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Printing has shaped and changed the appearance of the world that we live in today. Approximately 4500 years before its invention, painstakingly, books were produced and copied by hand onto stone, clay tablets, papyrus or wax slabs. Large holy books such as manuscripts were written on vellum, by Monks. Law books, great philosophies, comedies and tragedies were often lost due to war and neglect, as only original copies were produced. Designs took longer to create and had to be redone if a mistake was made. The book of Kells is a great example of how beautifully embroidered designs did looked like. Unlike modern printing, images were coloured by hand. Ink was a precious substance and was mixed using natural sources. Books were expensive and were only accessible to the rich. Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1: clay tablet Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 2: papyrus Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 3: Codex: binded papyrusThe inventor of the movable type (1045-1058) was Bi Sheng a Chinese man living in Bianliang the capital of china during the song 4838700952500dynasty. His intention was to reform the engraving type. Through many trials and errors he eventually created a much efficient way to print quicker. He made movable Chinese characters out of soil or clay. He arranged the characters according to what the article needed and then arranged them onto two iron boards. When one was being used for printing the other could be used to arrange the characters needed for the next page or article. When the printing on the former iron board was finished, people could use the next board to continue printing. Then the characters on the former board could be rearranged for the next page or article. By using this alternative method people could print faster. Although his invention was simple compared to modern printing, it had the main traits of movable printing, e.g. making movable letters and typesetting. He created an idea that set the stage, which led to the invention of Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press in Europe. 49447455524500The genius of Gutenberg’s invention was that he split the text into individual components, e.g. lower and upper cases, punctuation marks, abbreviations etc. they were arranged to form text, lines and pages. Each letter was cut into the face of a steel block. Resulting in a precise low relief in the reverse of the block, this was the punch. To create a matrix the punch was placed on a rectangular box made of a softer metal and struck vertically with a hammer. “The resulting matrix was reworked and straightened to form a right-angled cube. The hand- casting instrument made of an alloy of lead, tin and other metals, allowed the printer to quickly cast the number of letters required for a text. The printer was able to undergo high levels of mechanical stress due to attributes that ensured that the machine was cooled rapidly. -146057620000 Gutenberg’s invention shaped and changed the appearance of our world on a huge scale. It paved the way for the mass production and availability of books for the average man. It made the translation of text into other languages rather than Latin much easier and it also spread knowledge and ideas around the world. Books were now cheaper and could be found anywhere. It became easier for people to learn how to read and education became independent. Without the great accessibility of mass printed books our world today would be so un-experienced and in-evaluated. The printing press increased the spread of Martin Luther’s (a German theologian) Lutherism. As he translated the bible into the national language of the people, he fuelled the reformation. People were provided with a choice in what they chose to believe in. Hitler also took advantage of the printing press by publishing mass amounts of his book, “Mein Kampf”, a book filled with his propagandaVisually printing has changed. Today we can now print wirelessly in our homes. Printing now is even much quicker, as everything is printed digitally. We can not only print the pages of a book but we can print images or logos unto packaging. 3D printing is common and has become an art form, a way to create and design. Unlike Gutenberg’s printer, you first begin printing by making a virtual design of your object in a CAD (computer aided design) file whilst using a 3D modelling program or scanner. A 3D scanner makes a 3D copy of the object you want to create. Whether good or bad, it is evident that due to the printing press, information could last longer and can be copied multiple times. However, it would be wrong to say that there are no consequences or effects that come with the benefits of great inventions. Just as Francis Bacon stated, the ancients or the creators had only wished to improve daily living unbeknownst to the consequences they could have. In our world today we can see the effects that mass printing has on the environment. Visually the earth is deteriorating due to the ever increasing need of the use of paper. Daily, deforestation takes place. Globally the need for paper has tripled because it has become the main resource for storing information. “It takes 12-24 trees to manufacture one ton of paper1, resulting in an average of 18 trees cut down for every 10 employees per year”, - (). The fumes from the ink used in printing when burned causes pollution in the ozone layer and References: - Before printing press, - Images for ancient writing surfaces. - book of kells image. - Bi Sheng information. - Guttenberg information - martin luther mein kampf – images sourced from google images - 3D Printing - paper on environment. ................
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