• Developed in China, Japan and Korea

• System of Hand Printing

• Woodblock printing [from AD 594]

• Chinese Accordion Book

• Calligraphy

It is the art of beautiful and stylised writing. Superbly skilled craftsmen used to duplicate with remarkable accuracy.

• Huge Bureaucratic system

• Recruitment of personnel through civil services examinations

• Printing of textbooks sponsored by the Imperial State

• Increase in the number of examinations by 16th century

• Urban culture bloomed

• Print diversified

• Not limited to Scholar-officials

• Used by Merchants for trade information

• Reading became a leisure activity

• New readership preferred fictional narratives, poetry, autobiographies, anthology of literary masterpieces and Romantic plays

• Rich women began to read

• Wives of Scholar-officials published their work

• Reading culture accompanied by a new technology

• Import of Western printing techniques and mechanical presses

• Establishment of outposts in China by the Western powers

• Western style schools at Shanghai

• Shanghai became the hub of the new print culture

• Hand printing introduced by Buddhist Monasteries

• Hand printing around AD 768-770

• Oldest Japanese Book Diamond Sutra printed in AD 868

• Printing on textiles, playing cards and paper money

• Abundance of cheap books in Medieval Japan

• Printing of Visual Materials

• Flourishing urban circles at Edo[old name of Tokyo]

• Illustrated collections of paintings depicting urban culture

• Libraries and bookstores packed with hand-printed materials

• Types of hand-printed materials: books on women, musical instruments, calculations, tea ceremonies, flower arrangements, proper etiquette, cooking, and famous places.

An image of the Tripitaka Koreana from an NCERT textbook shows rows of wooden printing blocks neatly arranged on shelves. The blocks contain carved Buddhist scriptures in classical Chinese, part of the Tripitaka Koreana, a revered collection of Buddhist texts preserved in Korea. The scene highlights the intricate craftsmanship and historical significance of the woodblocks 

Ukiyo-e (浮世絵), which translates to "pictures of the floating world," is the artistic style most commonly associated with Ukiyo. It includes woodblock prints and paintings, often depicting scenes of kabuki actors, beautiful women (bijin-ga), landscapes, and nature.

Artists like Kitagawa Utamaro, Hokusai, and Hiroshige are famous for their contributions to Ukiyo-e, which continues to influence modern art worldwide.

A man looks out of the window at the snowfall while women prepare tea and perform other domestic duties.

• Chinese paper reached Europe via the Silk Route

• Production of Manuscripts began

• Marco Polo brought woodblock printing technology to Italy

• Demand for books increased

• Luxury Editions still handwritten on Vellum

Vellum- a parchment made from the

 skin of animals

Marco Polo (1254-1324), a Venetian merchant, journeyed across Asia at the height of the Mongol Empire, starting at age 17 with his father and uncle. His adventures were recorded in The Travels of Marco Polo (c. 1300). 

•Booksellers export to different countries

•Book fairs

•Production of Handwritten manuscripts

•Skilled Hand Writers/Scribes employed

•Woodblock Printing

• Copying was an expensive, laborious and time-consuming business.

• Manuscripts were fragile and awkward to handle.

• They could not be carried around or read easily.

• Their circulation was limited.

• There was need for quick and cheap production

• The increasing demand for books led to the rising popularity of woodblock printing.

• By the early fifteenth century, woodblocks were widely used in Europe for printing textiles, playing cards, and religious images with brief texts.

• There was a significant need for quicker and more cost-effective reproduction of texts.

• This need could only be met with the invention of new printing technology.

• The breakthrough came in Strasbourg, Germany, where Johann Gutenberg developed the first-known printing press in the 1430s.

• Gutenberg was the son of a merchant and grew up on a large agricultural estate.

• He was exposed to wine and olive presses during his childhood.

• He learned the art of polishing stones and became a master goldsmith.

• He also gained expertise in creating lead moulds for making trinkets.

• Drawing on this knowledge, Gutenberg adapted existing technology to create his innovation.

• The olive press served as the model for the printing press, while moulds were utilized for casting metal types for the letters of the alphabet.

• By 1448, Gutenberg perfected his printing system.

• The first book he printed was the Bible.

• The first book printed by Gutenberg was the Bible.

• Approximately 180 copies were produced, taking three years to complete, with no more than 50 surviving today.

• This production speed was considered fast for the time.

• Gutenberg's Bible pages were not merely products of new technology; they featured text printed in metal type using the Gutenberg press.

• Borders of the pages were carefully designed, painted, and illuminated by hand by artists.

• No two copies of the Bible were identical; each page in every copy was different.

• Even seemingly similar copies displayed subtle differences upon careful comparison.

• Elites favoured this lack of uniformity, as it allowed them to claim their copy as unique, with no exact duplicates.

• The text includes coloured letters in various places, serving two purposes: to add visual interest and to highlight significant holy words.

• The color on each page was applied by hand, as Gutenberg printed the text in black, leaving spaces for the colors to be filled in later.

• The long handle attached to the screw was used to turn the screw and press down the platen over the printing block placed on a damp sheet of paper.

• Gutenberg developed metal types for each of the 26 characters of the Roman alphabet.

• He devised a system for moving these types to compose different words in the text.

• This innovation became known as the movable type printing machine and remained the fundamental printing technology for the next 300 years.

• Books could now be produced significantly faster than the traditional method of hand-carving wooden print blocks.

• The Gutenberg press was capable of printing 250 sheets on one side per hour.