1040: Movable-type printing - The book of science

Movable-type printing
Imprints
First edition
Commentary

Movable-type printing

During the Northern Song dynasty
the commoner Bi Sheng
cut characters into porcelain clay and fired them.
He arranged these in an iron frame and pressed them
into a thick paste of pine resin, wax, and paper ashes,
creating the first movable-type printing method.

Imprints

1313, Nong Shu, or “Book of Agriculture”
printed with wooden movable type, by Wang Zhen.
1377, Jikji, an anthology of zen teachings
printed with metal movable type, in Korea.
1455, Biblia Sacra, the Gutenberg Bible
printed with metal movable type by Johannes Gutenberg.
1574, Taiping Yulan, an encyclopedia
of a thousand volumes, reprinted with bronze movable type.
1598, Confucian Analects printed in Japan
using metal moveable type by order of Emperor Go-Yōzei.

First edition

I have in my possession
certain first editions
neither too old nor too rare.
Of these there are few
that I value more
than I could sell them for.
I know whose love
once held them dear
and why they are mine.
What remains of a life
as memories fade
and loved ones die?
Something about them—
a familiarity, a smell,
a reassurance.

Gutenberg introduced the hand mould, the mechanical printing press, and oil-based inks that allowed duplex printing. He made his type with an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony. The Gutenberg Bible was rubricated (it included words printed in red) and illuminated (intial letters were elaborated and painted by hand). The technologies that led to his work were goldsmithing, cutting dies for stamping coins, and Roman screw presses for producing wine and olive oil.