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Printing press history
A short essay on the history of printing technology
A short essay on the history of printing technology
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PRINTING PRESS AND STANDARDISATION
In 1476, William Caxton introduced England to the printing press. This significant introduction to one of the world’s greatest technological innovations, at the time, helped to increase the spread of literacy and knowledge amongst the British people as the mass production of books became cheaper and more commonly available. According to Mastin (2011), the first book ever printed, although Caxton’s own interpretation was ‘The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye’ in 1473. Furthermore, Mastin (2011) states that in the following 150 years after the introduction of printing, up to 20000 books were printed.
Throughout printing, according to Shasel (1998), Caxton played a very significant and instrumental role in
After all, at the time of printing, there were five major dialect divisions within England (Northern, Southern, Kentish, West Midlands and East Midlands) with huge variations in spellings.
According to Shasel (1998), Caxton started printing and realised that the variations in English dialect prompted difficulties for some users of the language. Furthermore, to ‘unite’ the English people, Caxton had to choose a single dialect. Despite Caxton’s difficulties in orthography and lack of authoritative guidance on the English grammars, he still managed to translate French works into
According to The British Library Board (2015), Cawdrey’s dictionary contained approximately 3000 words, accompanied with a simple and brief description of each word. According to Mastin (2011) and The British Library Board (2015), Cawdrey’s use of words were thought of as ‘hard words’ (words unfamiliar to the public) because they were borrowed from the Hebrew, Latin, French and Greek languages.
The word definitions in which Cawdrey used were uncomplicated and simple. What set apart Cawdrey was that, unlike future dictionary creators, he did not refer to the great writers of the day or origins of words. Alternatively, the simplicity provided assistance for those who either wanted to have a better understanding of religious sermons and books, or learn how to spell correctly.
During the 16th century, developments in the arts, literature, medicine, science and renewed interest in classical languages, flooded the English language with new words. According to The British Library Board (2015), Cawdrey described that well-to-do gentleman decorated sentences with fancy phrases and complicated words from abroad. As a result, Cawdrey felt that by creating and publishing the ‘A Table Alphabeticall’, the English language would be better organised and help readers understand challenging
Books today are everywhere. We find them in many households, libraries and schools all around the globe. We find many different types of books; from stories to educational textbooks, we regard them today as sources of knowledge and amusement. But it wasn’t the case before 1455. That year, one of the greatest inventions in human history was revealed to the world; Gutenberg’s printing press. This press allowed printing in massive quantity, spreading books all around Europe and the rest of the world at a fast rate. The printing press had many positive consequences on society. At first, it standardized grammar and spelling, and then introduced the mass production of books. It finally inspired future printing technologies around the world.
Simpson, J. A., and E. S. C. Weiner. The Oxford English dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press; 1989.Print.
Before the invention of the printing press, any writing done, whether it was a book, or drawing, or copies of the Bible had to be completed painstakingly by the hand. Every letter, every word, every sentence, had to be written down by hand. It took almost over an entire year to write a single book. In addition to the large amount of time spent, people often made mistakes delaying the publishing of the book. The effects of these scarce, handwritten copies were that education and learning was very limited. Desperate for fame and money, German Johannes Gutenberg changed all of that. In 1450, Gutenberg created the first ever printing press, built and improved existing printing methods. Soon, by the 1500’s printing shops were located everywhere in the major cities of Europe. People had a better way of spreading ideas and findings of new lands during the Age of Exploration, the period of time when Europeans began exploring the world by sea in search of new discoveries, trade routes, and goods found in other countries. The Age of Exploration was affected by the printing press more than the Protestant Reformation was, because it helped publicize recent findings, inspiring and
2 Delbridge, A., Bernard, J. R. L., Blair, D., Peters, P., Butler, S., Eds., The Macquarie Dictionary, Second Ed., Macquarie: Macquarie, 1995, p. 826.
This new technology is not without its shortcomings. First, the printing press used limited materials. Next, as Mumford notes, the advent of print led calligraphers and manuscript copyists out of work. Furthermore, as Graff finds, it created “typographical fixity”—material once printed cannot be changed. Finally, mass production was dependent and limited to large markets (Mumford, 95)....
Winchester, Simon. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary. New York: HarperCollins, 1998. Print.
Mitchell, Bruce, and Fred C Bruce, eds. A Guide to Old English. 5th ed. Oxford:
Winchester, Simon. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary. New York: HarperCollins, 1998. Print.
In Johnson’s preface to A Dictionary of the English Language, Johnson argues the importance of preserving language. Other dialects had a produced their own dictionaries, such as the French and Italians. Various writers of the eighteenth century were alarmed at the fact that there was no standard for the English language, since there was no standard it could easily become extinct. Johnson explored many points, such as how and why languages change as well as how many words are formed.
how the English language has changed in the many years from then until now. The
Pearsall J (1999) The Concise Oxford Dictionary Tenth Edition page 286 by Oxford University Press in Oxford New York, America
The invention of the printing press was one of the most useful technologies in history because it helped spread ideas, produced books, and greatly improved the economy. Johannes Gutenberg, who was a German goldsmith, developed the printing press “in Mainz, Germany between 1446 and 1450” (Ditttmar, 1133). The printing press was made to print books, newspapers, and flyers. The machine was made from wood and was based off screw presses, that worked with inked movable type heads that allowed the paper to be quickly and efficiently pressed with letters. The type head was made by pouring lead-tin alloy into a hand mold, along a rectangular stalk.
The English language has been in constant transition throughout its history, but the most significant transformation in modern English can be credited to William Shakespeare. With Shakespeare’s invention of commonly used expressions, his creation of new words, and his use of iambic pentameter, he was able to affect the language in a way that no person since has. Shakespeare’s influence on modern English is not only visible in everyday speech, but also in the fact that his work has survived over four hundred years and it continues to be performed and read worldwide.
8. Simpson, J. A., & Weiner, E. S. (1989). The Oxford English dictionary (2nd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press ;.
It was this Chancery standard, the normal language for all official written communication by the time Caxton set up his Printing Press in West-minster (1476), which became the direct ancestor of Modern Standard English. As a result of these developments, the use of regional dialects in writing receded more and more in the course of the fifteenth century until, in the Early Modern English period, writing came to be exclusively done in the standard literary language. The language of Chaucer's late fourteenth century and of the fifteenth were often described as Late Middle English. It could as well be called Early Modern English. Ich and I ran side by side in Chaucer's language, and the distinction between ye and you was still that of nominative versus accusative.