Print Culture & the Modern World - History

1. Q1) What are the various evidences of print that we find around us? A1) We daily find evidences
of print everywhere around us – in books, journals, newspapers, prints of famous paintings, also
in everyday things like theatre programmes, official circulars, calendars, diaries, advertisements,
cinema posters at street corners.
2. Q2) Where did the print technology first develop? Explain the system of handblock printing. A2)
The earliest kind of print technology was developed in China, Japan and Korea. This was a
system of hand printing. From AD 594 onwards, books in China were printed by rubbing paper –
also invented there – against the inked surface of woodblocks. As both sides of the thin, porous
sheet could not be printed so they were printed on one side, the traditional Chinese ‘accordion
book’ was folded and stitched at the side. Superbly skilled craftsmen could duplicate, with
remarkable accuracy, the beauty of calligraphy. The system of handblock printing is as follows:
1) The required matter is engraved on a woodblock. 2) Ink is applied on the surface of the
woodblock. 3) A plain paper is rubbed against the surface of the woodblock. 4) This leaves the
required impression on the paper.
3. Q3) What is Accordion Book? A3) When Handblock printing started, printing was done on one
side of paper and other side was blank due to its porous nature. These one sided printed sheets
were folded and stitched at the sides. This came to be known as accordion book.
4. Q4) What is Calligraphy? A4) The art of beautiful and stylised writing is called calligraphy.
5. Q5) For what purpose were prints used in China in ancient times? (in the 16th century) A5) For
a very long time, the imperial state of China was the major producer of printed material. China
possessed a huge bureaucratic system which recruited its personnel through civil service
Examinations. Textbooks for this examination were printed in vast numbers under the
sponsorship of the imperial state. From the sixteenth century, the number of examination
candidates went up and that increased the volume of print.
6. Q6) What were the various types of printed material used in China in seventeenth century? OR
How did use of print get diversified in China in seventeenth century? OR By the seventeenth
century, as urban culture bloomed in China, the uses of print diversified. Explain A6) Print was
no longer used just by scholar officials. In seventeenth century, merchants used print in their
everyday life, as they collected trade information. Reading increasingly became a leisure activity.
The new readership preferred fictional narratives, poetry, autobiographies, anthologies of
literary masterpieces, and romantic plays. Rich women began to read and many women began
publishing their poetry and plays. Wives of scholar-officials published their works and
courtesans wrote about their lives.
7. Q7) Name the hub of the new print culture in China. A7) This new reading culture was
accompanied by a new technology. Western printing techniques and mechanical presses were
imported in the late nineteenth century as Western powers established their outposts in China.
Shanghai became the hub of the new print culture, catering to the Western Style schools.
8. Q8) Explain the development of print in Japan.
A8) Buddhist missionaries from China introduced hand-printing technology into Japan around
AD 768-770. The oldest Japanese book, printed in AD 868 is the Buddhist Diamond Sutra,
containing six sheets of text and woodcut illustrations. Pictures were printed on textiles, playing
 cards and paper money. In medieval Japan, poets and prose writers were regularly published,
and books were cheap and abundant. Printing of visual material led to interesting publishing
practices. In the late eighteenth century, in the flourishing urban circles at Edo (later to be
known as Tokyo), illustrated collections of paintings depicted an elegant urban culture, involving
artists, courtesans, and teahouse gatherings. Libraries and bookstores were packed with hand-

2. printed material of various types – books on women, musical instruments, calculations, tea ceremony,
flower arrangements, proper etiquette, cooking and famous places.

Q9) Discuss why the knowledge of wood-block printing came to Europe only after 1295?

A9) In the eleventh century, Chinese paper reached Europe via the silk route. Paper made possible the
production of manuscripts, carefully written by scribes. Then in 1295, Marco Polo, a great explorer
returned to Italy after many years of exploration in China. China already had the technology of
woodblock printing. Marco Polo brought this knowledge back with him. Now Italians began producing
books with woodblocks, and soon the technology spread to other parts of Europe. Luxury editions were
still handwritten on very expensive vellum, meant for aristocratic circles and rich monastic libraries
which scoffed at printed books as cheap vulgarities. Merchants and students in the university towns
bought the cheaper printed copies.

Q10) What is vellum? What was its use in Europe? A10) Vellum is a parchment made from the skin of
animals. Luxury editions were still handwritten on very expensive vellum, meant for aristocratic circles
and rich monastic libraries which scoffed at printed books as cheap vulgarities. Merchants and students
in the university towns bought the cheaper printed copies.

Q11) What were the drawbacks of handwritten manuscripts when compared to printed material? A11)
a) Copying was an expensive, laborious and time consuming business. b) Manuscripts were fragile and
awkward to handle. c) They could not be carried around or read easily. Their circulation therefore
remained limited. d) Manuscripts were difficult to read because style of writing of different people
varied.

Q12) What techniques were adopted by booksellers to increase the sale of books? A12) As the demand
for the books increased, booksellers all over Europe began exporting books to many different countries.
Book fairs were held at different places. Production of handwritten manuscripts was also organised in
new ways to meet the expanded demand. Scribes or skilled hand writers were no longer solely
employed by wealthy or influential patrons but increasingly by booksellers as well. More than 50 scribes
often worked for one bookseller.

Q13) In 15th Century, for what purpose was woodblock printing used? A13) By the early 15th century,
woodblocks were being widely used in Europe to print textiles, playing cards, and religious pictures with
simple, brief texts.

Q14) Who invented printing press and when? Which was first book to be printed? A14) Johann
Gutenberg developed the first-known printing press in the 1430s. The first book to be printed was Bible.
Q15) Discuss how Gutenberg set about print revolution? OR Write a short note on the printing press by
Gutenberg. A15) Gutenberg was the first one to set up printing press. From his childhood, he had seen
wines and olive presses. Subsequently, he learnt the art of polishing stones, became a master goldsmith,
and also acquired the expertise to create lead moulds used for making trinkets. Drawing on this
knowledge, Gutenberg adapted existing technology to design his innovation. The olive press provided
the model for the printing press and moulds were used for casting the metal types for the letters of the
alphabet. By 1448, Gutenberg perfected the system. The first book he printed was the Bible. About 180
copies were printed and it took three years to produce them. By the standards of the time, this was fast
production. Gutenberg Printing Press had a long handle attached to the screw. This handle was used to
turn the screw and press down the platen over the printing block that was placed on top of a sheet of
damp paper. Gutenberg developed metal types for each of the 26 characters of the Roman alphabet and
devised a way of moving them around so as to compose different words of the text. This came to known
as the moveable type printing machine and it remained the Basic print technology over the next 300
years. The Gutenberg Press could print 250 sheets on one side per hour.

Q16) The new technology did not entirely displace the existing art of producing books by hand. Explain.
OR What were the features of Gutenberg Printing Press?

A16) a) Printed books at first closely resembled the written manuscripts in appearance and layout. b)
The metal letters imitated the ornamental handwritten styles. c) Borders were illuminated by hand with
foliage (leaf like designs) and other patterns and illustrations were painted. d) In the books printed for
the rich, space for decoration was kept blank on printed page. Each purchaser could choose the design
and decide on the painting school that would do the illustrations. e) The new technology did not entirely
displace the existing art of producing books by hand.

Q17) The shift from hand printing to mechanical printing led to the print revolution. Explain.

A17) In the hundred years between 1450 and 1550, printing presses were set up in most countries of
Europe. Printers form Germany travelled to other countries, seeking work and helping start new presses.
As the number of printing presses grew, book production boomed. The second half of the fifteenth
century saw 20 million copies of printed books flooding the markets in Europe. the number went up in
the sixteenth century to about 200 million copies.

Q18) What was print revolution?

A18) Print revolution occurred due to the progress made in print. It was not just a development but was
a new way of producing books. It brought about a dramatic change in technology and transformed the
lives of people, changing their relationship to information and knowledge and with institutions and
authorities. It influenced popular perceptions and opened up new ways of looking at things.

Q19) The hearing public and reading public intermingled. Explain.

A19) Printing reduced the cost of books. The time and labour required to produce each book came
down, and multiple copies could be produced with greater ease. Books flooded the market, reaching out
to an ever-growing readership. Earlier, reading was restricted to the elites. Common people lived in a
world of oral culture. They heard sacred texts read out, ballads recited, and folktales narrated.
Knowledge was transferred orally. People collectively heard a story or saw a performance. Before the
age of print, books were not only expensive but they could not be produced in sufficient numbers. Now
books could reach out to wider sections of people. If earlier there was a hearing public, now a reading
public came into being. Books could be read only by the literate, and the rates of literacy in most
European countries were very low till the twentieth century. Common people enjoyed listening to books
being read out. So printers began publishing popular ballads and folk tales, and such books would be
profusely illustrated with pictures. These were then sung and recited at gatherings in villages and in
taverns in towns. Oral culture thus entered print and printed material was orally transmitted. The line
that separated the oral and reading cultures became blurred. And the hearing public & the reading
public became intermingled.

Q20) Why were many people apprehensive to the newly printed books entering into the market?

A20) Not everyone welcomed the printed book and those who did also had fears about it. a) Many were
apprehensive of the effects that the easier access to the printed word (book) and the wider circulation
of books, could have on people’s minds. b) It was feared that if there was no control over what was
printed and read then rebellious and irreligious thoughts might spread. c) If that happened, the
authority of ‘valuable’ literature would be destroyed. d) Expressed by religious authorities and
monarchs, as well as many writers and artists, this anxiety was the basis of widespread criticism of the
new printed literature that had began to circulate. This anxiety was expressed by religious authorities
and monarchs as well as writers and artists.

Q21) What is Protestant Reformation?

A21) Protestant Reformation was a sixteenth century movement to reform the Catholic Church
dominated by Rome. Martin Luther (the one who started it) was one of the main Protestant reformers.
Several traditions of anti-Catholic Christianity developed out of the movement.

Q22) Write a short note on Martin Luther?

A22) In 1517, the religious reformer Martin Luther wrote ‘Ninety-Five Theses’ criticising many of the
practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church. A printed copy of this was posted on a church door
in Wittenberg. It challenged the Church to debate his ideas. Luther’s writings were immediately
reproduced in vast numbers and read widely. This lead to a division within the Church and marked the
beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Luther’s translations of the New Testament sold 5,000 copies
within a few weeks and a second edition appeared within three months. Deeply grateful to print, Luther
said, ‘Printing is the ultimate gift of God and the greatest one’. Several scholars, in fact, think that print
brought about a new intellectual atmosphere and helped spread the new ideas that led to the
Reformation.

Q23) Why did many people think that print led to reformation?

A23) Print brought about a new intellectual atmosphere and helped spread the new ideas that led to
reformation. Martin Luther’s translation of Bible reached large number of people.

Q24) Write a short note on Menocchio?

A24) Print and popular religious literature stimulated many distinctive individual interpretations of faith
even among little-educated working people. In the sixteenth century, Menocchio, a miller in Italy, began
to read books that were available in his locality. He reinterpreted the message of the Bible and
formulated a view of God and Creation that enraged the Roman Catholic Church. When the Roman
Church began its inquisition to repress heretical ideas, Menocchio was hauled up twice and ultimately
executed. The Roman Church, troubled by such effects of popular readings and questionings of faith,
imposed severe controls over publishers and booksellers and began to maintain in Index of Prohibited
Books from 1558. Q25) a) Who was Erasmus? b) What were his ideas on the published books that were
coming out? A25) a) Erasmus, a Latin scholar and a Catholic reformer, who criticised the excesses of
Catholicism but kept his distance from Luther, expressed a deep anxiety about printing. He wrote in his
book Adages: b) I) A large number of printed books were harmful to scholarship. II) In the glut, even the
valuable standard books were shadowed and lost their shine and importance. III) Most of the public
books were scandalous, irreligious and immoral, raving and seditious.

Q26) Why did Catholic Church bring out the index of prohibited books?

A26) Large number of printed books which carried ideas against the beliefs and practices of the Church
came in to the market. The Roman Church, troubled by such effects of popular reading and questionings
of faith, imposed severe controls over publishers and booksellers and began to maintain an Index of
Prohibited books from 1558. The faithful and believers were prohibited to read these books.

Q27) What was the reason for increase in number of reading public by the end of 18th century?

A27) Through the seventeenth and eighteenth century literacy rates went up in most parts of Europe.
Churches of different denominations set up schools in villages carrying literacy to peasants and artisans.
By the end of the eighteenth century, in some parts of Europe literacy rates were as high as 60 to 80%.
As literacy and schools spread in European countries, there was a virtual reading mania. People wanted
books to read and printers produced books in ever increasing numbers.

Q28) What were the effects of reading mania?

A28) a) New forms of popular literature appeared in print, targeting new audience. b) The periodical
press developed from the early eighteenth century, combining information about current affairs with
entertainment. Newspapers and journals carried information about wars and trade, as well as news of
developments in other places.

c) The ideas of scientists and philosophers now became more accessible to the common people. i)
Ancient and medieval scientific texts were complied and published and maps and scientific diagrams
were widely printed. When scientists like Isaac Newton began to publish their discoveries, they could
influence a much wider circle of scientifically minded readers. ii) The writings of thinkers such as Thomas
Paine, Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau were also widely printed and read. Thus their ideas about
science, reason and rationality found their way into popular literature. d) Publishers adopted new
methods to promote sale of books i) Booksellers employed pedlars who roamed around villages,
carrying little books for sale. There were almanacs of ritual calendars, along with ballads and folktales. ii)
In England, penny chapbooks were carried by petty pedlars known as chapmen, and sold for a penny, so
that even the poor could buy them. iii) In France, were the ‘Biliotheque Bleue’, which were low-priced
small books printed on poor quality paper, and bound in cheap blue covers. iv) Then there were the
romances, printed on 4 to 6 pages, and the more substantial ‘histories’ which were stories about the
past. Books were of various sizes, serving many different purposes and interests.

Q29) Write a note on Louise-Sebastien Mercier? Why did he ask tyrants to tremble by virtual writer?
A29) Louise-Sebastien Mercier was a novelist in eighteenth-century France declared: ‘The printing press
is the most powerful engine of progress and public opinion is the force that will sweep despotism away’.
In many of Mercier’s novels, the heroes are transformed by acts of reading. They devour books, are lost
in the world books create, and become enlightened in the process. Convinced of the power of print in
bringing enlightenment and destroying the basis of despotism, Mercier proclaimed: ‘Tremble, therefore,
tyrants of the world! Tremble before the virtual writer!’(Printing press)

Q30) Explain the role of print culture in bringing about French Revolution?

A30) Many historians have argued that print culture created the conditions within which French
Revolution occurred. Three types of arguments have been usually put forward. a) Print popularised the
ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers. Collectively, their writings provided a critical commentary on
tradition, superstition and despotism. They argued for the rule of reason rather than custom, and
demanded that everything be judged through the application of reason and rationality. They attacked
the sacred authority of the Church and the despotic power of the state, thus eroding the legitimacy of a
social order based on tradition. The writings of Voltaire and Rousseau were read widely and those who
read these books saw the world through new eyes, eyes that were questioning, critical and rational. b)
Print created a new culture of dialogue and debate. All values, norms and institutions were re-evaluated
and discussed by a public that had become aware of the power of reason, and recognised the need to
question existing ideas and beliefs. Within this public culture, new ideas of social revolution came into
being. c) By the 1780s, there was an outpouring of literature that mocked the royalty and criticised their
morality. In the process, it raised questions about the existing social order. Cartoons and caricatures
typically suggested that the monarchy remained absorbed only in sensual pleasures while the common
people suffered immense hardships. This literature circulated underground and led to the growth of
hostile sentiments against the monarchy. CONCLUSION: People did not read just one kind of literature. If
they read the ideas of Voltaire and Rousseau, they were also exposed to monarchical and Church
propaganda. They were not influenced directly by everything they read or saw. They accepted some
ideas and rejected others. They interpreted things their own way. Print did

not directly shape their minds, but it did open up the possibility of thinking differently. People didn’t
accept everything. They had their own views about the print.

Q31) Explain how print culture catered to requirement of a) Children b) Women c) Workers

Ans31) a) I) Primary education became compulsory from the late nineteenth century, children became
an important category of readers. Production of school textbooks became critical for the publishing
industry. II) A children’s press devoted to literature for children alone, was set up in France in 1857. III)
This press published new works as well as old fairy tales and folk tales. IV) The Grimm brothers in
Germany spent years in compiling traditional folk tales gathered from peasants. What they collected
was edited before the stories were published in a collection in 1812. Anything that was considered
unsuitable for children or would appear vulgar to the elites, was not included in the published version.
Rural folk tales thus acquired a new form. In this way, print recorded old tales but also changed them. b)
I) Women became important as readers as well as writers. Penny magazines were especially meant for
women, as were manuals teaching proper behaviour and housekeeping. II) When novels began to be
written in the nineteenth century, women were seen as important readers. Some of the best known
novelists were women: Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, George Eliot. Their writings became important in
defining a new type of woman: a person with will, strength of personality, determination and power to
think. c) I) Lending Libraries had been in existence from the seventeenth century onwards. In the 19th
century, lending libraries in England became instruments for educating white-collar workers, artisans
and lower middle class people. II) Sometimes, self educated working class people wrote for themselves.
After the working day was gradually shortened from the mid-nineteenth century, workers had some
time for self-improvement and self-expression. They wrote historical facts and autobiographies in large
numbers.

Q32) Name 2 books written by Maxim Gorky.

A32) Autobiographies of poor people narrated their struggles to read against grim obstacles: the 20th
century Russian revolutionary author Maxim Gorky’s ‘My childhood’ and ‘My University’ provide
glimpses of such struggle. (IMPORTANT: Thomas Wood , a Yorkshire mechanic, narrated how he would
rent old newspapers and read them by firelight in the evening as he could not afford candles.)

Q33) Explain various innovations that were made in the improvement of printing press from mid-
nineteenth century onwards.

I) By the late 18th century, the press came to be made out of metal. Through the nineteenth century,
there were a series of further innovations in printing technology. By the mid-nineteenth century,
Richard M Hoe of New York had perfected the power-driven cylindrical press. This was capable of
printing 8000 sheets per hour. This press was particularly useful for printing newspapers. II) In the late-
nineteenth century, the offset press was developed which could print up to six colours at a time. III)
From the turn of twentieth, electrically operated presses accelerated printing operations.

IV) A series of other developments followed. Methods of feeding paper improved, the quality of plates
became better, automatic paper reels and photoelectric controls of the colour register were introduced.
The accumulation of several individual mechanical improvements transformed the appearance of
printed texts.

Q34) What were the strategies that were adopted by publishers and printers to sell their products?(in
the 19th and 20th century)

A34) I) Printers and publishers continuously developed new strategies to sell their product. Nineteenth-
century periodicals serialised important novels, which gave birth to a particular way of writing novels. II)
In the 1920s in England, popular works were sold in cheap series called the Shilling series. III) The dust
cover or the book jacket is also a twentieth century innovation. With the onset of Great Depression in
the 1930s, publishers feared a decline in book purchases. To sustain buying, they brought out cheap
paperback editions.

Q35) Explain the manuscripts in India before printing press actually came to our country.

A35) India had a very rich and old tradition of handwritten manuscripts – in Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian as
well as in various vernacular languages. Manuscripts were copied on palm leaves or on handmade
paper. Pages were sometimes beautifully illustrated. They would be either pressed between wooden
covers or sewn together to ensure preservation. Manuscripts continued to be produced till well after
the introduction of print, down to the late nineteenth century. Manuscripts were expensive and fragile.
They had to be handled carefully and they could not be read easily as the script was written in different
styles. Manuscripts were thus not widely used in everyday life.

Q36) How were the students taught in pre-colonial Bengal?

A36) Even though pre-colonial Bengal had developed an extensive network of village primary schools,
students very often did not read texts. They only learnt to write. Teachers dictated portions of texts
from memory and students wrote them down. Many thus became literate without ever actually reading
any kinds of texts.

Q37) When did printing press come to our country? Explain the various languages in which things
were printed?

A37) The printing press first came to Goa with Portuguese missionaries in the mid-sixteenth century. I)
Jesuit priests learnt Konkani and printed several tracts. By 1674, about 50 books had been printed in the
Konkani and in Kanara language. II) Catholic priests printed the first Tamil book in 1579 at Cochin and in
1713 the first Malayalam book was printed by them. III) By 1710, Dutch Protestant missionaries had
printed 32 Tamil texts, many of them translations of older works. Q38) Write a short note on James
Augustus Hickey. A38) From 1780, James Augustus Hickey began to edit the Bengal Gazette, weekly
magazine that described itself as a ‘commercial paper open to all, but influenced by none.’ So it was
private English enterprise, proud of its independence from colonial influence, that began English printing
in India. Hickey published a lot of advertisements, including those that were related to import and sale
of slaves. But he also published a lot of gossip about the Company’s senior officials in India. Enraged by
this, Governor-General Warren Hastings persecuted Hickey and encouraged the publications of officially
sanctioned newspapers that could counter the flow of information that damaged the image of the
colonial government. Q39) Who brought out Bengal Gazette and who edited it? A39) The first to appear
was the weekly Bengal Gazette brought out by Gangadhar Bhattacharya, who was close to Rammohun
Roy. From 1780, James Augustus Hickey began to edit the Bengal Gazette, weekly magazine that
described itself as a ‘commercial paper open to all, but influenced by none.’

Q40) Explain how print culture contributed to religious reforms and public debates. ( very Important)
A40) I) From the early nineteenth century, there were intensive debates around religious issues.
Different groups confronted the changes happening within colonial society in different ways, and
offered a variety of new interpretations of the beliefs of different religions. Some criticised existing
practices and campaigned for reform, while others countered the arguments if reformers. These
debates were carried out in public and in print. Printed tracts and newspapers not only spread the new
ideas, but they shaped the nature of the debate. A wider public could now participate in these public
discussions and express their views. New ideas emerged through these clashes of opinions.

II) This was a time of intense controversies between social and religious reformers and the Hindu
orthodoxy over matters like widow immolation, monotheism, Brahmanical priesthood and idolatry. In
Bengal, as the debate developed, tracts and newspapers proliferated, circulating a variety of arguments.
To reach a wider audience, the ideas were printed in the everyday, spoken language of the people.
Rammohun Roy published the Sambad Kaumudi from 1821 and the Hindu orthodoxy commissioned the
SamacharChandrika to oppose his opinions. From 1822, two Persian newspapers were published, Jam-i-
Jahan Nama and Shamsul Akhbar. In the same year, Gujarati newspaper, the Bombay Samachar, made
its appearance. III) In north India, the ulama were deeply anxious about the collapse of Muslim
dynasties. They feared that colonial rulers would encourage conversation, change the Muslim personal
laws. To counter this, they used cheap lithographic presses, published Persian and Urdu translations of
holy scriptures, and printed religious newspapers and tracts. The Deoband Seminary, founded in 1867,
published thousands upon thousands of fatwas telling Muslim readers how to conduct themselves in
their everyday lives and explaining the meaning of Islamic doctrines. IV) Among Hindus also print
encouraged the reading of religious texts, especially in the vernacular languages. The first printed
edition of the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas, a sixteenth-century text, came out from Calcutta in 1810. By
the mid-nineteenth century, cheap lithographic editions flooded north Indian markets. From the 1880s
the Naval Kishore Press at Lucknow and the Shri Venkateshwar press in Bombay published numerous
religious texts in vernaculars. In their printed and portable form, these could be read easily by the
faithful at any place and time. They could also be read out to large groups of illiterate men and women.
Religious texts, therefore, reached a very wide circle of people, encouraging discussions, debtes and
controversies within and among different religions. Conclusion: Print did not only stimulate the
publication of conflicting opinions amongst communities, but it also connected communities and people
in different parts of India.

Q41) What were the new forms of publications that came out in the end of the nineteenth century and
in the beginning of the 20th century and because of Western century?

A41) printing created an appetite for new kinds of writing. As more and more people could now read,
they wanted to see their own lives, experiences, emotions and relationships reflected in what they read.
I) The novel, a literary firm which had developed in Europe, ideally catered to this need. It soon acquired
distinctively Indian forms and styles. For readers, it opened up new words of experience, and gave a
vivid sense of the diversity of human lives. II) Other new literary forms also entered the world of reading
– lyrics, short stories, essays about social and political matters. In different ways, they reinforced the
new emphasis on human lives and intimate feelings, about the political and social rules that shaped such
things. III) By the end of the nineteenth century, a new visual culture was taking shape. With the setting
up of an increasing number of printing presses, visual images could be easily reproduced in multiple
copies. a) Painters like Raja Ravi Varma produced images for mass circulation (population). b) Poor wood
engravers who made woodblocks set up shops near the letterpresses, and were employed by print
shops.

c) Cheap prints and calendars, easily available in the bazaar, could be bought even by the poor
to decorate the walls of their homes or places of work. These prints began shaping popular ideas
about modernity and tradition, religion and politics, and society and culture. d) By the 1870s,
caricatures and cartoons were being published in journals and newspapers, commenting on
social and political issues. Some caricatures ridiculed the educated Indians’ fascination with
western tastes and clothes, while others expressed a fear of social change. There were imperial
caricatures lampooning nationalists, as well as nationalist cartoons criticising imperial rule.

Q42) Explain the new visual culture that was taking place at the end of the nineteenth century?

A42) By the end of the nineteenth century, a new visual culture was taking shape. With the setting up of
an increasing number of printing presses, visual images could be easily reproduced in multiple copies. a)
Painters like Raja Ravi Varma produced images for mass circulation (Population).

b) Poor wood engravers who made woodblocks set up shops near the letterpresses, and were employed
by print shops. c) Cheap prints and calendars, easily available in the bazaar, could be bought even by the
poor to decorate the walls of their homes or places of work. These prints began shaping popular ideas
about modernity and tradition, religion and politics, and society and culture.

Q43) Why were women not educated in India in the early part of nineteenth century?
A43) This was because of the superstitions and myths that prevailed in the society. Conservative Hindus
believed that a literate girl would be widowed and Muslims feared that educated women would be
corrupted by reading Urdu romances.

Q44) Name some of women writers in India? Write a brief note on their works.

A44) I) Rashsundari Debi – In East Bengal, Rashsundari Debi, a young married girl in a very orthodox
household, learnt to read in the secrecy of her kitchen. Later she wrote her autobiography, Amar Jiban
which was published in 1876. It was the first full length autobiography published in the Bengali
language. II) Kailashbashini Debi – Social reforms and novels had already create a great interest in
women’s lives and emotions, there was also an interest in what women would have to say about their
own lives. From the 1860s, a few Bengali women like Kailashbashini Debi wrote books highlighting the
experiences of women – about how women were imprisoned at home, kept in ignorance, forced to do
hard domestic labour and treated unjustly by the very people they served. III) Tarabai Shinde and
Pandita Ramabai – in 1880s, in present day Maharashtra, Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai wrote
with passionate anger about the miserable lives of upper-caste Hindu women, especially widows. IV) A
women in a Tamil novel expressed what reading meant to women who were so greatly confined by
social regulations: ‘For various reasons, my world is small... More than half my life’s happiness has come
from books...’ (IMPORTANT: While Urdu, Bengal, Tamil, and Marathi print culture had developed early,
Hindi printing began seriously only from 1870s.Soon, a large segment of it was devoted to the education
of the women)

Q45) For what purpose did Ram Chaddha, publish Istri Dharm Vichar?

A45) Ram, Chaddha published the fastest selling Istri Dharm Vichar to teach women how to be obedient
wives. (Important: The Khalsa tract society published cheap booklets with a message to teach women
how to be obedient wives. Many of these were in the form of dialogues about the qualities of a good
woman). Q46) Name most important century in Bengal which was devoted to printing of popular books.
A46) In Bengal, an entire area in central Calcutta –The Battala – was devoted to the printing of popular
books. Here one could buy cheap editions of religious tracts and scriptures, as well as literature that was
considered obscene and scandalous. By the late 19th century, a lot of these books were being profusely
illustrated with

woodcuts and coloured lithographs. Pedlars took the Battala publications to homes, enabling
women to read them in their leisure time.

Q47) Explain how print helped the poor people to express their ideas on various issues?

A47) Very cheap small books were brought to markets in nineteenth century Madras towns and sold at
crossroads, allowing poor people travelling to markets to buy them. Public Libraries were set up from
the earlier twentieth century, expanding the access to books. These libraries were located mostly in
cities and towns, and at times in prosperous villages. a) From the late nineteenth century, issues of caste
discrimination began to be written about in many printed tracts and essays. i) Jyoitbha Phule, the
Maratha pioneer of ‘low caste’ protest movements, wrote about the injustices of the caste system in his
Gulamgiri (1871). ii) In the twentieth century, B.R. Ambedkar in Maharashtra and E.V. Ramaswamy
Naicker in Madras, better known as Periyar, wrote powerfully on caste and their writings were read by
people all over India. iii) Local Protest movements and sects also created a lot of popular journals and
tracts criticising ancient scriptures and envisioning a new and just future. c) Workers in factories were
too overworked and lacked the education to write much about their experiences. i) But Kashibaba, a
Kanpur millworker, wrote and published Chhote aur Bade Ka Sawaal in 1938 to show the links between
caste and class exploitation. ii) The poems of another Kanpur millworker, who wrote under the name of
Sudarshan Chakr between 1935 and 1955, were brought together and published in a collection called
Sachi Kavitayan. iii) By the 1930s, Bangalore cotton millworkers set up libraries to educate themselves,
following the example of Bombay workers. These were sponsored by social reformers who tried to
restrict excessive drinking among them, to bring literacy and to propagate the message of nationalism.
Q48) Why was Vernacular Press Act passed? Explain about this act. A48) After the revolt of 1857, the
attitude to freedom of the press changed. Enraged Englishmen demanded a clamp down on the native
press. As vernacular newspapers became assertively nationalist, the colonial government began
debating measures of stringent control. In 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed, modelled on the
Irish Press Laws. It provided the government with extensively rights to censor reports and the editorials
in the vernacular press. From now on, the government kept regular track of the vernacular newspapers
published in different provinces. When a report was judged as seditious, the newspaper was warned,
and if the warning was ignored, the press was liable to be seized and the printing machinery confiscated.
Despite repressive measures, nationalist newspapers grew in numbers in all parts of India and created
awareness on colonial misrule and encouraged nationalist activities.

Q49) Explain the policy of the colonial state towards print culture under East India Company?

A49) British colonialism brought newspaper publishing in India. As the newspaper became widely
available, they acted as a harbinger of modernity. Press also played a key role in nationalist movement.
Even though its pioneers came from English educated Indian class, in the beginning East India Company
tried to control printed matter in newspapers that were critical of company’s rule. It even tried to find
candidates for editorship of loyalist paper. It was alarmed by the growing popularity of nationalist
newspapers. The government saw it as a threat to their rule. So it took following measures to curb
freedom of press: I) Dramatic Performances Act was enacted in 1976 to suppress the writing and the
staging of the allegedly seditious dramas. II) Vernacular Press Act was enacted in 1878 and it aimed at
silencing any attempts by the Indian Language newspapers to criticise the government. III) Censorship
Act was passed in 1878 despite a strong protest from the Press.

The government kept regular track of the vernacular newspapers published in different provinces.
When a report was judged as seditious, the newspaper was warned and if the warning was ignored, the
press was liable to be seized and the printing machinery confiscated.

Q50) Write a short note on Ukiyo. A50) Kitagawa Utamaro, born in Edo, in 1753, was widely known for
his contribution to an art form called Ukiyo (pictures of the floating world) or the depiction, of the
ordinary human experiences, especially the urban ones. These prints travelled to contemporary US and
Europe and influenced Monet, Manet and Van Gogh. Publishers like Tsutaya Juzaburo identified subjects
and commissioned artists who drew the theme in outline. Then a skilled woodblock carver pasted the
drawing on a woodblock and carved a printing block to reproduce painter’s lines. In this process, the
original drawing would be destroyed and only prints would survive.

Q51) Describe Mahatma Gandhi’s views on Vernacular Press.

A51) The nationalist movements in India had raised the demand for Swaraj that is freedom from colonial
rule. Gandhiji could visualise that freedom from colonial rule could only be a reality when it is preceded
by liberty of speech, freedom of press and freedom of association. By that time, print media had
demonstrated its powers and the impact that made over the people. This was the experience
throughout the globe. The British government made all attempts to keep press under its control. By
doing so, it hoped to keep the ignorant Indian public under its control. Gandhiji realised that non-
cooperation, civil disobedience based on the principle and practice of non-violence could succeed only
when people get a free chance to exchange their ideas, share their views and form associations and
groups. It is just not possible to keep socially free people in political bondage.

Q52) How did print culture assist the growth of nationalism in India?

A52) Print culture, increasingly caught within the web of children, women, poor and illiterate workers –
a strong reading habit developed among them. Separate literatures were prepared for each section of
society. These literatures addressed the social and political issues of that time. They also were used to
propagate the message of nationalism. They tried to create pan-Indian identities. National newspapers
grew in large numbers in different parts of the country and they also reported colonial misrule and
encouraged nationalist activities.

Q53) Why did some people in the 18th century Europe think that the print culture would bring
enlightenment and end despotism?

By the mid-18th century, there was a common conviction that books were a means of spreading
progress and enlightenment. Many believed that books could change the world, liberate society from
despotism and tyranny, and herald a time when reason and intellect would rule.

a) Print popularised the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers. Collectively, their writings provided a
critical commentary on tradition, superstition and despotism. They argued for the rule of reason rather
than custom, and demanded that everything be judged through the application of reason and
rationality. They attacked the sacred authority of the Church and the despotic power of the state, thus
eroding the legitimacy of a social order based on tradition. The writings of Voltaire and Rousseau were
read widely and those who read these books saw the world through new eyes, eyes that were
questioning, critical and rational.

b) Louise-Sebastien Mercier was a novelist in eighteenth-century France declared: ‘The printing press is
the most powerful engine of progress and public opinion is the force that will sweep despotism away’. In
many of Mercier’s novels, the heroes are transformed by acts of reading. They devour books, are lost in
the world books create, and become enlightened in the process. Convinced of the power of print in
bringing enlightenment and destroying the basis of despotism, Mercier proclaimed: ‘Tremble, therefore,
tyrants of the world! Tremble before the virtual writer!’(printing press)

Q54) What was the reason for increase in reading public by the end of eighteenth century?

A54) Churches of different denominations set up schools in villages, carrying literacy to peasants and
artisans. By the end of the eighteenth century, in some parts of Europe, literacy rates were as high as 60
– 80%. As literacy and schools spread in European countries, there was a visual reading mania. People
wanted books to read and printers produced books in ever increasing numbers.