Fascimile printing

printing

William Caxton produced both the first printed book in English, Recuyell of the Historyes of Troy 1475, and also the first book to be printed in England, Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophers 1477.

A reconstruction of an early printing press. The invention of these presses in the late 15th century brought books to thousands of people. The press had movable print, which was laid in a form and inked. The press was then lowered onto the paper by winding down the huge screw.

The printing press invented by the German printer Johannes Gutenberg (c.1400–1468). He invented the technique of printing from moveable type, and is regarded as the originator of the first printed bible, which has come to be known as the Gutenberg Bible (c. 1455).

Reproduction of multiple copies of text or illustrative material on paper, as in books or newspapers, or on an increasing variety of materials; for example, on plastic containers or on fabrics. The first printing used woodblocks, followed by carved wood type or moulded metal type and hand-operated presses. Modern printing is effected by electronically controlled machinery. Current printing processes include electronic phototypesetting with offset printing, and gravure print.

Origins

In China the art of printing from a single wooden block was known by the 6th century AD, and movable type was being used by the 11th century. In Europe printing was unknown for another three centuries, and it was only in the 15th century that movable type was reinvented, traditionally by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany. From there printing spread to Italy, France, and England, where it was introduced by William Caxton.

Steam power, linotype, and monotype

There was no further substantial advance until, in the 19th century, steam power replaced hand-operation of printing presses, making possible long ‘runs’. Hand-composition of type, each tiny metal letter being taken from the case and placed individually in the narrow stick that carried one line of text, was replaced by machines operated by a keyboard. Linotype, a hot-metal process that produced a line of type in a solid slug, was invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler in 1886, and commonly used in newspapers, magazines, and books until the 1980s. The Monotype, used in bookwork was invented by Tolbert Lanston (1844–1913) in the USA in 1889. It produced a series of individual characters, which could be hand-corrected.

Important as these developments were, they represented no fundamental change but simply a faster method of carrying out the same basic typesetting operations. The actual printing process still involved pressing the inked type on to paper by letterpress.

20th-century developments

In the 1960s, letterpress began to face increasing competition from offset printing, a method that prints from an inked flat surface, and from the gravure method (used for high-circulation magazines), which uses recessed plates. The introduction of electronic phototypesetting machines, also in the 1960s, allowed the entire process of setting and correction to be done in the same way that a typist operates, thus eliminating the hot-metal composing room, with its hazardous fumes, lead scraps, and noise, and leaving only the making of plates and the running of the presses to be done traditionally.

By the 1970s some final steps were taken to plateless printing, using various processes, such as a computer-controlled laser beam, or continuous jets of ink acoustically broken up into tiny equal-sized drops, which are electrostatically charged under computer control. Pictures can be fed into computer typesetting systems by optical scanners.

Fabric printing

A wide range of different techniques are used in fabric printing, including block printing, silk-screen printing, and roller printing. Other techniques are mono printing, card printing, and etching. In mono printing, ink or paint is applied freehand to the surface of a flat plate or piece of Perspex. This is then pressed on to a piece of fabric, transferring the design to the surface. In card printing, the design is cut into the surface of the card which is then given a thin coat of varnish. When the varnish is dry, printing ink is applied to the card, which is placed on the fabric. The card and fabric are then run through a printing press or subjected to very firm pressure, which transfers the ink to the fabric. The process of etching involves a design being scratched on the surface of an etching plate, before applying printing ink, placing the plate on top of fabric, and running through a printing press. Once dry, watercolours, inks, or thin fabric paint can be used to colour the design, if required. Computers can also be used in fabric printing. A design or picture can be prepared on screen, and an inkjet printer and specially-made paper used to prepare a transfer that can be ironed on to fabric.

This article is © Research Machines plc 2009. All rights reserved. Helicon Publishing is a division of Research Machines plc.