Diya Academy of Learning

Print Culture and the Modern World

Q 1. What did the Grimm Brothers publish?
Answer: The Grimm Brothers of Germany compiled traditional folktales gathered
from peasants and published them in 1812.
Q 2. Who brought the first printing press to India?
Answer: Portuguese missionaries.

Q 3. Who developed the first printing press?

Answer: Johann Gutenberg

Q 4. Which method of hand-printing was developed in China?

Answer: From AD 594, books in China were printed by rubbing paper against the
inked surface of woodblocks.

Q 5. How were Bibliotheque Bleue different from penny chapbooks?

Answer: Penny chapbooks were carried by petty pedlars known as chapmen in
England. These books were sold for a penny, so that even the poor could buy them.
“Bibliotheque Bleue’, were low-priced small books printed in France. Both were low
priced books printed on poor quality paper but the Bibliotheque Bleue were bound in
cheap blue covers.

Q [Link] kind of books were available in India before the introduction of print
culture?
Answer: Earlier, the books used to be handwritten either on palm leaves or
handmade paper. India has a tradition of handwritten manuscripts in Sanskrit,
Arabic, Persian as well as in various vernacular languages. Pages were sometimes
beautifully illustrated. They would either be pressed between wooden covers or sewn
together to ensure preservation.
Q 7. Why is Charles Metcalfe called the ‘Liberator of the Press’ in India?
Answer: Charles Metcalfe was the Acting-Governor General of India in 1835. He
distinguished himself by liberating the Press in India and was responsible for
removing all the restrictions on the Press in India.
Q 8. What were ‘penny chapbooks’?
Answer: Penny chapbooks were pocket-sized books sold for a penny by pedlars
known as Chapman.
Q 9. Explain any five reasons for bringing in a large number of new readers among
children, women and workers during the late 19th century.
Answer: The five reasons are:
● compulsory primary education;
● women became important as readers;
● lending libraries became instrumental in educating white-collar workers,
artisans and lower middle-class people;
● self-educated working novelists were women who defined a new type of strong
woman; and
● best-known novelist who defined a new type of strong woman.

Q10. ‘Print played a significant role in awakening sentiments of nationalism amongst

the Indians’. Explain the statement with examples.
Answer:
There is no denying that print culture connected the different people and
communities and stimulated among them a spirit of togetherness, oneness and
nationalism. Both Indian press and literature played a vital role in the growth of
nationalism in India. In the nineteenth century, a large quantity of national literature
was created which brought about a great revolution in the minds of people and
inspired them to fight against British imperialism.

● The Indian press contributed in arousing national consciousness among the

people of India. Many vernacular newspapers like the ‘Indian Mirror’, ‘Bombay
Samachar’, ‘The Amrita Bazar Patrika’, ‘The Hindu/ ‘The Kesari’ and several
others had a great influence on the political life of the country. A continuous
flow of articles by national leaders and thinkers like Gandhiji, Tagore, Tilak,
etc. passed on ideas of a new free India to the masses and prepared them for
the national struggle.

Q 11. Give any three reasons favouring shift from hand printing to mechanical
printing in China?
Answer:

1. By the 17th century, urban culture bloomed in China and the use of print
diversified. It was important for a shift from hand printing to mechanical printing
in China to take place. Print was no longer used just by scholar-officials.
Merchants used print in their everyday life to collect trade information.
2. Reading increasingly became a leisure activity. Rich women began to read and
many women began publishing their poetry and plays.
3. In the late 19th century as Western powers established their outposts in China,
western printing techniques and mechanical presses were imported. Shanghai
became the hub of the new print culture catering to Western-style schools.

Q 12. Highlight any three circumstances that led to the intermingling of the hearing
culture and the reading culture.
Answer:
 ● With the printing press, a new reading public emerged. Printing reduced the
cost of books. Access to books created a new culture of reading. Earlier
reading was restricted to the elite.
● Common people lived in a world of oral culture. They heard sacred texts read
out, ballads recited and folk tales narrated. Knowledge was transferred orally.
● Printers began publishing popular ballads and folk tales, illustrated with
pictures. These were sung and recited at gatherings. Oral culture thus entered
print and printed material was orally transmitted.
● The line that separated oral and reading cultures diminished and the hearing
and reading public intermingled.

Q 13. Highlight any three innovations which have improved the printing technology
from nineteenth century onwards.
Answer: Three innovations which have improved the printing technology from
nineteenth century onwards:

1. Methods of feeding paper improved.

2. The quality of printing plates became better.
3. Automatic paper reels and photoelectric controls of the colour register were
introduced.
4. The accumulation of several individual mechanical improvements transformed
the appearance of printed texts.

Q 14. What made the Englishmen, under colonial rule, demand a clamp down on the
‘native press’, after the revolt of 1857? How was it done?
Or,
Why did the attitude of the colonial Government towards the freedom of the press
change after the revolt of 1857? What repressive measures were adopted by them to
control the freedom of press?
Answer: The English Government wanted to suppress the native press because the
vernacular newspapers had become assertively nationalist. They feared that if their
freedom of Press is not curtailed, it might encourage the masses to rise again
against the colonial rule.

[Link] 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed which provided the Government
with extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the vernacular press.
[Link] onwards, the government kept regular track of the vernacular newspapers
published in different provinces. When a report was judged as seditious, the
newspaper was warned, and if the warning was ignored, the Press could be seized
and the printing machinery confiscated

Q 15. Why was Martin Luther in favour of print? Explain three reasons.
Answer: Martin Luther was in favour of print and spoke out in praise of it, because:

1. He wrote ‘Ninety-Five Theses’ criticizing many of the practices and rituals of

the Roman Catholic Church. His ideas were reproduced in print in vast
numbers and reached a large section of people,
 2. According to him printing was the ultimate gift of God and the greatest one.
3. His protests ultimately led to the division of Church and beginning of the
Protestant Reformation.

Q 16. Write a short note on Vernacular Press Act.

Answer: The Vernacular Press Act.

● In 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed by the British Government in
India to impose restrictions on vernacular press, which was responsible for
spreading nationalist ideas in much of India.
● The government started to keep a regular track of the vernacular newspapers
published in different provinces and had extensive rights to censor reports and
editorials in the vernacular press.
● When a report was judged as seditious, the newspaper was warned, and if the
warning was ignored, the press was liable to be seized and the printing
machinery confiscated.
● The most discriminating aspect of the law was that though it put serious
restrictions on the freedom of Indian language newspapers, yet it spared the
English newspapers from its purview

Q 17. What is a manuscript? List any four shortcomings of manuscripts.

Answer: India had a very rich and old tradition of handwritten manuscripts—in
Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian and other vernacular languages.
Manuscripts were copied on palm leaves or on handmade paper. Pages were
sometimes beautifully. illustrated.
Shortcomings of manuscript:

1. Manuscripts were highly expensive and fragile and could not be carried around
easily.
2. They could not be read easily as the script was written in different styles.
3. Production of handwritten manuscripts could not satisfy the ever-increasing
demand for books.
4. Copying was an expensive, laborious and time-consuming business.
5. Even though pre-colonial Bengal had developed an extensive network of
village, primary schools, students very often did not read texts. They only learnt
to write.

Q 18. Describe any five strategies developed by the printers and publishers in the
19th century to sell their products.
Answer: Printers and publishers continuously developed new strategies to sell their
products:

1. Serialisation of important novels in nineteenth century periodicals. This gave

birth to a particular way of writing.
2. In the 1920s in England, popular works were sold in cheap series, called the
‘Shilling Series’.
3. Publishers feared a decline in book purchases during the Great Depression in
1930s. They brought out cheap paperback editions of novels to sustain buying.
4. Printers published new books.
5. In the 20th century, the dust cover or the book jacket was also introduced.
Q 19. Explain the significance of newspapers and journals developed from the early
18th century.
Answer:

● By the close of the eighteenth century, a number of newspapers and journals

appeared in print.
● Not just the English people, the Indians too began to publish Indian
newspapers.
● The first newspaper to come out was the weekly Bengal Gazette, brought out
by Gangadhar Bhattacharya.
● Printed tracts and newspapers not only spread new ideas, but they also
shaped the nature of debate. A wider public could now participate in public
discussions and express their views.
● There were intense controversies between the social and religious reformers
and Hindu orthodoxy over matters like widow immolation, monotheism,
Brahmanical priesthood and idolatry. So that these ideas and thoughts could
reach a wider audience, newspapers were printed in the spoken language of
ordinary people.
● Rammohan Roy published the Sambad Kaumudi from 1821 and the Hindu
orthodoxy commissioned the Samachar Chandrika to oppose his opinions.
● Two Persian newspapers, Jam-i-Jahan Nama and Shamsul Akhbar were also
published.
● Newspapers and journals not only helped the publication of conflicting opinions
but also connected people and communities in different parts of India.
Newspapers conveyed news from one place to another, creating Pan-Indian
identities.

● 20. How did printing press create a new- reading public

Explain. [CBSF. Sept. 2013]
Or
“There was a virtual reading mania in European countries in the
18th century”. Explain the factors responsible for this virtual
reading mania.
● Answer: (i) Low cost of production : With the printing press, a new
reading public emerged. Printing reduced the cost of books. The time
mid labour required to produce each book came down, and multiple
copies could be produced with greater ease. Books flooded the
market, reaching out to an ever-growing readership.
● (ii) Accessibility of books : Access to books created a new culture of
reading. Earlier, reading was restricted to the elites. Common people
lived in a world of oral culture They heard sacred texts read
out ,ballads recited, and folk tales narrated Knowledge was
transferred orally. People collectively heard a story, or saw a
performance. Before the age of print, books were not only expensive
but they could not be produced in sufficient numbers. Now books
could reach out to wider sections of people.
● (iii) Increase in literacy rate : Through the. seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries literacy rates went up in most parts of Europe.
Churches of different denominations set up schools in Villages,
carrying literacy to peasants and artisans. By the end of the
eighteenth century, in some parts of Europe literacy rates were as
high as 60 to 80 per cent. As literacy and schools spread in
European countries, there was a virtual reading mania.
● 21. Explain the common conviction of people in the mid-18th
century about the books and print culture, [CBSE 2013]
● Answer: (i) By the mid-eighteenth century, there was a common
conviction that books were a means of spreading progress and
enlightenment.
(ii) Many believed that books could change the world, liberate society
from despotism and tyranny, and herald a time when reason and
intellect would rule.
(iii) Louise-sebastian Mercier, a novelist in Prance declared. “The
printing press is most powerful engine of progress and public- opinion
is the force that will sweep despotism away.”
● Q.22. Why did some people in the eighteenth century Europe
think that print culture would bring enlightenment and end
despotism? [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2011]
Or
Assess the impact of print revolution on the European
society. [CBSE 2013]
Ans. (i) Spreading of new ideas: After the coming of the print
culture, the ideas of scientists and philosophers now became more
accessible to the common people. Ancient and medieval scientific
texts were compiled and published.
●
(ii) Scientific discoveries: Maps and more accurate scientific
diagrams were widely printed. When scientists like Issac Newton
began to publish their discoveries, they could influence a much
wider circle of scientifically-minded readers.
(iii) Writings of scholars: The writings of thinkers such as Thomas
Paine, Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau were also widely
printed, and could gain popularity. Thus, their ideas about science,
reasoning and rationality found their way into popular literature.
(iv) Books as a medium of progress: By the mid-18th century,
books became a medium of spreading progress and enlightenment
which could change society and the world. It was also believed
that the books could literate society from despotism and tyranny.
(v) Ideas of enlightened thinkers: The print popularised the ideas of
the enlightened thinkers like that of Martin Luther who attacked the
 authority of the Church and the despotic power of the state, e.g.,
Voltaire and Rousseau.
(vi) A new culture of dialogue and debate: The print created a new
culture of dialogue and debate and the public, became aware of
reasoning and recognized the need to question the existing ideas
and beliefs.

23. What were the effects of the spread of print culture for the poor people in
the nineteenth century India ? ( OR)

Q.8. Explain how the print culture assisted the growth of nationalism in
India. [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2011]
Ans. (i) New ideas and debates : There were many who criticised the existing
practices and campaigned for reforms, while others countered the arguments of the
reformers. These debates were carried out openly in public and in print. Printed
tracts and newspapers not only spread the new ideas, but they also shaped the
nature of the debate. All this assisted the growth of nationalism.

(ii) Connecting various communities: Print did not only stimulate the publication of
conflicting opinions amongst communities, but it also connected communities and
people living in different parts of India. Newspapers conveyed news from one place
to another, creating pan-Indian identities.

(iii) Print and newspaper: Despite repressive measures, nationalist newspapers grew
in numbers in all parts of India. They reported on colonial misrule and encouraged
nationalist activities. When Punjab revolutionaries were deported in 1907, Bal
Gangadhar Tilak wrote with great sympathy about them in Kesari.

(iv) Various novels on national history: Many novels written by Indian novelists like
Bankim’s Anandamath created a sense of pan-Indian belonging. Munshi
Premchand’s novel, Godan highlighted how Indian peasants were exploited by the
colonial bureaucrats.

(v) Various images of Bharatmata : Printers like Raja Ravi Verma and Rabindranath
Tagore produced images of Bharatmata which produced a sense of nationalism
among Indians. The devotion to mother figure came to be seen as evidence of one’s
nationalism.