Modern life can not be imagined withoutinvention, which gave the world a simple German artisan Johann Gutenberg. The typography, the founder of which he became, changed the course of world history to such an extent that it is rightfully considered to be one of the greatest achievements of civilization. His merit is so great that those who, even many centuries before, created the basis for the future discovery, are undeservedly forgotten.
The history of typography originates in China,where else in the III century the technique of the so-called piece printing - a print on textiles, and later on paper of various drawings and short texts, cut on a wooden board, came into use. This method was called woodcutting and from China quickly spread throughout East Asia.
It should be noted that printed prints appearedmuch earlier than books. Separate specimens, made in the first half of the 3rd century, when representatives of the Han dynasty ruled in China, have survived to this day. In the same period, the technique of three-color printing on silk and paper appeared.
Creation of the first printed book by researchersrefer to the year 868 - it is this date that stands on the earliest edition, made in the technique of woodcuts. It appeared in China and was a collection of religious and philosophical texts entitled The Diamond Sutra. During the excavations of the Gyeonggi Temple in Korea, a sample of the printed product was found, made almost a century earlier, but, due to some peculiarities, it belongs to the category of amulets rather than books.
In the Middle East, block printing, that is, howit was said above, made from the board on which the text or drawing was cut out, came into use in the middle of the IV century. Woodcut, called “tarsh” in Arabic, became widespread in Egypt and reached its peak by the beginning of the 10th century.
This method was mainly used forprinting texts of prayers and making written amulets. A characteristic feature of Egyptian woodblock is the use of not only wooden boards for prints, but also made of tin, lead and baked clay.
However, no matter how advanced the technologypiece printing, its main drawback was the need for each regular page to re-cut all the text. A breakthrough in this direction, thanks to which the history of printing received a significant impetus, also occurred in China.
According to an eminent scholar and historianOver the past centuries, Shen Ko, the Chinese master Bi Shen, who lived between 990 and 1051, came up with the idea to make movable letters out of baked clay and place them in special frames. This made it possible to type a certain text out of them, and after printing the necessary number of copies, scatter and reuse them in other combinations. So a mobile font was invented, used up to the present day.
Однако эта гениальная идея, ставшая основой всего the future of printing, not received in that period of proper development. This is explained by the fact that in Chinese there are several thousand hieroglyphs, and making such a font seemed too difficult.
Meanwhile, considering all stages of typography,It should be recognized that non-Europeans used the type-setting letters for the first time. The only surviving book of religious texts, made in Korea in 1377, is known. As the researchers found, it was printed using mobile font technology.
In Christian Europe, the technique of box printingappeared around 1300. On its basis, various religious images made on fabric were made. They were sometimes quite complex and multicolored. About a century later, when paper became relatively affordable, Christian engravings were printed on it, and in parallel with this, playing cards. Paradoxically, the progress of printing has served both holiness and vice.
However, the full history of typographybegins with the invention of the printing press. This honor belongs to the German artisan from the city of Mainz, Johann Gutenberg, who in 1440 developed a method of multiple imprinting on sheets of paper, using movable letters. Despite the fact that in the following centuries primacy in this area was attributed to other inventors, serious researchers have no reason to doubt that the appearance of typography is associated precisely with his name.
Gutenberg's invention was that heHe made letters from metal in their inverted (mirror) form, and then, typing lines from them, made an imprint on paper using a special press. Like most geniuses, Gutenberg had brilliant ideas, but there were no funds for their implementation.
To give life to his invention, ingeniousthe artisan was forced to seek help from the Mainz businessman named Johann Fust and conclude an agreement with him, by virtue of which he was obliged to finance future production, and for this he had the right to receive a certain percentage of the profits.
Despite the external primitiveness usedtechnical means and lack of qualified assistants, the inventor of the first printing press was able to quickly produce a number of books, the most famous of which is the famous Gutenberg Bible, kept in the museum of the city of Mainz.
But the world is so arranged that in one person rarelygets along with the gift of the inventor with the skills of a cold-blooded businessman. Very soon, Fust took advantage of the part of the profits that had not been paid to him on time and, through the court, took over the whole business. He became the sole owner of the printing house, and this explains the fact that for a long time the creation of the first printed book was mistakenly associated with his name.
As mentioned above, very many nationsWestern Europe has contested the honor of Germany to be considered the founders of typography. In this regard, several names are mentioned, among which Johann Mentelin from Strasbourg is the most famous, having managed in 1458 to create a printing house similar to that of Gutenberg, as well as Pfister from Bamberg and the Dutchman Lawrence Koster.
The Italians also did not stand asidethat their compatriot Pamphilio Castaldi is the inventor of the movable type, and that it was he who transferred his typography to the German merchant Johann Fust. However, no serious evidence of such a statement was provided.
And, finally, we will dwell in more detail on howThe history of typography in Russia developed. It is well known that the first printed book of the Moscow State is the Apostle, made in 1564 in the printing house of Ivan Fedorov and Peter Mstislavts. Both of them were pupils of the Danish master Hans Missenheim, sent by the king at the request of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The afterword of the book states that their printing house was founded in 1553.
According to researchers, historyprinting in the Moscow state was developed as a result of the urgent need to correct the many mistakes that crept into the texts of religious books that were copied for many years. By carelessness, and sometimes deliberately, the scribes made distortions, which every year became more and more.
Состоявшийся в 1551 году в Москве церковный the cathedral, called Stoglavy (by the number of chapters in its final resolution), issued a decree on the basis of which all manuscripts in which errors were noticed were removed from use and were subject to correction. However, this practice often led only to new distortions. It is quite clear that the solution to the problem could only be the widespread introduction of print publications, replicating the original text many times.
This issue was well informed forpursuing commercial interests, in many European countries, in particular, in Holland and Germany, they established the printing of books for their sales among the Slavic peoples. This created a fertile ground for the subsequent creation of a number of domestic printing houses.
A tangible impetus for the development of printing onRussia was the establishment of the patriarchate in it. The first head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Job, who took the throne in 1589, from the first days began to make efforts to provide the state with the proper amount of spiritual literature. During his reign, typography was headed by a master named Nevezha, who published fourteen different editions, in their characteristic features very close to the Apostle, which Ivan Fedorov printed.
The history of printing of a later periodassociated with the names of such masters as O. I. Radischevsky-Volyntsev and A. F. Pskovitin. A lot of not only spiritual literature came out of their typography, but also educational books, in particular, manuals on the study of grammar and reading skills.
Резкий спад в развитии типографского дела occurred at the beginning of the XVII century and was due to events associated with the Polish-Lithuanian intervention and called the Time of Troubles. Part of the masters was forced to interrupt their occupation, and the rest died or left the borders of Russia. Mass book printing was resumed only after the first sovereign from the House of Romanov, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, ascended to the throne.
Did not remain indifferent to typographicalduring production and Peter I. After visiting Amsterdam during his European trip, he concluded a contract with the Dutch merchant Jan Tessing, under which he had the right to produce printed materials in Russian and bring it to Arkhangelsk for sale.
In addition, the sovereign was given an order forthe manufacture of a new civilian typeface, which was widely used in 1708. Three years later, in St. Petersburg, preparing to become the capital of Russia, the country's largest printing house was established, which later became synodal. From here, from the banks of the Neva, typography began to move throughout the country.
