The Origin of Printing in Europe

The first time printing was actually done on paper of any kind was likely by Johan Gutenberg with a hand press dating somewhere around 1450 (Suarez, Woudhuysen 132). The actual printing press mechanics were inspired by Roman screw presses that were used to get the excess liquid out of anything from grapes to paper itself (Suarez, Woudhuysen 134). The technology of the printing press then stayed relatively stagnant, besides minor improvements, up until the nineteenth century. The process of using a printing press is described next: 

“Type was made by hand and was set, formed by hand into words, lines, and pages. Presses were operated by hand at a rate that did not–indeed could not comfortably–exceed a certain speed. Paper was made, sheet by sheet, by hand: the maximum width of the mould, and therefore of the sheet it made, was limited by the maker’s natural arm span, typically about 30 [inches]” (Suarez, Woudhuysen 135).  

The printing press of Goa falls right into the middle of this time period stretching from 1450-1800. Now understanding the technology of printing presses in general at the time, it finally starts to make sense where the roots of the Goa printing press originated. First, through the paper mill technology partially adopted and created by Germany and Italy a couple of centuries prior. Then, by the innovation of Gutenberg’s hand press just a century before. Before the printing press was introduced to Goa in 1556, no printing press had ever existed in India (Naik).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction

Goa, India was a new, growing city in the sixteenth century. Understandably, the story of the printing press in Goa is not centered around innovation regarding the press itself. Rather, it is centered around the innovation in ideas the books printed gave to the expanding region. So, knowing that the region of Goa will not offer me the most extensive history of printing presses in general, I thought it would be useful to look back in time and find the origins of the printing press first. From gathering this knowledge, a clearer picture would be painted allowing me to see how a printing press first ended up in Goa.
Read more

Examples of Prints from Goa and Their Purpose (1556-1632)

Image
Many of the early prints from Goa were created almost entirely for the purpose of converting native Indian groups like the coastal inhabiting Tamil people to Catholicism (Suarez, Woudhuysen 556). Thirteen books were printed between 1556 and 1588 (Kakar). The first-ever book published by the Goa printing press was titled Conclusões e outras coisas published in 1556. Like many of the first books printed by the Goa press, no copy remains today (Suarez, Woudhuysen 556). It was the first book printed in India. To most effectively convert native regions, it was initially thought that prints had to be done in Indian languages:  “The first Indian language rendered in the medium of print was Tamil. This might appear odd, given that the lingua franca in and around Goa was Konkani. But the Jesuits, led by Francis Xavier, who died in Goa in 1552, had established an extensive network of Jesuit missions along the Coromandel coast and had baptized more than 10,000 Tamil-speaking Parava fishe...
Read more