History of printing

The history of printing goes back to the duplication of images by means of stamps in very early times. The use of round seals for rolling an impression into clay tablets goes back to early Mesopotamian civilization before 3000 BCE, where they are the most common works of art to survive, and feature complex and beautiful images. In both China and Egypt, the use of small stamps for seals preceded the use of larger blocks. In China, India and Europe, the printing of cloth certainly preceded the printing of paper or papyrus. The process is essentially the same - in Europe special presentation impressions of prints were often printed on silk until the seventeenth century. The development of printing has made it possible for books, newspapers, magazines, and other reading materials to be produced in great numbers, and it plays an important role in promoting literacy among the masses.

Block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia both as a method of printing on textiles and later, under the influence of Buddhism, on paper. As a method of printing on cloth, the earliest surviving examples from China date to about 220. Ukiyo-e is the best known type of Japanese woodblock art print. Most European uses of the technique on paper are covered by the term woodcut (see below), except for the block-books produced mainly in the fifteenth century.

The world's earliest printer printed fragments to survive are from China and are of silk printed with flowers in three colours from the Han Dynasty (before AD 220). The technology of printing on cloth in China was adapted to paper under the influence of Buddhism which mandated the circulation of standard translations over a wide area, as well as the production of multiple copies of key texts for religious reasons. It reached Europe, via the Islamic world, and by around 1400 was being used on paper for old master prints and playing cards. The third oldest wood-block printed book ever found after Mugujeonggwang great Dharani sutraand Hyakumantō Darani is the Diamond Sutra. It carries a date of the 13th day of the fourth moon of the ninth year of the Xiantong era (i.e. 11 May 868). A number of printed dhāraṇīs, however, predate the Diamond Sūtra by about two hundred years (see Tang Dynasty).

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