Chapter 1b of a university course in media history by Prof. Bill Kovarik, based on the book Revolutions in Communication: Media History from Gutenberg to the Digital Age (Bloomsbury, 2nd ed., 2015).
1. Media History from
Gutenberg
to the Digital Age
Slides based on the Bloomsbury book by Bill Kovarik
Revolutions in
Communication
Chapter 1b -- Impact of printing -- #5
2. Web site & textbook
Textbook:
1st edition – 2011 2nd edition – 2016
http://www.revolutionsincommunication.com
4. Francis Bacon, 1620
We should notice the force, effect,
and consequences of inventions,
which are nowhere more conspicuous
than in those three which were
unknown to the ancients; namely,
printing, gunpowder, and the
compass. For these three have
changed the appearance and state of
the whole world …
5. Printing effects
•Standardized
scripture
• Critical reading allowed
challenge to church
•Standardized language
•Helped form nation-state
•Amplified new information and ideas
• Christopher Columbus, Martin Luther
become famous overnight
6. Printing consequences:
The Protestant Reformation
20 – 30 million killed in religious wars
in the 1500s-1600s period.
Germany lost 30 % of population
England Counter-Reformation, 1553
Queen Mary I (“Bloody Mary”), then
Protestantism returns, Elizabeth I,
1559
Calls for tolerance contribute to the
spirit of the Enlightenment.
7. Printing and the Reformation
Printing amplified Martin
Luther’s dissent in a way
that had never happened
before.
His 95 Theses, published
in Germany in 1517,
circulated across Europe
in less than a month.
Crowds surged around the
printing houses, grabbing
pages still wet from the
press.
8. Three Bishops of Oxford,1555
Executed as Queen Mary I attempts to return Britain to
Catholic Church. This was also in retaliation for executions by
her father, Protestant king Henry VIII
“… Play the
man, Master
Ridley; we shall
this day light
such a candle,
by God's grace,
in England, as I
trust shall never
be put out.”
-- Bishop Hugh
Latimer
10. Reaction to religious wars
Religious tolerance slowly emerges
In France, Sebastian Casellio (1515-
1563) calls for freedom of conscience
In Britain, Elizabeth I (1533 – 1603)
succeeds “Bloody” Mary and stops
persecution of Catholics. “There is
only one Christ, Jesus, one faith" she
says. “All else is a dispute over trifles."
11. Impacts on science
Printing spurred the
exploration of physical
and mental horizons.
News of Columbus’
voyages
spread rapidly with
printing in the 1490s.
Astronomical observatory
of Tycho Brahe (1546–
1601) included a printing
shop to help spread new
scientific knowledge – and
prevent repression by the
church
12. De re metallica
A 1556 book by Georgius
Agricola (1494–1555)
Exploration of geology,
mining and metallurgy,
carefully illustrated.
Set a standard for
scientific and technical
books to come
13. First newspapers
Handwritten by armies of scribes in
ancient China and Rome
◦ Roman paper was called “Acta Diurna”
Newsletters common in Europe to
promote commerce 1400s-1600s
First printed newspaper: 1605:
Johann Carolus owned a book printing
company in Strasbourg, France, grew
tired of copying business newsletters
by hand.
14. Press censorship by …
Licensing of a printing company
itself;
Prior restraint: pre-press approval
of each book or edition of a
publication;
Taxation and stamps on regular
publications; and
Prosecution for sedition against the
government or libel of individuals.
15. English civil war
John Milton (1608-
1674)
◦ The marketplace of
ideas
“Who ever knew truth
put to the worse in a
free and open
encounter?"
Areopagetica 1644 --
reference to the
16. English Enlightenment
John Locke (1632-1704)
People and government
have a social contract
Government existed to serve the
people, not the other way around;
People have natural rights to life,
liberty and property.
Tolerance was vital
17. French Enlightenment
Francois Voltaire (1694-
1778) – May disagree with
what you say but will die
defending your right to say
it.
Also:
Baron de Montesquieu
(1689-1755) - Spirit of the
Laws / Separation of
powers (Legislative,
executive, judicial)
18. Trial of John Peter Zenger
New York printer uses truth as a defense in seditious libel trial, 1734
19. American Enlightenment
Benjamin Franklin
Printers believe that
"when men differ in
Opinion, both Sides
ought equally to have
the Advantage of
being heard by the
Public. When Truth
and Error have fair
Play, the former is
always an overmatch
for the latter."
20. John Wilkes
Editor of North Briton,
Member of Parliament
Newspaper censored, Wilkes
convicted of seditious libel 1764
Goes into four years of exile in
France, returns to fight for
Parliamentary privilege
Ben Franklin and other American
revolutionaries saw this as a bad
omen for their hope of freedom in
America.
Yes, he was that ugly … and yet
he was amazingly popular
21. The Fourth Estate
A reference to the growing power of the press
Whig party leader Edmund Burke in a 1787
speech to Parliament.
Burke said that there were three “estates”
(walks of life) represented in Parliament:
◦ The nobility (House of Lords);
◦ The clergy (Church of England);
◦ And the middle class (House of Commons).
“But in the Reporters Gallery yonder, there
sat a Fourth Estate, more important by far
than they all.”
22. Enlightenment spreads
Sweden was among the first to abolish
censorship with a law guaranteeing
freedom of the press in 1766.
Denmark and Norway followed with
their own law on freedom of the press
in 1770.
23. American Enlightenment
Thomas Jefferson
Millions of innocent men,
women and children,
since the introduction of
Christianity, have been
burnt, tortured, fined,
imprisoned; yet we have
not advanced one inch
towards uniformity. What
has been the effect of
coercion? To make half
the world fools, and the
other half hypocrites.
24. American
revolutionaries
“These are the times that try
men’s souls”— the words
that turned the spark of
rebellion into a campaign for
American freedom emerged
from the pen of Thomas
Paine.
After independence, Paine
became involved in the
French Revolution, then
returned to the United States
Thomas Paine, author of
Common Sense, 1776
26. Camille Desmoulins
On the storming of the Bastille, July 14, 1789
“I was carried upon a table rather than allowed to
mount it. Hardly had I got up on my feet when I
saw myself surrounded by an immense crowd.
Here is my short speech, which I shall never
forget:
‘Citizens! There is not a moment to lose. . . .
This evening all the Swiss and German battalions
will sally forth from the Champs de Mars to cut our
throats. We have only one recourse—to rush to
arms.’ I had tears in my eyes, and spoke with a
feeling that I have never been able to recapture,
no less describe.”
27. The
Terror
Tens of thousands of aristocrats and innocents
executed by guillotine in France in the 1790s;
Americans worry that their revolution could also devolve
into The Terror
28. US passes Sedition Act 1798
Prohibited writing, printing, uttering
"any false, scandalous and malicious
writing ... against the government of the
United States, or president of the United
States,
... to bring them into contempt or
disrepute, or to excite against them the
hatred of the good people of the United
States."
A stiff fine and prison term of two years
were the punishments. Overall, 25
people were arrested.
29. Reaction to Sedition Act
”A reign of witches" – Jefferson
"It suffices for a man to be a philosopher,
and to believe that human affairs are
susceptible of improvement, and to look
forward, rather than backward to the Gothic
ages, for perfection, to mark him as an
anarchist, disorganizer, atheist, and enemy of
the government."
Virginia and Kentucky assemblies pass
Resolutions condemning Sedition Act
Doctrine of “nullification” and states
rights
30. Partisan press US – Britain
William Cobbett was called “a kind of
fourth estate in the politics of the
country.”
Published Porcupine’s Gazette in
Philadelphia, 1790s and the Weekly
Political Register in England 1800s
Crusaded against cruelty, poverty and
corruption. In 1809 imprisoned two years
for seditious libel. Fled back to US in
1817 but then returned in 1819 to
continue crusading.
Cobbett attacked the “smothering system” that led to the Luddite
Riots and vowed to expose Britain’s “service and corrupt press” that had
become an instrument in the “delusion, the debasement and the
enslavement of a people.”
31. US partisan papers
Bitter partisanship aligned with John
Adams’ Federalist party or Thomas
Jefferson’s Democratic- Republican party
Depended on patronage and printing
contracts for basic income
Business model would change with
Penny Press revolution in 1830s
Not all newspapers were partisan.
◦ Niles Weekly Register, published in Baltimore
1811 - 1848, forerunner of modern press,
guided by principal of “magnanimous
disputation”
32. Partisan press France
In 1798, Napoleon
Bonaparte assumed power
Freedom of the press ended,
and widespread system of
censorship was put
in place by 1808
Number of newspapers in
Paris dwindled from
hundreds to only 4 by 1811.
Censorship was lifted following Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, then
imposed by French authorities, and occasionally lifted again in cycles
over the next century.
33. What was it like
to work in a printing chapel?
See the web site for the book Revolutions in Communication
Long hours, low pay, very strenuous, but also interesting, a place for
literate people, the Creatures of Prometheus.
34. Life in a print shop
Upper and lower case
Mind “p”s and “q”s
Composing “on the stick”
By the same token
Out of sorts
Playing quadrats
Getting a washing
Spirit of the chapel
35. Review: Questions
Where does paper come from?
What is parchment? What is papyrus?
Who invented printing?
How did steam printing affect the
industry?
How did rotary presses lead to
stereotyping?
When was mechanical typesetting
invented?
36. Review: People & Technology
Cai Lun, Henry Fourdrinier,
Bi Sheng, Johannes Gutenberg
Friedrich Koenig, Otto Mergenthaler
Rene Higgonnet, Louis Moyroud ,
Vannevar Bush
37. Review: Book people
Martin Luther
Francis Bacon
John Milton
Voltaire
John Locke
Thomas Paine
John Wilkes
Camille Desmoulins
William Cobbett
Benjamin Franklin
38. Review
Terms: logographic, codex, scriptoria,
incunabula, printing chapel
Ideas: Partisan press, sedition act,
religious tolerance, Fourth Estate
Major trends: Protestant reformation,
Enlightenment, English Civil War,
American & French revolutions
39. Next
Each drop in price / increase in power
and speed extended the printing
revolution
Stagnation in the 1870-1970 period
led to complacency in publishing
Publishers missed digital curve in the
road and lost markets
For more, read the RinC web site:
Who killed the American newspaper?
In a way, this barrel full of Bibles says it all about Europe in the 1500s. Here we have Scripture, translated into vernacular languages, that had to be hidden in barrels to be smuggled into non-Protestant countries. In this case, the Bibles are in Slovenian, translated by Primož Trubar in mid-1500s, printed in Germany, smuggled into Slovenia in barrels to circumvent church censors. (Photo by Prof. Kovarik from a display at Ljubljana Castle).
By the “force” of printing we mean how quickly things changed. By effects of printing, we mean the immediate impacts such as standardizing language and information, or making scripture available to ordinary people. And by consequences, we mean the chains of events that were set in motion over the long term, such as the Protestant Reformation beginning in the early 1500s with book publishing and the political revolutions beginning in the 1700s with newspaper publishing.
This illustration is from Foxes’ Book of Martyrs, one of the greatest pieces of Protestant propaganda.
One of the bishops, Hugh Latimer, is supposed to have said to Nicholas Ridley, "Be of good comfort, and play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.” Science fiction writer Ray Bradbury had a character in Farenheit 451 repeat the line just before her books were burned.
The sentiment echoed down through the Enlightenment to the US First Amendment and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This is something we see over and over again when it comes to invention. Someone who has a tiresome job, such as hand copying letters, or painting murals, or hand-checking calculations for navigation, starts thinking about how to improve the process. Charles Babbage and Joseph Niepce, early innovators in computing and photography, are examples of this.
Journalist and editor during 1789 – 94 period. Condemned the terror. Executed in 1794 by French revolutionary extremists.
One of the great ironies of American history is that a law passed Congress in 1798 that was directly contrary to the First Amendment. Then, to make matters worse, Jefferson and Madison wrote the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, saying that such laws could be nullified by states.
The intention of the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions was of course to locate the final guarantors of liberty in the states not the federal government. Yet within 60 years, the states were determined to hold back liberty and
Upper and lower case
Mind “p”s and “q”s
Composing “on the stick”
By the same token
Out of sorts
Playing quadrats
Getting a washing
Spirit of the chapel