I found our second trip to Archives and Special Collections to be incredibly interesting. Now that I have some sense of the history of written works, I was able to understand a little bit more of just how varying the different types of written and pressed works were.
Some things that I have learned this time around was that Gutenberg didn't actually invent a metal press but instead he was the one to actually perfect it. It makes sense now why the Chinese never really perfected the metal press since they had so many different unique characters that it just didn't make sense or was plausible for them to create a metal press for mass production. There would have been too many characters to add and overall it would have been to much of a hassle to do.
I found it interesting that once books and such started to become mass produced and literacy increased, the wealthy wanted to stand out. Having books wasn't as much as a luxury as it had been since more people were able to afford books. So, to distinguish themselves, wealthy people decided to add intricate and beautiful images into the pages of their books/texts. The presses themselves even had different variations of the same letters in order for the things printed from a metal text to have the effect of being a handwritten manuscript.
One major way in which the history of print intersects with literary history is just the fact that once the Gutenberg printing press was perfected, books and other literary works were able to be massed produced to a much wider audience. In addition, print texts became much more dependent on the historical periods and context of the world, much like literary history because of it ease and adaptability. In other words, because getting a piece of writing could be massed produced, writers could get their works out into the world and actually have a much wider affect. Such as Equiano's memoir's purpose based on abolition movements of the time he could get his work to a wider audience and thus gain more support.
Hey Monique! I like your connection between developments in print technology and writers' ability to spread their ideas. There's the old adage that "knowledge is power", but real power in this case is the capacity to spread knowledge through writing. I wonder about the impacts of class, wealth, and privilege factor on this spreadability. Perhaps the fact more privileged members of society had access to newer, more effective print technology meant that they could disproportionately perpetuate their ideas, good or bad, compared to less-privileged societal members.
ReplyDeleteHi Monique! It's also fascinating to learn about how the wealthy used to add intricate images to their books to stand out from others, and how the presses themselves were designed to give the effect of being a handwritten manuscript. This shows how important books and literary works were for people in the past, and how they were used as a status symbol.
ReplyDeleteHi Monique! I really enjoyed reading your reactions towards our visit. I too was struck by how the wealthy managed (yet again) to distinguish themselves from the rest and flaunt their status through adding customized designs to their books. It's unfortunate that this made it less accessible for the lower class to buy, but I also can't help but admiring the beauty of these luxurious texts.
ReplyDeleteHey Monique, I didn't catch that part about Gutenberg. That's very interesting that he actually perfected the metal press. For some reason, I had it in my head that Gutenberg was the one who created the metal press. I didn't know that fun fact that the Chinese had a hard time perfecting the metal press because their language has too many characters.
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