For the article on the development of printing in Europe, see History of western typography. A piece of cast metal type, Garamond style long s / i ligature. ...

Both woodblock printing on paper and movable type were invented in China and Korea before their invention in Europe, Yuan dynasty woodblock edition of a Chinese play Woodblock printing is a technique for printing text or images used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China sometime between the mid-6th and late 9th centuries. ... Movable type. ... Korea (Korean: 한국 or 조선, see below) is a geographic area, civilization, and former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. ... World map showing Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. ...

Woodblock printing

Woodblock printing on paper, whereby individual sheets of paper were pressed into wooden blocks with the text and illustrations carved into them, was first recorded in Chinese history, and the oldest surviving printed book to be documented, a copy of the Buddhist Diamond Sutra, is dated 848 AD. Although as a method for printing patterns on cloth the earliest surviving examples from China date to before 220^[1], and from Eygpt to the 6th or 7th centuries. ^[2] By the 12th and 13th centuries, many Chinese libraries contained tens of thousands of printed books. China is the worlds oldest continuous major civilization, with written records dating back about 3,500 years and with 5,000 years being commonly used by Chinese as the age of their civilization. ... A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by... The Diamond Sutra (Vajracchedika-prajñāpāramitā-sūtra), The Perfection of Wisdom Sutra that Cuts like a Thunderbolt, is a short Mahayana sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom genre, which teaches the practice of the avoidance of abiding in extremes of mental attachment. ...

The earliest woodblocks used for printing in Europe, in the fourteenth century, were remarkably similar to Chinese woodblocks, leading some pioneering scholars of Asian subjects to hypothesize a connection: "the process of printing them must have been copied from ancient Chinese specimens, brought from that country by some early travelers, whose names have not been handed down to our times" (Robert Curzon, 1810-1873). Joseph Needham's Science and Civilization in China has a chapter that suggests that "European block printers must not only have seen Chinese samples, but perhaps had been taught by missionaries or others who had learned these un-European methods from Chinese printers during their residence in China."^[3] But historians of the Western prints themselves see no need for such a connection, as they see a clear progression from patterns to images, both printed on cloth, then to images printed on paper, when it became widely available in Europe in about 1400.^[2] Text and images printed together only appear some sixty years later, after metal movable type ^[4] This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. ...

Movable type

Movable type in China

The first movable type was invented in China, traditionally credited with Bi Sheng, between 1041 to 1048. The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text on rectangular sheets of paper. ... Pì ShÄ“ng (Wade-Giles selling) (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: ; died 1052) was the inventor of the first know movable type printing system. ... Events December 10 - Empress Zoe of Byzantium elevates her adoptive son to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V. Revolt at Worcester against the naval taxes of Harthacanute. ... Events The city of Oslo is founded by Harald Hardråde of Norway. ...

Later in the Jin Dynasty, people used the same but more developed technique to print paper money and formal official documents, the typical example of this kind of movable copper-block printing is a printed "check" of Jin Dynasty in the year of 1215. The Jin Dynasty (金 pinyin: Jīn 1115-1234; Anchu in Jurchen), also known as the Jurchen dynasty, was founded by the Wanyan (完顏 Wányán) clan of the Jurchen, the ancestors of the Manchus who established the Qing Dynasty some 500 years later. ...

Movable type in Korea

The transition from woodblock printing to movable metal type occurred in Korea sometime in the thirteenth century to meet the heavy demand for both religious and secular books. A set of ritual books, Sangjeong Gogeum Yemun were printed with the movable metal type in 1234. ^[5] The credit for the first metal movable type may go to Chae Yun-ui of the Goryeo Dynasty in 1234. ^[6] Korea (Korean: 한국 or 조선, see below) is a geographic area, civilization, and former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. ... The Goryeo Dynasty established in 918 ruled Korea from the fall of the Unified Silla in 935 until replaced by the Joseon dynasty in 1392. ... Events Canonization of Saint Dominic Collapse of the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) Deaths Emperor Chukyo of Japan Emperor Go-Horikawa of Japan Monarchs/Presidents Aragon - James I King of Aragon and count of Barcelona (reigned from 1213 to 1276) Castile - Ferdinand III, the Saint King of Castile and Leon (reigned...

Unlike the metal punch system thought to be used by Gutenberg, the Koreans used a sand-casting method as described in this description of typecasting by the 15th c. Joseon dynasty scholar Seong Hyeon : Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (circa 1398 - February 3, 1468), a German metal-worker and inventor, achieved fame for his contributions to the technology of printing during about the 1450s, including a type metal alloy and oil-based inks, a mold for casting type accurately, and a new kind... The Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) (also Chosun), sometimes known as the Yi Dynasty, was a dynasty founded by General Yi Seonggye in what is modern day Korea, and lasted for five centuries as one of the worlds longest running monarchies. ...

At first, one cuts letters in beech wood. One fills a trough level with fine sandy [clay] of the reed-growing seashore. Wood-cut letters are pressed into the sand, then the impressions become negative and form letters [molds]. At this step, placing one trough together with another, one pours the molten bronze down into an opening. The fluid flows in, filling these negative molds, one by one becoming type. Lastly, one scrapes and files off the irregularities, and piles them up to be arranged.[7]

Among books printed with metal movable type, the oldest surviving books are from Korea, dated at least from 1377^[8]. Image File history File links Cquote1. ... Image File history File links Cquote2. ...

Movable type in Japan

Though the Jesuits operated a Western movable type printing-press in Nagasaki, printing equipment^[9] brought back by Toyotomi Hideyoshi's army from Korea in 1593 had far greater influence on the development of the medium. Four years later, Tokugawa Ieyasu, even before becoming shogun, effected the creation of the first native movable type,^[9] using wooden type-pieces rather than metal. He oversaw the creation of 100,000 type-pieces, which were used to print a number of political and historical texts. The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu), commonly known as the Jesuits, is a Roman Catholic religious order. ... Movable type. ... Printing press from 1811, photographed in Munich, Germany. ... Nagasaki (Japanese: 長崎市, Nagasaki-shi  , long peninsula) is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture in Japan. ... Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Shinjitai (modern Japanese) writing: ; KyÅ«jitai (historical) writing: 豐臣秀吉; born Hiyoshi-maru ; coming of age (gempuku) as Kinoshita Tōkichirō and later made Hashiba and martial nobility in the style of Hashiba Chikuzen no Kami Hideyoshi ; 1536 - September 18, 1598), was a Sengoku daimyo who unified Japan. ... Korea (Korean: 한국 or ì¡°ì„ , see below) is a geographic area, civilization, and former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. ... Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu The Tokugawa clan crest Tokugawa Ieyasu (previously spelled Iyeyasu); 徳川 家康 (January 31, 1543 – June 1, 1616) was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. ... Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate Shogun ) is a military rank and historical title in Japan. ...

An edition of the Confucian Analects was printed in 1598, using Korean moveable type printing equipment, at the order of Emperor Go-Yōzei. This document is the oldest work of Japanese moveable type printing extant today. Despite the appeal of moveable type, however, it was soon decided that the running script style of Japanese writings would be better reproduced using woodblocks, and so woodblocks were once more adopted; by 1640 they were once again being used for nearly all purposes. ^[10] Confucius (Chinese: , transliterated Kong Fuzi or Kung-fu-tzu, lit. ... Analects (論語 Pinyin: Lúnyǔ), or Analects of Confucius, written in twenty chapters, is thought to be a composition of the late Spring and Autumn Period. ... Emperor Go-Yōzei (後陽成天皇 Go-Yōzei Tennō) (December 31, 1572 - September 25, 1617) was the 107th imperial ruler of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. ... Running script (Chinese: 行書, Pinyin: XíngshÅ«, Japanese: gyōsho) is a semi-cursive style of Chinese calligraphy. ...

Movable type in other East Asian countries

Printing using movable type spread from Korea during the Mongol empire; among other groups, the Uighurs of Central Asia, whose script was adopted for the Mongol language, used movable type^[3]. ^{[citation needed]} Uyghurs (also called Uighurs, Uygurs, or Uigurs) (Chinese: 維吾爾 or 维吾尔 in pinyin: wéiwúěr) are a Turkic ethnic group of people living in northwestern China (mainly in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, where they are the dominant ethnic group together with Han people...

Possible influence on European use of movable type

Since the use of printing from movable type arose in East Asia well before it did in Europe, it is relevant to ask whether Gutenberg may have been influenced, directly or indirectly, by the Korean or Chinese discoveries of movable type printing. There is no actual evidence that Gutenberg may have known of the Korean processes for movable type^[5]. However, some authors admit this possibility, and argue that movable metal type had been an active enterprise in Korea since 1234 (although oldest preserved books are from 1377) and there was communication between West and East.^[5].

Mechanical presses

While printing has taken place for centuries in China, it is not clear if a machine like the European printing press was used.

References

1. ^ Shelagh Vainker in Anne Farrer (ed), "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas" , 1990, British Museum publications, ISBN 0 7141 1447 2
2. ^ ^{a b} An Introduction to a History of Woodcut, Arthur M. Hind,p , Houghton Mifflin Co. 1935 (in USA), reprinted Dover Publications, 1963 ISBN 0-486-20952-0
3. ^ ^{a b} Tsien, Tsuen-Hsuin (1985). “part one, vol.5”, Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China,: Paper and Printing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4. ^ Master E.S., Alan Shestack, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1967
5. ^ ^{a b c} Thomas Christensen (2006). Did East Asian Printing Traditions Influence the European Renaissance?. rightreading.com. Retrieved on 2006-10-18.
6. ^ Baek Sauk Gi (1987). Woong-Jin-Wee-In-Jun-Gi #11 Jang Young Sil, page 61. Woongjin Publishing.
7. ^ Sohn, Pow-Key (summer 1993). "Printing Since the 8th Century in Korea". Koreana 7 (2): 4-9.
8. ^ Michael Twyman, The British Library Guide to Printing: History and Techniques, London: The British Library, 1998 [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0802081797&id=KXoaalwyOjAC&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=korea+gutenberg+surviving&sig=4QBhy9ty1jbXJASJcUzFBDfKbGo online]
9. ^ ^{a b} Lane, Richard (1978). "Images of the Floating World." Old Saybrook, CT: Konecky & Konecky. p33.
10. ^ Sansom, George (1961). "A History of Japan: 1334-1615." Stanford, California: Stanford University Press

2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... October 18 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years). ...

External links

See also

• History of western typography
• Typography
• movable type
• printing press

] A piece of cast metal type, Garamond style long s / i ligature. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Movable type. ... The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text on rectangular sheets of paper. ...