Chapter 5 Solutions — Print Culture and the Modern World

Woodblock printing was a Chinese technology. Europe learnt of it only when there was direct contact that carried the knowledge back.

In 1295, Marco Polo, a great explorer, returned to Italy after many years of exploration in China. As China already had the technology of woodblock printing, Marco Polo brought this knowledge back with him.

After this, Italians began producing books with woodblocks, and soon the technology spread to other parts of Europe. This is why woodblock print came to Europe only after 1295.

By the mid-eighteenth century there was a common conviction that books were a means of spreading progress and enlightenment, and that they could liberate society from despotism and tyranny and usher in an age of reason.

Louise-Sebastien Mercier declared, 'The printing press is the most powerful engine of progress and public opinion is the force that will sweep despotism away,' and proclaimed, 'Tremble, therefore, tyrants of the world! Tremble before the virtual writer!'

Print popularised the ideas of Enlightenment thinkers like Voltaire and Rousseau, who attacked superstition, the sacred authority of the Church and the despotic power of the state, arguing for the rule of reason. Print also created a new culture of dialogue and debate in which all values and institutions were questioned. People believed that as print spread reason and criticism, they would become enlightened and despotism would lose its legitimacy.

In 1517 Martin Luther wrote his Ninety Five Theses criticising many of the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church, and a printed copy was posted on a church door in Wittenberg.

Because of print, his writings were immediately reproduced in vast numbers and read widely, leading to the Protestant Reformation. His translation of the New Testament sold 5,000 copies within a few weeks and a second edition appeared within three months.

Deeply grateful to print for spreading his reform ideas so quickly, Luther said, 'Printing is the ultimate gift of God and the greatest one.'