Eisenstein's best-known work is The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, a two-volume, 750-page exploration of the effects of movable type printing on the literate elite of post-Gutenberg Western Europe. In this work Eisenstein focuses on the printing press's functions of dissemination, standardization, and preservation and the way these functions aided the progress of the Protestant Reformation, the Renaissance, and the Scientific Revolution.
The "Unacknowledged Revolution," - the revolution that occurred after the invention of print. Print media allowed the general public to have access to books and knowledge that had not been available to them before; this led to the growth of public knowledge and individual thought. The ability to formulate thought on one's own thoughts became reality with the popularity of the printing press. Print also "standardized and preserved knowledge which had been much more fluid in the age of oral manuscript circulation" Eisenstein recognizes this period of time to be very important in the development of human culture; however, she feels that it is often overlooked, thus, the 'unacknowledged revolution'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Eisenstein
Elizabeth Eisenstein's comprehensively-researched 1979 book, The Printing
Press as an Agent of Change, is a study of the first century of printing,
particularly the period from 1460 to 1480, when printing presses went from
rare to common, and as a consequence changed the way knowledge was preserved
and conveyed.
Intellectual and social reactions to the new print technology had long-term
and frequently unintended consequences, and, as a result, why this period
marked a crucial turning point in western history.
The capacity of printing to preserve knowledge and to allow the accumulation
of information fundamentally changed the mentality of early modern readers,
with repercussions that transformed Western society. Ancient and Medieval
scribes had faced tremendous difficulties in preserving the knowledge that
they already possessed, which, despite their best efforts, inevitably grew
more corrupted and fragmented over time. With the establishment of printing
presses, accumulation of knowledge was for the first time possible. Rather
than spending most of their energies searching for scattered manuscripts and
copying them, scholars could now focus their efforts on revision of these
texts and the gathering of new data. New observations from a widely
scattered readership could be included in subsequent editions.
The shift to printing reversed the whole orientation of attitudes towards
learning. The passage of time no longer inevitably brought with it a
lessening of knowledge. Furthermore, at the new print shops, scholars,
artisans and translators from various nations and religions found themselves
working together, and cooperating in a new, more cosmopolitan environment
which encouraged questioning and individual achievement...
In the first century of printing, much of the printers' output was the same inherited texts that scribal work had produced. But the most important feature was not that the literature was new, but rather than readers for the first time could see multiple texts together and compare them. The body of knowledge preserved by scribes was scattered and incomplete, with authorship of specific texts obscured, magical incantations intermixed with scientific observations, and classical literature interspersed with Christian writings. Under such circumstances, it was possible for manuscript readers to imagine that the past minds of antiquity had possessed a much more complete understanding of the world, which had been fragmented and degraded over time. During the first century of printing, the collection and revision of this scattered corpus was the primary goal for most scholars. The assumption, both with regard to biblical writings and to classical treatises on science, was that each revised work that further sorted out the jumbled legacy would help make this wisdom clearer. But revised editions of scripture, which took increasing advantage of the greater linguistic learning available in printed language dictionaries, revealed inconsistencies and ambiguities in the texts which could not be easily resolved. Laying inherited scientific works side by side for the first time also pointed up discrepancies and contradictions. At the same time, the new ability to convey maps, charts, and pictures in a uniform and permanent way meant that older theories in cartography, astronomy, anatomy, and botany could be checked against new observations.
The use of this new technology produced unexpected results. How the differing reactions to the changes brought about by printing shaped subsequent European society is most clearly seen in ...the role print culture played in shaping religious debates before and after the Protestant Reformation. There had been many earlier heretical movements within the Catholic Church before Luther's posting of his 95 theses. But the dissemination and greater permanence of print culture allowed his challenge to have a much greater impact. Moreover, the competitive nature of the printing industry, which was driven by a desire for sales, provided a new, more public outlet for controversies, and insured that what began as a scholarly dispute between theologians gained an international audience. Reformation impulses and the printing industry fed off and accelerated one another in an age where religious materials were popular sellers.
Differing Catholic and Protestant attitudes towards print culture resulted in two widely divergent historical paths. In Protestant lands, approval of vernacular bibles led to encouragement of greater lay literacy and a closer tying of biblical lore with developing national cultures. In Eisenstein's view, the differences in Catholic and Protestant reactions to printing were not due solely to theological differences, or to Protestants being more enlightened or trusting of their congregations. Some individual Protestant leaders were hostile to the changes wrought by printing, particularly the wider dispersal of controversial books to lay audiences. But areas under Protestant control were generally less able to implement censorship of the presses than the more centralized governments of Catholic areas. One of the most important events in the shaping of early print culture was the successful rebellion of the Netherlands. In their small, semi-autonomous provinces, numerous printing presses sprang up that operated relatively free of censorship, and provided an outlet for authors, even within areas held by the Counter-Reformation. Books coming off the clandestine presses proved impossible for the Counter-Reformation to block, with significant impact for both religion and science.
Eisenstein believes that the changes which print culture brought to the
early modern world eventually transformed Western society at large. By
focusing on a fundamental shift in mentality, which came about due to a
basic change in communication and collective memory, and the advent of
uniform duplication, Eisenstein's book anticipates many areas of interest in
recent intellectual history. Her conception of a cosmopolitan "Republic of
Letters" created by the new printing technology that transcended national
borders has been carried on by historians of the Enlightenment and
eighteenth-century thought such as Dena Goodman.
http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=4277
In her comprehensive work, on the impact of the printing press, Einstein
(1968) acknowledges that while power and access did often concentrate in the
hands of the ruling religious, monarchical, and despotic elites for a time,
eventually with the diffusion of print based texts this power structure was
transformed and broken down. Further, she asserts that - as mass literacy
emerged and entrepreneurs took the lead on printing texts - traditional
power relations were broken down as the rise of scientific thought and
philosophy was diffused to the growing literate classes. Likewise, Ruud
(1981) chronicles the role of the printing press in supporting revolutionary
change in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.
The evolution and eventual diffusion, in many societies, of print from
written manuscripts to mechanical print, via moveable type, had a profound
effect on what is termed ‘literacy.’ Indeed, many would suggest that the
innovations in mass print technologies and the growing collection, access,
and distribution of mass print based resources has resulted in improved
literacy. At the same time, critical reflection on what exactly constitutes
literacy sheds light on the pervasive politics and power relations that
surround the uses of literacy in maintaining and legitimizing power.
Further, state interventions to solve and respond to literacy issues reflect
the underpinning politics and social power relations that are at interplay
at any given point in time. In his 1985 work exploring Literacy, Technology
and Monopoly Capital, Richard Ohmann, articulates how the rates of literacy
vs illiteracy are used and manipulated in a political policy context to
support social order among the poor and perpetuate the prosperity and
stability of the economic elite. Roberts (1995) carries this further and
highlights how defining literacy has come to be profoundly a political
question where the meaning and measurements of literacy are constantly
shifting to meet political agendas. These agendas include efforts by the
state to be seen to be improving literacy rates where they are perceived to
be lacking, supporting and being in control of policy decisions, developing
educational strategies supportive of state goals, and seeking conformity to
a desired social order.
Apart from and connected to the idea of literacy vs illiteracy is the
consideration of types of literacy. Since the onset of mass distribution of
print technologies defining who is literate has centered on being print
literate in the vernacular of the majority culture. Thus, policy decisions,
have often neglected to address the issues of multiple literacies where, for
example, being literate in spoken word and public spheres is as necessary
for economic security as being literate in written language. Collins
(1995) frames this as the cognitive cultural Great Divide and points to how
such gaps enter the political sphere as governmental and non-governmental
organizations attempt to bridge these such divides through public policy.
http://tinyurl.com/2dfddu7
The third historical development Eisenstein investigates is the rise of modern scientific thought. The effects of the printing press on scientific thought were quite different than the effects of the printing press on religious thought. In the Reformation, printing gave legitimacy to the message. In the development of scientific thought, printing created skepticism and drove thinking people to find the truth through study of the natural world and through comparisons of knowledge within printed books.
With the advent of printing, learning by memory and “slavish copying became less necessary. At the same time, errors and inconsistencies in text became more obvious, because readers were able to access a variety of books and make comparisons. As a result, all manner of curious men became distrustful of the old schools of thought and took a fresh look at the scientific evidence. This created new discoveries and ideas and the growth of scientific thought. Until data could be compared and recorded, science could not be studied effectively.
Eisenstein claims another way in which printing affected scientific thought was through the process of feedback. Before printing, there was no way to make observations public or universally accepted. After printing, observations were published and feedback was made to the author and within the scientific community. Thus, information was shared and developed to the betterment of all.
Early modern historians have long been interested in this strange little world of the printing-house. Eisenstein challenges them to do more. The burden of her book is that the printingn-house was more than an important locus of social and cultural change; it was the crucible in which modern culture was formed. But since cultural historians have persistently ignored its pervasive influence, they have given a distorted account of the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution.
To be sure, Eisenstein is far too learned and too subtle a scholar to claim that printing by itself brought about the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution. Nor does she claim that it affected every area of culture in the same way. Indeed, one of the great strengths of her book is its insistence on the enormous variety and frequent contradictoriness of the developments linked with printing. Yet it is still clear that she sees printing as far more than one among many factors in modern history. It changed the directions of existing cultural movements as suddenly and completely as a prism bends and transforms a beam of light. If printing did not create the Renaissance, for example, it nonetheless made it undergo a sea change. Printing made an Italian movement of limited scope and goals into a European one. It preserved in unprecedented quantities and disseminated at an unprecedented speed the classical discoveries of humanists, thus preventing their classical revival from being as limited and transitory as those of the Carolingian period and the twelfth century. And it made enough sources of information about the past available to all readers so that men came for the first time to see the ancient world as something clearly different from their own. Without printing, the characteristic Renaissance sense of history and sensitivity to anachronism could never have widely established themselves.
In the field of religion, printing had rather different effects. It spread Luther's message with amazing speed and so preserved it from the suppression that had been the fate of medieval heresies. But that, after all, has long been a commonplace of Rformation historiography. For Eisenstein, the role of printing in preparing the way for the Reformation holds more interest than in spreading it. She argues persuasively that the printing did much to undermine the authority of the Church simply by making available to a wide public Biblical texts, with a apparent contradictions, as well as by spreading new forms of devotional literature and changing old ones.
For science, finally, printing served still other end. By making available complete and newly accurate texts of thr great ancient works, above all those of Ptolemy and Galen, it created a new foundation of theories, methods, and data on which practioners of the classical sciences could build more systematically than would ever have been possible in the age of scribes. By making possible the accurate reproduction and systematic improvement of illustrations, it literally revolutionized the collection and checking of data about the natural world. The wide diffusion of classical and modern texts enabled scientists to educate themselves and to become aware of contradictions that had not bothered the less well-informed readers of medieval times. And it did more than any other force to create the disciplinary communities and standards that characterize modern science, with its emphasis on collaboration and competition.
The protagonist in each of these movements is the master- printer, a pioneer both as businessman and as intellectual. It was in his shop that artisans came together with intellectuals to creat the greatest works of the new science; it was his opposition to authority, something almost inherent in the nature of his calling, that turned networks of printing-shops into the relays along which ran messages of change.
"Eisenstein argues that beyond printing itself, the printing press led a new coordination of intellectual labor, in which the printer became a boundary-crosser who wore many hats (p.56). Printing also allowed easier comparisons and cross-references (p.72). Suddenly, for instance, Montaigne "could see more books [in] a few months ... than earlier scholars had seen after a lifetime of travel," and consequently conflict, diversity, and contradictions became more visible to him than to his predecessors (p.74). But the printing press didn't just enable new enlightenment, it also enabled new mystification: one working thesis was that various ancient philosophical and mystical texts were fragments of an ancient ur-text penned by Adam, encapsulating secrets revealed to him before the Fall (pp.77-78). Similarly, another initial effect was to widely disseminate "seemingly authoritative, actually fraudulent esoteric writings" (p.78). Tools that were useful in one domain, such as astronomical tables, were applied in other domains, resulting in "the fixing of precise dates for the Creation or for the Second Coming" (p.79).
Print culture also generated new genres and components. For instance, there was no equivalent in scribal culture for the new how-to books (p.88). Print leveraged the power of identical copies, so indexes became practical and desirable (p.91). Indexes and cross-references, though based on previous forms, were newly systematized (p.93).
At the same time, the more accessible ancient texts became, the less mystical and less relevant they became: in the case of the Corpus Juris, for example, printing led to access, which led to demystification (pp.103-104). New forms of classification became possible, and publishers established the lasting, seemingly fundamental division between sciences and humanities in order to divide their catalogs more easily (p.107).
The sciences developed under print culture. In particular, data (tables, charts, indexes) had often been garbled by scribes, and ignorant printers tended to garble them more quickly; but strong printers corrected them more quickly, and through sometimes innovative methods: "They created vast networks of correspondents, solicited criticism in each edition, sometimes publicly promising to mention the names of readers who sent in new information or who spotted the errors which would be weeded out" (p.109). Related, print culture resulted in a new ethos for guarding data: Thomas Jefferson exemplifies this new ethos, arguing that valuable data were best preserved by making them public - and printing them frequently (p.116).
Printing affected law in similarly fundamental ways. "Much as M. Jourdain learned that he was speaking prose, monarchs learned from political theorists that they were 'making' laws. But members of parliaments and assemblies also learned from jurists and printers about ancient rights wrongfully usurped. Struggles over the right to establish precedents became more intense, as each precedent became more permanent and hence more difficult to break" (p.119).
Printing also affected public life, particularly through journals, gazettes, and newsletters. By the 18th century, "Increasingly the well-informed man of affairs had to spend part of each day in temporary isolation from his fellow men"; by the 19th, "gossiping churchgoers could often learn about local affairs by scanning columns of newsprint in silence as well." Eisenstein forwards print as an explanation for the weakening of community ties during that time (p.131). "To read a printed report encourages individuals to draw apart," she argues, and "the shift in communications may have changed the sense of what it meant to participate in public affairs. The wide distribution of identical bits of information provided an impersonal link between people who were unknown to each other" (p.132). Communal solidarity was diminished, but "vicarious participation in more distant events was also enhanced" and "new forms of group identity began to compete with an older, more localized nexus of loyalties" (p.132). Similarly, private life began to change, with progressively differentiated groups of readers (men, women, children); age-grades in schools; peer groups; and an emerging youth culture (p.134; cf. Hernandez). Eisenstein also hints at the impact of printing on the emergence of the modern State (pp.134-135; cf. Bobbitt). "
"The above summary, I'm afraid, is only of Part I of the book. In subsequent chapters, Eisenstein examines a number of topics in greater detail. First, she examines the Renaissance and the Reformation. In particular, she argues that in Italy, the advent of printing helps to explain "a shift in human consciousness and a concurrent revolution in communications" (p.226). Print enabled greater border-crossing (p.249). It enabled a classical revival, initially involving a flood of mysticism, but giving way to less mysterious, more systematic study (p.279).
During the Reformation, Eisenstein argues, Protestantism was the first movement to exploit print's potential as mass medium and for propaganda (p.304). Luther believed that printing was "'God's highest and extremist act of grace, whereby the business of the Gospel is driven forward'" - and also as "'the last flame before the extinction of the world'" (p.304). (It's worth noting that last semester, as I was reading this book, someone at the edge of campus handed me a tract that made a similar claim based on the penetration of digital media.) Luther was nevertheless take aback when his 95 Theses, which he had expected to circulate locally among academics, were reprinted and disseminated widely (p.306). "If we stay at the Wittenberg church with Luther we will miss seeing the historical significance of the event," Eisenstein states, sounding like Latour (p.310). Part of that significance was that Bible printing had changed the church. Eisenstein quotes Eugene Rice as arguing that the medieval church was more ecumenical and compromising, with more room for doctrinal disagreements; during the Reformation, doctrinal disagreements polarized into Protestantism and Catholicism (p.325). Eisenstein suggests that print precipitated this change (p.325). Indeed, when the Catholic church began to ban books, it created what publishers considered to be an irresistable untapped niche with built-in appeal (p.416).
Print also allowed people to compare religious texts, to examine them in different languages, and to study them independently. Calvin, for instance, represented "a new kind of theologian, one who had taken no degree in theology and had never been ordained priest" (p.402). "On the desirability of lay literacy, doctrinaire Calvinists and more tolerant Erasmians, ambitious men of letters, and profit-seeking printers were all in accord" while Anglicans "objected, in 1543, to Bible-reading among 'women, apprentices, husbandmen'" (p.421). For Puritans, Bible-reading was "the most vital principle of [their] creed" (p.421). Protestantism, Eisenstein argues, was a "book religion," and she outlines the cycle that encouraged and established this culture (p.422). This print culture resulted in books of coded behavior, "internalized by silent and solitary readers" and manifesting in a "voice of individual conscience"; but it also created a collective morality - including "a 'middle class' morality which harked back to Xenophon and the Bible [and] was fixed in a seemingly permanent mold" (p.429).
Print's effects on religion were sometimes much darker: Eisenstein attributes the witch craze as a byproduct of printing - as well as literal fundamentalism, which became more widely possible as more people became conversant with the literal Bible (p.439). "The many changes introduced by the new technology, far from synchronizing smoothly or pointing in one direction, contributed to disjunctions, worked at cross-purposes and operated out of phase with each other" (p.440).
In science, "the shift from script to print preceded a transformation of world views" (p.459). Before print, knowledge degraded with copies. For instance, Ptolemaic world maps were copied by hand, degrading rather than evolving, with no established process of feedback (p.479). Printing, on the other hand, expanded the number of possible contributors, contributors who were not "educated"and so could make original contributions rather than recapitulating the contributions of the past (p.486).
Science was also directly impacted by religion. For instance, Christians had a challenge in locating Easter both on a repeating calendar and in proximity with the season. This complex problem spurred developments in calendars, astronomy, and chronology (p.610); "By a seeming paradox, their most sacred festival kept Christians bent toward puzzle-solving of a purely scientific kind" (p.611). Similarly, "The Koran did not provide the same incentive that the Vulgate did to master strange tongues or dig up ancient scrolls" (p.612). Print enabled the expansion of techniques that resulted from these religiously grounded complex puzzles.
https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Printing_Press_as_an_Agent_of_Change
Introduction
We are at the brink of experiencing transformation of the Internet revolution that now defines almost all aspects of the modern life. It is sensible to review and understand how printing press revolution brought about significant and long-lasting transformations in economic, political, social, and cultural aspects of lives.
Printing press transformed some aspects of lives among early modern Europeans. In critical and manifold analyses of effects of the printing press, it is necessary to focus on different changes that took place in European political, social, economic, and cultural spheres. These changes led to other sets of multifaceted changes in society.
In some ways, these changes had relationships to other changes. In the words of Elizabeth Eisenstein, printing press was an agent of change through communications and cultural transformations in the early modern Europe (Eisenstein 23).
Social and cultural impacts
The printing revolution introduced a modern era among early Europeans by making written text available to many readers. There was a major change from the traditional oral culture to writing and printing culture. Scholars and writers started to capture their abstract thoughts through writing. Consequently, they were able to generate new ideas and theories. We can note such changes in the rise of philosophical, fictional, realistic, and scientific materials during the period of the printing press.
Printing enhanced the development and spread of different European languages because many texts appeared in these languages. The standardisation of European languages led to a great development of the European literature and the creation of national ideologies and mythologies in different countries. For instance, the world had known maps since the ancient period but the revolution in printing brought the idea of cartography, which became useful in demarcating of national boundaries and colonised areas of the world.
Printing press brought about changes in communications, production, and consumption of texts. Before the emergence of the printing press, people relied on oral means of communication. It was only a small number of people who gained access to printed books. Therefore, people relied on oral communication in order to conduct both public and private matters.
There was physical presence of information, which transformed relationships among people. Printing press enabled political, economic, and cultural writers to spread their works to people in other locations. In this context, new forms of communities emerged based on various interests like political, personal, cultural, and professional spheres.
Elizabeth Eisenstein argues that printing brought about “a revolutionary change in the ways in which people used, preserved, and passed knowledge on to the succeeding generations” (Eisenstein 3). Before the era of printing, people used scribes for copying materials. However, this was a laborious task and time-consuming too. In addition, it was almost impossible to achieve the same results from the original copy.
As a result, many versions of a book from the same source would be in distribution. It was during this period that every written material was unique and highly guarded because of few copies available. The printing press brought about mass production of written materials. As a result, there was mass circulation of books. The copy and the original document had the same contents.
Reading culture changed among early modern Europeans and trade in books became profitable. The number of readerships increased, and traders “invested in many books that would appeal to a large number of readers” (Febvre and Martin 14). Initially, many readers concentrated on religious and devotional texts, but this trend changed during the 18th century when other texts, especially secular literature entered the public domain.
Febvre and Martin noted that trading in books was possible because of the mass production that the printing press enabled. In this respect, many scholars have commended Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press (Febvre and Martin 12). Scholars have noted that the invention of the printing press was “one of the successful mechanical methods of reproduction” (Febvre and Martin 12).
People worked in their individual capacities in order to produce their works. Reading also tended to be on an individual basis. This promoted creativity, individuality, and originality, which were parts of the new written materials, which readers consumed. This period also marked the rise of new forms of written works. For instance, we had the Romantic Movement across England, France, and Germany.
Such movements inspired new ideas, and writers wrote about subjects that they observed in society. Their works were unique and original, but reflected events of the time. In the 18th century, writers campaigned for their intellectual right because such authors realise the need to protect their works from reproduction, which the development of the printing press made fast and easy.
Printing led to the development of literacy levels among common people. Reading had permanent impacts on their lives. Learners, professionals, nobles and the middle class demanded books in other fields even though many texts of the past were mainly on religious issues. Consequently, publishers reacted by producing books about medical, literature, laws, and travel manuals among others.
Printing enabled production of superior books. It also eliminated corruption of books through manual copying and errors in scribbling. Therefore, all critical thinkers of the time had same texts, which enabled them to perform advanced reviews of printed works.
Printing press reduced the cost of printing books and increased the number of books printed. As a result, many people gained access to information from various sources and subjects at reduced costs. Still, libraries also had various books for the public.
Printing press enhanced the storage and distribution of knowledge among readers through a standardised method of reading books. Printing press was responsible for the information revolution, which others have compared to effects of the Internet today.
Reformation at the Roman Catholic Church
According to Eisenstein, the Protestant Reformation was “a movement shaped at the very outset (and in large part ushered in) by the new powers of the press” (Eisenstein 148). Martin Luther’s publication about the Roman church at the time changed religious among many believers.
Before the age of the printing press, people engaged in laborious copying of text, which was prone to errors. Moreover, only few people owned religious texts. People learned about contents of the Bible through churches. However, some churches provided false accounts of the Bible. Still, many people could not read the Bible while those who understood the errors could not confront the church because they had no evidence from the Bible.
The printing press changed this scenario. Books were available in large numbers, and many people adopted a reading culture (Ong 64). Majorities had gained access to the Bible through redistribution. Laymen started to read and comprehend the Bible. Consequently, the majority could now identify false interpretation by the Roman Catholic Church. People identified issues about the ‘Divine Right’ and papal power among others. The Bible transformed the church and people alike.
Printing press changed the image culture to text culture. Initially, people relied on images in the church in order to understand religious lessons. However, the printed Bible changed reading because people no longer used images in the church. In fact, religious leaders feared that people would no longer visit churches in order to learn about the Bible. In short, the printing press created legitimacy that churches lacked when interpreting the Bible.
The rise in scientific thoughts
Scholars have investigated and credited the rise of modern scientific thoughts and discoveries to the development of the printing press (Crompton 89). Eisenstein concentrates in her book on this area. Achievements of printing press in scientific fields are different with those of religious circles. The Reformation established legitimacy in the church.
On the other hand, printed words in scientific fields enabled many thinkers to question and search for further truth. Thinkers became sceptic about new ideas. Consequently, they started to search for the truth in nature and other areas of scientific interests. Curious thinkers had to compare their discoveries with knowledge captured in books.
Printing press also brought about changes in learning. Learning through memorisation reduced. In addition, learners were able to compare contents of different texts and identify errors because they had different texts about a single field. Eisenstein observed, “All manner of curious men” (Eisenstein 194) viewed written texts differently and with curiosity.
They did not trust some written materials. As a result, such thinkers reviewed books and scientific evidence in order to establish facts. Such scholars mad new discoveries and thoughts about events, which led to the rise of modern scientific theories. Science could only rely on recorded, compared, and verified data for effective study and future references.
Eisenstein also acknowledged that printing press enhanced the process of feedback in scientific areas (Eisenstein 200). Researchers could not easily avail their works to the public or gain universal recognition. After printing, critics could review such works and provide immediate feedback to authors.
Renaissance
Eisenstein has suggested that we can comprehend Renaissance through events of the time (15th century). This period marked the change from manuscript to printing press. She claims that printing was responsible for “the most radical transformation in the conditions of intellectual life in the history of Western civilisation” (Eisenstein 115). The author claims that some achievements of the Renaissance “could not have been possible without printing” (Eisenstein 115). In this respect, the author refers to intellectual revolution.
Authorship
Initially, authors only dedicated their works to few individuals, who rewarded or provided financial aid to them. The number of readers in the middle class increased. Consequently, the publisher responded by printing many books.
Book trading was successful and authorship emerged as a profession. Authors derived their livelihood from books, which the public bought. Therefore, they had to satisfy demands from the public. New ideas emerged, especially for entertainment purposes.
Authors gained recognition and fixed personality from their works. Readers associated authors with particular ways of thinking as reflected in texts. Therefore, printing was responsible for the creation of authorship and intellectual property rights.
Authors who derived their livelihood from popularity of their creative works needed to protect books from exploitation by publishers. Therefore, such authors had to protect their uniqueness and creativity through ownership of intellectual property.
Conclusion
Printing revolution brought about political, economical, social, and cultural changes in early modern Europe. These changes were possible through the provision of medieval texts to masses. In addition, printing enabled authors to write about new ideas and discoveries.
Printing press marked the change from the main oral culture to printing culture in information management (McLuhan 34). Consequently, people began to develop new knowledge from printed materials. Such materials provided abstract thoughts of human consciousness. New ideas and theories were evident in fictional literature, scientific ideas, discoveries, and philosophy among other fields.
At the same time, printing led to development of most languages across Europe through published texts. Such printed works resulted into the development of national mythologies and pride. This idea also enhanced the production of territorial maps through cartographic techniques.
Printing changed the literacy levels among masses of the early modern Europe. The change in literacy level had permanent changes in the lives of masses of Europe. Scholars began to write books about all subjects that interested readers.
Printers responded by mass production of books in order to satisfy the growing demands. Such lucrative trade led to authorship and the ownership of intellectual property. This prevented corruption of authors’ creativity and unique works.
It is also interesting to note how scholars have viewed printing revolution in history (Briggs and Burke 12). In addition, we can note the relationship between printing and other forms of media such as oral communication, scribe, and images at the church. In all, printing press had the same effects on communication, which is similar to that of the Internet today.
Works Cited
Briggs, Asa and Peter Burke. Social History of the Media: From Gutenberg to
the Internet. Cambridge: Cambridge, 2000. Print.
Crompton, Samuel. The Printing Press: Transforming Power of Technology. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2004. Print.
Eisenstein, Elizabeth. The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1983. Print.
Febvre, Lucien and Henri-Jean Martin. The Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing, 1450-1800. London: Verso, 1976. Print.
McLuhan, Marshall. The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962. Print.
Ong, Walter. Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. London: Routledge, 1999. Print.
Part One - Introduction to an Elusive Transformation
1 - The unacknowledged revolution
2 - Defining the initial shift; some features of print culture
Part Two - Classical & Christian Traditions Reoriented; Renaissance & Reformation Reappraised
3 - A classical revival reoriented: the two phases of the Renaissance
4 - The scriptural tradition recast: resetting the stage for the
Reformation
Part Three - The Book of Nature Transformed
5 - Introduction; problems of periodization
6 - Technical literature goes to press: some new trends in scientific
writing and research
7 - Resetting the stage for the Copernican Revolution
8 - Sponsorship and censorship of scientific publication
Conclusion: Scripture and nature transformed
Bibliographical index
Contents
Preface → page ix
Part one : Introduction to an elusive transformation
1 The unacknowledged revolution → 3
2 Defining the initial shift ; some features of print culture → 43
A closer look at wide dissemination : increased output and altered intake →
71
Considering some effects produced by standardization → 80
Some effects produced by reorganizing texts and reference guides :
rationalizing, codifying and cataloguing data → 88
The new process of data collection : from the corrupted copy to the improved
edition → 107
Considering the preservative powers of print : fixity and cumulative change
→ 113
Amplification and reinforcement : the persistence of stereotypes and of
socio-linguistic divisions → 126
From a hearing public to a reading public : some unevenly phased social and
psychological changes → 129
The republic of letters and the printed book-trade → 136
Part two : Classical and Christian traditions reoriented ; Renaissance and Reformation reappraised
3 A classical revival reoriented: the two phases of the Renaissance → 163
Introduction → 163
Distinguishing between transitory revivals and a permanent Renaissance →
181
The shift toward modern forms of consciousness → 225
Arcana disclosed : the cult of Antiquity and the idea of a ‘Rinascita’
transformed → 272
4 The scriptural tradition recast : resetting the stage for the Reformation → 303
Introduction → 303
The end of the medieval church : orthodox Christianity transformed → 313
Gospel truths recast : the Vulgate in print → 329
Resetting the stage for the Protestant Reformation → 367
Relating the Protestant ethic to a new capitalist enterprise → 378
From Catholic south to Protestant north : seedplots of Enlightenment thought
→ 403
Aspects of the new book religion → 422
Part three : the book of Nature transformed
5 Introduction ; problems of periodization → 453
Introduction : ‘The great book of Nature’ and the ‘little books of men’ →
453
Problems of periodization :
(a) Burckhardtians versus Medievalists → 488
(b) The shortcomings of medieval science — suggestions for a new approach →
498
(c) Corrupted materials duplicated : the illusion of cultural lag →
508
6 Technical literature goes to press : some new trends in scientific writing and research → 520
Bridging the gap between town and gown → 520
Publicizing science : new careers open to varied talents → 543
Galenic science revived and surpassed : resetting the stage for the ‘new
anatomy’ → 566
7 Resetting the stage for the Copernican Revolution → 575
8 Sponsorship and censorship of scientific publication → 636
Introduction → 636
Divergent Protestant and Catholic publication policies → 648
Blocking thought experiments, sponsoring creative acts → 660
Resetting the stage for Galileo’s trial → 670
Conclusion : Scripture and nature transformed → 683
Bibliographical index → 709
General index → 769
https://d-meeus.be/biblio/Eisenstein1980.html
................................
The effect of the printing press in the Renaissance in the 15th century,
Italy
https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540sept10/2010/11/09/the-effect-of-the-printing-press-in-the-renaissance-in-the-15th-century-italy/
