrical press by mid-nineteenth century, capable of printing 8,000 sheets per hour, especially useful for newspapers.
- The offset press, developed in the late nineteenth century, could print up to six colors simultaneously.
- Electrically operated presses, improved paper feeding systems, better quality plates, automatic paper reels, and photoelectric controls for color registration accelerated printing operations from the twentieth century.
- These mechanical improvements significantly transformed the appearance of printed texts.
- Publishers adopted new strategies to boost sales, including serializing important novels in nineteenth-century periodicals and selling popular works in cheap "Shilling Series" in the 1920s in England.
- The dust cover or book jacket also emerged as a twentieth-century innovation.
- During the Great Depression in the 1930s, publishers released cheap paperback editions to sustain book purchases amidst economic downturns.
Print in Nineteenth-Century Europe
- The nineteenth century witnessed a significant increase in mass literacy across Europe, particularly among children, women, and workers.
- Compulsory primary education led to children becoming a key reading demographic, making school textbooks crucial for the publishing industry.
- In 1857, France established a children's press for new works and adapted old fairy and folk tales.
- The Grimm Brothers in Germany collected, edited, and published traditional folk tales from peasants in 1812, shaping them into a new form suitable for publication.
- Women emerged as vital readers and writers, with penny magazines and manuals focusing on proper behavior and housekeeping specifically targeting them.
- Nineteenth-century novels increasingly featured women as important readers, and women novelists like Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, and George Eliot contributed to defining a new image of womanhood—one with agency, strong personality, and critical thought.
- Lending libraries, existing since the seventeenth century, expanded in the nineteenth century to educate white-collar workers, artisans, and lower-middle-class individuals in England.
- With shortened working days, self-educated working-class people had time to develop self-improvement and self-expression, leading them to write numerous political tracts and autobiographies.
India's Manuscript Tradition Pre-Print
- India had a rich tradition of handwritten manuscripts in Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, and various vernacular languages.
- These manuscripts were copied on palm leaves or handmade paper, often featuring elaborate illustrations and designs.
- They were preserved by pressing them between wooden covers or sewing them together.
- Manuscripts remained in production until well after the introduction of print, even into the late nineteenth century.
- Manuscripts were costly, fragile, difficult to handle and read, and had limited everyday use.
- In pre-colonial Bengal, students were often taught to write but not necessarily read, as teachers dictated texts from memory.
The Arrival of Print in India
- The printing press was introduced to Goa by Portuguese missionaries in the mid-sixteenth century.
- Jesuit priests learned Konkani, printing numerous tracts, and by 1674, about 50 books in Konkani and Kanara were published.
- Catholic priests printed the first Tamil book in Cochin in 1579 and the first Malayalam book in 1713.
- By 1710, Dutch Protestant missionaries had printed 32 Tamil texts, including translations of older works.
- The English-language press in India developed later, despite the English East India Company importing presses by the late seventeenth century.
- In 1780, James Augustus Hickey launched the Bengal Gazette, a weekly English newspaper that was explicitly commercial but aimed to be independent.
- Hickey's Bengal Gazette carried advertisements, including those for slave sales, and gossip about Company officials.
- Governor-General Warren Hastings persecuted Hickey and promoted official newspapers to counter damaging information.
- By the late eighteenth century, several newspapers and journals, including Indian publications like Gangadhar Bhattacharya's Bengal Gazette, began appearing in print.
Religious Reform and Public Debates in India
- The early nineteenth century saw intense religious debates and reforms in colonial India.
- Different groups offered new interpretations of religious beliefs, with some advocating reform and others opposing it.
- These debates were conducted publicly through print, with tracts and newspapers spreading new ideas and shaping public discourse.
- In Bengal, debates regarding issues like widow immolation, monotheism, Brahmanical priesthood, and idolatry led to a proliferation of tracts and newspapers.
- Printed materials were published in everyday languages to reach a wider audience.
- Rammohun Roy launched Sambad Kaumudi in 1821, countered by the Hindu orthodoxy's Samachar Chandrika.
- Persian newspapers like Jam-i-Jahan Nama and Shamsul Akhbar, and the Gujarati newspaper Bombay Samachar, appeared in 1822.
- In North India, ulama (Islamic legal scholars) used cheap lithographic presses to publish Persian and Urdu translations of holy scriptures, religious newspapers, and fatwas (legal pronouncements) to counter fears of colonial influence, conversion, and changes to Muslim personal laws.
- The Deoband Seminary, founded in 1867, published countless fatwas guiding Muslims in daily life and explaining Islamic doctrines.
- Urdu print facilitated public debates among various Muslim sects and seminaries.
- Among Hindus, print encouraged reading religious texts, especially in vernacular languages, as seen with the 1810 Calcutta edition of Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas.
- By the mid-nineteenth century, cheap lithographic editions of religious texts, published by presses like Naval Kishore Press and Shri Venkateshwar Press, became widely available in North India, making them accessible to literate and illiterate individuals.
- Religious texts fueled discussions and debates within and across different religions.
- Print also fostered connections between Indian communities and people across regions through newspapers, contributing to pan-Indian identities.
New Forms of Publication in India
- Print stimulated demand for diverse new writings that reflected people's lives, emotions, and relationships.
- The novel, a European literary form, adapted to distinctive Indian styles, offering readers new experiences and insights into human diversity.
- New literary forms like lyrics, short stories, and essays on social and political issues reinforced focus on human experiences and feelings.
- By the late nineteenth century, a new visual culture emerged due to increased printing presses, allowing easy reproduction of images.
- Artists like Raja Ravi Varma produced mythological paintings for mass circulation, printed at the Ravi Varma Press.
- Poor wood engravers set up shops near letterpresses, producing cheap prints and calendars that adorned homes and workplaces, influencing popular ideas about modernity, tradition, religion, politics, society, and culture.
- Caricatures and cartoons in journals and newspapers from the 1870s commented on socio-political issues, ridiculing educated Indians' adoption of Western culture and expressing fears of social change.
- Imperial caricatures mocked nationalists, while nationalist cartoons criticized imperial rule.
Women and Print in India
- Women's lives and emotions became prominent subjects in literature, significantly increasing women's readership in middle-class homes.
- Liberal families promoted women's education at home and in newly established girls' schools.
- Nineteenth-century journals featured writings by women, advocated for female education, and provided home-schooling materials.
- Conservative Hindus feared that educated girls would be widowed, and Muslims worried that Urdu romances would corrupt women.
- Despite prohibitions, some women, like a Muslim girl in North India, secretly learned to read Urdu.
- Rashsundari Debi, an orthodox Bengali woman, secretly learned to read in her kitchen and published her autobiography Amar Jiban in 1876, the first full-length autobiography in Bengali.
- From the 1860s, Bengali women like Kailashbashini Debi wrote about women's domestic confinement, forced labor, and unjust treatment.
- In Maharashtra, Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai angrily wrote about the plight of upper-caste Hindu widows in the 1880s.
- A Tamil novel highlighted how reading brought happiness to women confined by social regulations.
- While Urdu, Tamil, Bengali, and Marathi print cultures developed early, Hindi printing began seriously in the 1870s, dedicating a significant portion to women's education.
- Early twentieth-century journals, often edited by women, became popular, discussing women's education, widowhood, remarriage, the national movement, and offering household and fashion advice, alongside entertainment.
- In Punjab, folk literature like Ram Chaddha’s Istri Dharm Vichar and booklets from the Khalsa Tract Society taught women how to be obedient wives through dialogues.
- Battala, an area in central Calcutta, became a hub for printing cheap editions of religious tracts, scriptures, and even "obscene and scandalous" literature, profusely illustrated with woodcuts and colored lithographs that pedlars sold door-to-door, enabling women to read in their leisure time.
Print and the Poor People in India
- Cheap, small books were sold in markets and crossroads in nineteenth-century Madras towns, making them accessible to the poor.
- Public libraries, established from the early twentieth century in cities, towns, and prosperous villages, expanded access to books, with rich patrons supporting them for prestige.
- From the late nineteenth century, print addressed caste discrimination, with tracts and essays by figures like Jyotiba Phule (Gulamgiri, 1871) condemning the caste system.
- In the twentieth century, B.R. Ambedkar and E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker (Periyar) wrote extensively on caste, influencing readers across India.
- Local protest movements and sects used popular journals and tracts to criticize ancient scriptures and advocate for a new, just future.
- Factory workers, despite being overworked and lacking formal education, began to write.
- Kashibaba, a Kanpur millworker, wrote Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal (1938) linking caste and class exploitation.
- Another Kanpur millworker, Sudarshan Chakr, published his poems in Sacchi Kavitayan (1935–1955).
- By the 1930s, Bangalore and Bombay cotton millworkers established self-education libraries, often sponsored by social reformers to combat excessive drinking and promote literacy and nationalism.
Print and Censorship in India
- Prior to 1798, the East India Company's censorship efforts primarily targeted Englishmen critical of Company misrule to prevent information from being used against its trade monopoly in England.
- By the 1820s, the Calcutta Supreme Court passed regulations to control press freedom, while the Company encouraged newspapers that lauded British rule.
- In 1835, Governor-General Bentinck, responding to petitions from English and vernacular newspaper editors, revised press laws to restore earlier freedoms, with new rules formulated by Thomas Macaulay.
- After the 1857 revolt, the British attitude towards press freedom shifted, leading to demands for stricter controls on the 'native' press, particularly as vernacular newspapers became assertively nationalist.
- The Vernacular Press Act of 1878, modeled on Irish Press Laws, granted the government extensive powers to censor reports and editorials in vernacular papers.
- Under this Act, newspapers were warned for seditious reports, and repeated offenses could lead to the seizure of presses and confiscation of machinery.
- Despite these repressive measures, nationalist newspapers continued to grow across India, reporting on colonial misrule and fostering nationalist activities.
- Attempts at suppressing nationalist criticism often sparked militant protests, leading to a cycle of persecution and renewed protests.
- For example, Balgangadhar Tilak's sympathetic writings about the deportation of Punjab revolutionaries in his newspaper Kesari in 1907 led to his imprisonment in 1908, triggering widespread protests throughout India.
- During World War I, under the Defence of India Rules, 22 newspapers had to furnish securities, with 18 choosing to shut down, and controls were further strengthened by the Sedition Committee Report (Rowlatt, 1919).
- During World War II, the Defence of India Act allowed censoring of war-related reports and brought all reports on the Quit India movement under its purview, leading to the suppression of about 90 newspapers in August 1942.
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