![]() ![]() Unlike with letterpress, lithography printing allows the entire printing space - both the text to be printed and the white space surrounding it - to remain on a level surface with no raised areas. In 1798, Alois Senefelder invented lithography printing. He also was the pioneer for adding wide margins to the printed page, as well as spacing - or leading - between lines of text. In the 18th century, printer and typographer John Baskerville created a way to make paper whiter and smoother so that in printing, the ink showed up strong and crisp. Individuals continued to find ways to improve the look of the printed page over the decades. After his death, Caslon’s typeface was used in the printing of the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776, which was sent out to all the states. Typeface designer and gunsmith William Caslon created a type that was legible and distinct, which became popular for use in printing important documents. His printing press and subsequent standardization of the English language are said to be the reason for the expansion of English vocabulary and introduction of inflection in writing. The first English book was printed in 1473 in Bruges, Belgium, by William Caxton. The publication of the Gutenberg Bible not only allowed the printed word to reach the common people, it also encouraged the spreading of information and ideas. While the printing press itself changed very little over the next few centuries, the ability to print more quickly and efficiently gave rise to new ways of thinking. One hundred eighty copies were made of this Bible, and 48 copies can still be found in museums today.įor the next 350 years, Gutenberg’s press was used to print with virtually no changes to the design. His most notable print job was a copy of the Bible, which was 42 lines of text in two columns on each page, and consisted of two volumes that totaled 1,282 pages - a task that took a staff of 20 and two to three years (between 14/1455) to complete. ![]() With this new way to print, Gutenberg could print books at a rate of approximately six pages per day. Gutenberg’s printing press was called a “screw press” or handpress, and allowed ink to transfer evenly between the page and the forme. In order to transfer these impressions from forme to page, Gutenberg used a lacquer-like ink he created himself out of soot, walnut oil and turpentine. Letters and symbols could then be assembled on a wooden forme to create entire pages of text, complete with spacers and lead rules for legibility. The metal type included individual capital and lowercase letters, as well as punctuation symbols these characters’ reverse impressions (or “mirror images”) were cast in metal. While this method was a significant improvement on wood-block page printing, the wooden letters did not print with clarity, so Gutenberg began working with metal type instead. This allowed for a movable type, where individual letters could be used to form words for one page of print, then taken apart and re-ordered to create the next. It is believed that his first forays, between the 1430s and 1440s, were through his own version of wood-block printing, with individual, reusable letters carved into wood blocks instead of entire words or pages. Gutenberg’s efforts to create an easier way of printing took an extensive amount of time and funding. However, wood-block printing did allow books to be copied more easily than the earlier method of transcribing by hand. Each page required its own wooden block, which was a time-consuming and difficult process. The blocks would then be inked and paper placed on top, and rubbing the paper onto the wood would create an impression. Once the text was carved, the space around the letters had to be whittled away so the text was the only surface that would touch the page. In the decades just preceding the 1440s, printing of any kind required craftsmen to carve entire pages of text into wooden blocks. When Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th century, his goal was to bring books to the common people.
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