Book history

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European book production from 500 to 1800. With the transition from handwriting to book printing , there was an explosion of production capacities ( book printing revolution ).
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Book production

In ancient times and in the Middle Ages, books were written by hand.

Handwritten books

Antiquity

In ancient Greece , the standard form of the book is the role taken over from Pharaonic Egypt, consisting mainly of papyrus (rarely parchment) . The oldest Greek literature ( Homer , from 700 BC) is not preserved in contemporary scrolls. Nevertheless, it can be assumed that the use of the scroll in Greece goes back to archaic times . We have known pictorial representations of scrolls in Greece since the 5th century BC. The oldest original finds of Greek papyrus rolls come from Egypt . They go back to the 4th century BC. BC back. At that time, for example, the great philosophy schools in Athens must have already had extensive collections of books. With the establishment of large libraries in several capitals of Hellenistic kingdoms (e.g. Alexandria , Pergamon ), ancient book production took off. That books were copied on a large scale in the Alexandria library , or at least for them, is well documented. Since the library's philologists have created text editions, there must have been a book production of its own or at least that is part of the library for this purpose. No details are known about the form and organization of private book production in ancient Greece.

In ancient Rome , scrolls with Greek and Latin texts had been in use since the 3rd / 2nd centuries. Century BC Widespread. Since the 2nd century BC There were private libraries; public libraries for Greek and Latin literature have sprung up since the early Imperial period . Since the 1st century BC There was an extensive book market. The books were made by slaves and freedmen in patrician private households. In the course of a systematized production, the first publishers appeared , such as B. Atticus , who u. a. published the works of Cicero . Some names of booksellers have also come down to us (e.g. the Sosius brothers through Seneca ).

The papyrus scroll remained the predominant book form until the 2nd century AD. In addition, there were already since the 6th century BC. In Greece early forms of the code . As we know from pictorial representations (e.g. scribe statues of the Athens Acropolis ), they consisted of stapled, sometimes waxed, wooden tablets. The wooden panel codes in the form of so-called diptychs (also triptychs or polyptycha) remained in use for various purposes throughout ancient Roman times. The form of the codex, made of parchment sheets (rarely papyrus) between two covers, developed from them . It was initially used alongside the scroll, but it had replaced it as the standard form of the book by late antiquity (4th / 5th century AD) . The ancient papyrus scrolls were systematically rewritten in parchment codes, which were more convenient to use and preferred by Christians for religious reasons. In addition to books of use, there were illuminated splendid editions of a pagan and numerous biblical texts. The late antique codex is the forerunner of the medieval and modern book.

middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, book production was concentrated in the monasteries . In their scriptoria , the monks copied books by hand and made new copies for their own use and for clients. It was not until the late Middle Ages that book production was also transferred to a significant extent to commercial professional writers . In the middle of the 13th century, the Pecia system emerged in the university towns , in which the university's Stationarius managed a central copy of important teaching texts, which they issued to various professional scribes to copy in individual situations .

Paper has been used as a writing material for books since the 14th century, although parchment remained in use for a long time, especially for high-quality books.

This system of book production could no longer meet the demand for books in the 15th century, so that the introduction of printing with mechanical letters can also be seen as a reaction to an increased demand for books.

Printed books

8th century

The earliest Korean prints, made in the early eighth century during the time of the United Silla Dynasty (668-935), still used wooden printers' type.

11th century

In 1041, in China , Bi Sheng printed with movable type from clay. Shortly afterwards, the first types of tin were in use.

The most notable example of a wood print in the Goryeo dynasty in Korea is the multi-volume Tripitaka from the reign of King Hyeonjong (reign: 1010-1031). The work was the second Tripitaka ever to be printed. This was followed by the printing of a commentary on the Tripitaka. This comment from a Tripitaka was the first ever published. At the beginning of the Goryeo dynasty, wood printing was so advanced that not only elaborate publications like the Tripitaka, but also ordinary books were produced with wood printing.

14th Century

The second volume of the anthology of the Zen teachings of great Buddhist priests ("Buljo jikji simche yojeol", Vol. II), printed in Korea in July 1377, is the oldest known example of book printing with movable metal type and was included in the UNESCO register " Memory of the World ”(see also: World Document Heritage ).

15th century

Following forerunners in the so-called block books, invention of classic letterpress printing with movable letters by Johannes Gutenberg . Prints from the 15th century are called incunabula (early prints, cradle prints).

16th Century

While around three quarters of the printed texts were still printed in Latin in the 15th century , it was the other way around in the 16th century. In the course of humanism , Latin was increasingly being replaced as the sole scientific language.

The total amount of printed works increased significantly. In the 15th century there were around 30,000 titles. The directory of the 16th century prints published in German-speaking countries (VD 16) lists around 90,000 different titles. Estimates assume a total of 130,000 to 150,000.

In addition to scientific works, operational writings ( e.g. pamphlets of the Reformation ), popular books (e.g. from Sigmund Feyerabend's workshop , stand books, women's costume books, Hans Sachs with over 6,000 titles, 1525 Adam Ries ) and lavishly designed bibliophile books were still available (e.g. on behalf of Emperor Maximilian I ).

The leaflets (individual sheets) and pamphlets were distributed among others by so-called colporteurs and contained news, rumors, household tips, horoscopes, etc. Since only a small part of the population could read, the writings were often read out.

Basel was a center of scientific book production , as many old writings from northern Italy came to Germany via Basel and were printed there. At the beginning of the 16th century, the Basel printers founded an association.

In the 16th century, book illustrations with woodcuts became more and more popular . It was only towards the end of the century that copperplate engravings were increasingly used.

17th century

Due to the Thirty Years' War , the development of printing stagnated (at least in Germany) for some time. Lower quality in paper, printing inks and binding are noticeable. The first paperbacks appear on the market.

17th century prints usually have very long titles. The title page is printed alternately in red and black in different fonts , e.g. In part, the title page is a copperplate engraving ( copper title ) and contains further copper engravings ( title copper ). Frontispieces or title coppers that precede the title page are also typical . They often contain allegorical representations or pictures of the supporter who made it possible to print the work, e.g. B. by granting the printing privilege . Graphic elements are v. a. ornamental decorations and mostly realized as woodcuts . Illustrations, which consist of copper engravings, were mostly on their own boards at the end of the work, as they were produced in a separate printing process.

New forms of publication developed with newspapers and magazines . The first scientific journals appeared in the second half of the 17th century ( Le Journal des Savants Paris and Philosophical Transactions [London], both 1665) and were published by scientific academies . Scientific journals replaced the priority exchange through correspondence. In addition to Latin (which remained the standard for a long time in Germany), national languages ​​were also used as the scientific language. The first popular science journals were also published at the end of the 17th century .

18th century

The 18th century brought serious changes to the book medium in the German-speaking world. The measurement catalogs that established themselves in this century show significant increases in the area of new releases (novelties) and production rates. In addition, the lingua franca increasingly changed from the Latin of the learned and educated to works in German that were aimed at a broad, “anonymous, bourgeois reading public”. Due to the increasing sales figures and new popular genres, such as the novel , more and more emphasis was placed on quality, equipment and thus production techniques in the book industry. These novels, which made up 5% of all new publications on the book market in 1740 and dealt with history as well as morality, religion, philosophy and statecraft, were the literary means of expression of the emancipating bourgeoisie. In this phase the copperplate illustration reached its peak as the central feature of the new releases of the time. Scientific works in particular, such as books on plants, animals, birds and insects, were provided with extensive copperplate prints, some of which were still hand-colored. These illustrations served as an additional incentive to buy, which, however, was also seen as a risk factor for the publishers . If the public did not buy the lavishly and more expensively produced works, they suffered great financial losses.

19th century

The 19th century is a time of political upheaval. The Napoleonic rule and the subsequent restoration period after the Congress of Vienna , at which the restoration of the geographical and political order of the time before Napoleon Bonaparte , left their mark on the book industry. This is particularly clear in the severe censorship that applied after the Carlsbad Decisions of 1819 and which, according to the twenty-sheet clause, were subject to all newspapers, magazines and printed matter with a volume of less than 320 pages.

At the same time, numerous technical innovations made the book mass-produced during this period. New technical inventions led to the end of the so-called Gutenberg Age : Since the invention of the printing press, the process had been improved in detail, for example the components of the printing press, which were originally made of wood, were made of metal, but this was done until 1800 no noteworthy innovations. This changed in the 19th century, when a veritable flood of technical innovations revolutionized the entire book production process and resulted in a multiplication of book production. The Fourdrinier paper machine, an invention of Nicholas-Louis Robert , replaced the manual scooping process with mechanical paper production, the platen printing press and a little later the high-speed press replaced the conventional printing process in the true sense, towards the end of the century (1866) these presses became even more powerful Web-fed rotary machine replaced. As a result, more paper could be produced and printed in less time, newspapers, magazines, books - everything printed became affordable for the general public due to lower production costs. From this point on, books were sold with publisher binding and no longer unbound as standard.

This led to fundamental changes in the publication system in all areas, and entertainment and educational literature was increasingly produced for a wide audience. Affordable book series came onto the market, including some that still exist today, such as Reclam's Universal Library . With steel engraving , wood engraving and lithography , new illustration techniques also made their way into the book landscape.

The 19th century is also an age of great risk. Numerous large scientific enterprises were started at that time. The Brothers Grimm began with a German dictionary , which was not finally completed until the 1960s; further examples are a complete catalog of the cradle prints or the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae , which are still being worked on today.

See also

literature

Reference works and encyclopedia entries
Overall representations
  • Fritz Funke: Book customer. An overview of the history of the book , 6th, revised. and additional edition, Saur, Munich 1999.
  • Marion Janzin, Joachim Güntner: The book from the book. 5000 years of book history . 3. revised u. exp. Edition, Schlütersche, Hannover 2006, ISBN 3-89993-805-4 .
  • Wilhelm H. Lange: The book through the ages. (Translated from Danish by Lina Johnsson). Berlin 1941.
  • Svend Dahl: History of the Book. Karl W. Hiersemann, Leipzig 1928; 2nd, improved edition there in 1941.
To individual epochs
  • Horst Blanck : The book in antiquity. Beck, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-406-36686-4
  • Karin Cieslik, Helge Perplies and Florian Schmid (eds.): Materiality and formation. Studies of book printing from the 15th to 17th centuries. Festschrift for Monika Unzeit . édition lumière, Bremen 2016, ISBN 978-3-943245-21-9
  • Elizabeth Eisenstein: The printing revolution in early modern Europe. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1983, ISBN 0-521-44770-4
  • Lucien Febvre and Henri-Jean Martin, The Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing 1450-1800 . London - New York 1990, ISBN 0-86091-797-5 , first English translation 1976, first edition in French, Paris 1958
  • Hans Lülfing : Johannes Gutenberg and the book system of the 14th and 15th centuries. VEB Fachbuchverlag, Leipzig 1969
  • Andreas Venzke : Johannes Gutenberg - The inventor of the printing press and his time. 3rd edition, Piper, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-492-22921-2
  • Uwe Jochum: Short library history . 3rd edition, Reclam, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-15-017667-2
On individual aspects
  • Reinhard Wittmann : History of the German book trade . 2., through Edition. Beck, Munich 1999.
bibliography
  • Wolfenbüttel bibliography on the history of the book industry in the German-speaking area 1840–1980 , KG Saur, 1990–1998
Magazines and yearbooks
  • Archive for the history of the book industry : AGB, ed. by the Historical Commission of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association. Saur, Munich since 1956
  • Bibliography of book and library history: BBB . Bibliogr. Verl. Meyer, Bad Iburg 1982-2004, ISSN  0723-3590
  • Leipzig Yearbook on Book History: a publication by the German National Library in collaboration with the Leipzig Working Group on the History of the Book Industry. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1.1991, ISSN  0940-1954
  • Wolfenbüttel notes on book history: WNzB / in Zsarb. with d. Wolfenbüttel Working Group for Library, Book and Media History ed. from D. Duke August Library. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1.1976, ISSN  0341-2253

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eltjo Buringh; Jan Luiten van Zanden: Charting the "Rise of the West": Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe, A Long-Term Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries. In: The Journal of Economic History , Vol. 69, No. 2 (2009), pp. 409–445 (416–417, panels 1 & 2)
  2. ^ Thomas Francis Carter: The Invention of Printing in China and Its Spread Westward . 2nd ed., Rev. by L. Carrington Goodrich, New York 1955.
  3. ^ Reinhard Wittmann : History of the German book trade . Beck's series. Munich 1999, p. 123