Print Culture and the Modern World

Gutenberg was the son of a merchant and grew up on a large agricultural estate. Since his childhood he had seen the way wine was made by pressing the fruits. Later he learnt the art of polishing stones and became a master goldsmith. He also learnt to create lead moulds used for making trinkets.

Using all the skills he had acquired, he developed on the existing print technology and invented the first printing press in 1430s.
He made moulds, using metal, for the letters of the alphabet. He used these moulds for printing.
By 1448, Gutenberg perfected the printing system.
The first book he printed was the Bible.
180 copies were printed in three years.
Erasmus was a Latin scholar and a Catholic reformer. He criticised the excesses of Catholicism. He expressed a deep anxiety about printing. He felt that though there were a few books that were good most of the books were harmful to the human intellect.
Erasmus felt that it created glut and too much of any thing was harmful. He said that books were full stupid, ignorant, slanderous and scandalous raving. Many books were irreligious and the value of publication was lost due to these books according to Erasmus.
In 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed, as vernacular newspapers became assertively nationalist. The Act was modelled on the lines of the Irish Press Laws.
The Vernacular Press Act provided the government with extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the vernacular press. When a report was judged as rebellious, the newspaper was warned, and if the warning was ignored, the press was liable to be seized and the printing machinery confiscated.
In spite of these repressive measures, nationalist newspapers grew in numbers in all parts of India. These papers reported on colonial misrule and encouraged nationalist activities.